Cheraman Juma Masjid: The first Masjid of India
Submitted by admin on 3 January 2010 - 9:29pm
By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net
TCN Malabar series- part 2
Local traditions have it that Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala was established in the year 629CE. An inscription in Arabi-Malayalam language on the gate of the masjid gives the date as 5 Hijri. This makes Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kodungallur in the Thrissur district of Kerala, the first mosque of India and one of the oldest in the whole world.
Legend has it that the king of Kodungallur, Cheraman Perumal accepted Islam and traveled to Madina to meet the Prophet Mohammad (salallahu alaihi wasallam). He died on his way back and is now buried in Salalah, Oman. Before dying, he instructed his travel companions to spread the message of Islam in his homeland.
A group of Muslim travelers led by a companion of the Prophet, Malik Bin Dinar (not to be confused with the famous scholar of the same name) came to Kerala and according to the wishes of Cheraman Perumal, established this and other mosques in Kerala and also instructed people in Islamic practices. These mosques survived and continue to be functional mosques where regular prayers and educational functions are conducted even to this day.
Inscription in Arabi-Malayalam dates the mosque to 5th year of Hijri
Located on National Highway-17, Cheruman Juma Masjid is an important Kerala landmark. The place is called Cheraman Malik Nagar in the honor of King Cheraman Perumal and Malik Bin Dinar. The masjid has seen some renovations over the years but the original hall and internal structure have been preserved. Four minarets have been added in one of the later renovations but attempts have been made to give the look and feel of the old structure in the exterior of the building.
Cheraman Juma Masjid, as it looks like now
Ignore the minarets, and the small dome and you can imagine how this building would have looked like hundreds or a thousand years ago. The museum on site has pictures and a model of the old structure to help you imagine. Located on the side of the main street (now NH-17), the masjid is surrounded by shops and homes. It is a community institution situated well within the community.
The original structure did not look like anything foreign, the architecture and design both inside and outside resembles local influence. It was a double storied structure with a sloping tiled roof. Unlike the mosques of North India, there are no minarets or Arabic calligraphy or complex geometrical patterns on the outside the building. The simple entrance must have been inviting and not intimidating, a reflection on how Islam came to Kerala and got well entrenched in the land.
The main room, which is the part of the original structure, is small. It probably can host only about four rows of 15 people for prayers. There is an old wooden mimbar with an intricate design. Along with fans hanging from the ceiling, there is a big brass lamp, not unlike what can be found in a Hindu temple. But my enquiries did not reveal anything special about this lamp.
A model of the older building exist in the museum.
Just left of this main prayer hall are the grave of Malik Bin Dinar’s son and wife. Malik Bin Dinar himself is buried in Kasargod, about 350 kms from here. The right side of the masjid is a big graveyard; since many graves have been reused, it is difficult to tell how old the oldest grave is. Behind the mosque is an artificial pond that was used for making ablution.
The Masjid is run by a committee and they are doing their utmost to preserve the history and traditions of this important landmark of Islam in India. One of the living history is the Muezzin of the mosque. He upholds his family tradition of several generations by being the current Muezzin. The Imam and Muezzin live in quarters that are located behind the masjid.
Syed Muhammad is giving azan for the last 77 years
There is a museum on the premises which is in desperate need of more historical artifacts of the glorious past of Malabar Muslims.
Links:
http://cheramanmosque.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheraman_Juma_Masjid
http://www.iosworld.org/interview_cheramul.htm
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Ramadan kareem
ASSALAMUALIKKUM
ഇന്ത്യയിലെ ആദ്യത്തെ പള്ളിയായ ചേരമാന് പള്ളി മത സൌഹാ ദ്രതിനു ലോക ജനതക്കുതന്നെ ഒരു മാതൃകയാകട്ടെ
Cheraman/Old Kerala mosques/and the new Wahabi structures and co
Kerala Muslims, until recently (before KSA oil money and Wahabism started to spread) built mosques in kerala architecture style (like the Cheraman mosque sghown in the pic). Now, most of those mosques have been rebulit, and new mosques have been built, all following the Saudi style, with minarets and domes. This mostly happened in the last twenty years; Muslims have been driftinga way from the mainstream, there were no burquahs twentry five years ago; now burquahs are common. The growing emphasis of Muslims (may be some of them; but these people hold influence on otrher muslims) on separation (dress hbaits, non particpation in general secular celebrations sucjh as Onam and Vishu and Christmas, a love for Arabic at the expense of English and Malayalam, naming children in Arabic names rather than the old way of names like Abdulla kutty or Mohamaed kutty, Kunji Moideen etc (kutty is a common Kerala name used by Hindyus and Christians and in yesteryears by Muslims) etc are causing Muslims to be out of the main society. Christians in kerala have accepted MAlayalam as the language of service in their churches, accepted tarditional kerala bronze lamps along with candles, adopted Indian dresses (sarees, sindurs, no head coverings ), names (Kumud, Sunil, Anil, Thangam, Swarnam, Abhilash,Rajan etc etc --no God names, but indian names); whereas Muslims for wahtever reason, seem to want to be isolated... Very few Muslims particpate in the various music competition on TV, such as Ideas Star, because of this "separateness" tendency. If one looks at the music star competitions in all the channels, one will see only 1% (or even lessthan that) Muslims particpating..
How can a community strive and achieve and fit if the community wants to be totally sepaarte based on some false notions..Christians are thriving and not losing their religious identity because they have adapted or changed. They remain anchored in their religious beliefs, however they do nots ee any issue in learning Carnatic music or bharat natyam or Mohini Attam or Odissy; they do not see any issue in celebrating Onam or other KErala festivals.. Muslims seem to havbe major mental block with the constant complaining about "discrimination". One who does not want to eb a part of the maisntream will always feel discriminated!.
King Cheraman / Old Kerala Masjid and traditional belief...
Thank you Raju Kurien for your comment. From your comment you imply that you want centuries old structures to remain un-attended, un-touched, un-repaired, and remain in dilapidated condition.
After centuries of ignorance, do you want Kerala women to show their "belly-botton", reveal their beauty in front of men, for entertainment?
You want Muslims to remain in ignorance (jaahiliya), or join the crowd and follow Christian belief - mixing and mingling, dancing and drinking; join mass-prayers at Church saying "brother brother" in PUBLIC, and say "slowly brother" in PRIVACY?
If Keralites are working in Gulf countries and remitting Phoren Exchange to develop their state, what's wrong in that??? There is no denial that Kerala is the only state to reach 90% plus higher literacy, surpassing any state in Republic of India. It's an great achievement to be accepted and reckoned.
Haven't you read about Qazi Abdullah Maulvi's mysterious death in February 2010. Read this news storey, published on TCN highlighting his achievements
http://www.twocircles.net/2010mar24/obituary_qazi_abdullah_maulvi_tradit...
And it is also NO SECRET Christian Missionaries are openly working in India - luring innocent dalits / SC's / ST's with money, jobs, and other luxuries in exchange for conversion.
What is it that you are up-to Mr. Raju Kurien??? I, and other readers on TCN, read many of your comments with a communal tinge / bias. Please refrain from such practice, since you CONVERTED and maybe ATTAINED FREEDOM from centuries-old BOND of caste-discrimination. Allow others to freely practice their religion. Thank you.
An Indian
P.S.:
------
At-least Muslims join in prayers, shoulder-to-shoulder without regard to caste, creed, race, or colour. Unlike protestant, catholic, orthodox, unorthodox, Romans, Eastern, Orientals, Anglican, Assyrian, Gnostic, Ebionites, Arians, Lutherans, Methodist, Presbytrians, etc. etc. etc. who are disallowed in other sect church, unless they are a member!!!
Shall I continue with list of Christian sects???
King Cheraman / Old Kerala Masjid and traditional belief...
Thank you Raju Kurien for your comment. From your comment you imply that you want centuries old structures to remain un-attended, un-touched, un-repaired, and remain in dilapidated condition.
After centuries of ignorance, do you want Kerala women to show their "belly-botton", reveal their beauty in front of men, for entertainment?
You want Muslims to remain in ignorance (jaahiliya), or join the crowd and follow Christian belief - mixing and mingling, dancing and drinking; join mass-prayers at Church saying "brother brother" in PUBLIC, and say "slowly brother" in PRIVACY?
If Keralites are working in Gulf countries and remitting Phoren Exchange to develop their state, what's wrong in that??? There is no denial that Kerala is the only state to reach 90% plus higher literacy, surpassing any state in Republic of India. It's an great achievement to be accepted and reckoned.
Haven't you read about Qazi Abdullah Maulvi's mysterious death in February 2010. Read this news storey, published on TCN highlighting his achievements
http://www.twocircles.net/2010mar24/obituary_qazi_abdullah_maulvi_tradit...
And it is also NO SECRET Christian Missionaries are openly working in India - luring innocent dalits / SC's / ST's with money, jobs, and other luxuries in exchange for conversion.
What is it that you are up-to Mr. Raju Kurien??? I, and other readers on TCN, read many of your comments with a communal tinge / bias. Please refrain from such practice, since you CONVERTED and maybe ATTAINED FREEDOM from centuries-old BOND of caste-discrimination. Allow others to freely practice their religion. Thank you.
An Indian
P.S.:
------
At-least Muslims join in prayers, shoulder-to-shoulder without regard to caste, creed, race, or colour. Unlike protestant, catholic, orthodox, unorthodox, Romans, Eastern, Orientals, Anglican, Assyrian, Gnostic, Ebionites, Arians, Lutherans, Methodist, Presbytrians, etc. etc. etc. who are disallowed in other sect church, unless they are a member!!!
Shall I continue with list of Christian sects???
Mr Raju, Pope knows that Christianity in Trouble
Christians have to adapt and change everything as per the commands from the Brahmanical terrorits not only in Kerala but in other parts of India also.In many parts of the India,Christians are being converted to Sanadhana Dharma by RSS.Some of the Christians intentionally adopt Hindu names and culture in order to cheat naive Hindus to get them converted to Christianity.That is why Christianity is otherwise called Cheatianity. We Indian Muslims always maintain our own identity since beginning.We Muslims have to check before adopting anything whether it is in compliance with our belief or not.It is not necessary for perverts like you.Who the hell you are to speak about Wahabism here?Normally, Indian fascists and some journalists funded by Zionists and Mossad speak about Wahabism in the Indian context.Regarding the reality show, where Muslims are participating less.Why? Despite we do not give much importance to shows as you people do, you will find a lot of artists in Bollywood and Kerala film from Muslim community.
Muslim Culture and the discrimination issue
Dear Raju Kurien
India is supposed to be a Democratic country. There should be no discrimination against any citizen or groups of citizens regardless of what their names are, what they wear, what style of architecture their buildings are constructed in and whether they take part in local celebrations or not.
best wishes,
Ahmad
Distorted indian medieval history
Dear Ameen read this written
[Excerpted from Prof B. N. Pande's speech in the Indian Upper House of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, made on 29 July 1977. At the time of the publication of this article in Impact International (1987), Dr Pande was Governor of the Indian state of Orrisa. Dr. Pande died in New Delhi on June 1, 1998.]
When I was the Chairman of the Allahabad Municipality I came across the dispute regarding the property of the Someshwar Nath Mahadev mandir. There were two rival claims, one of which prepared a file of Farmans issued, by Emperor Aurangzeb which confirmed the issue of a Jagir for the temple. I was shocked to find this reference regarding a man who is supposed to have been a destroyer of temples. At first I was inclined to believe that these (Farmans) were forgeries.
However, before I reached a definite conclusion, I thought it to be in order to consult Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, a renowned scholar of Persian language. Sir Sapru studied the Jagdambri Shiv Mandir documents and again found Farmans of Aurangzeb which bestowed a Jagir on this temple. A new Aurangzeb was unveiled before me and through further research and investigation, I discovered many more Farmans of like nature with regard to Mahakaleswar temple in Ujjain, Balaji Temple in Chitrakoot, Amparand Temple in Gauhati, Shatranjay Jain Temple and various Gurdwaras. These Farmans were issued between the year 1656 and 1686. [Aurangzeb's father Emperor Shah Jahan is famous for having built the Taj Mahal, considered as one of the wonders of the world]....
The story regarding demolition of Vishwanath temple is that while Aurangzeb was passing near Varanasi on his way to Bengal, the Hindu Rajas in his retinue requested that if a halt is made for a day, their Ranis may go to Varanasi, have a dip in the Ganges and pay their homage to Lord Vishwanath. Aurangzeb readily agreed.
The Ranis took their dip in the Ganges and went to the Vishwanath temple to pay their homage. All the Ranis returned except one, the Maharani of Kachh. When Aurangzeb came to know of it, he was very much enraged. He sent his senior officers to search for the Rani. Ultimately, they found that the Statue of Ganesh which was fixed in the wall was a movable one. When the statue was moved a flight of stairs led to the basement. To their horror, they found the missing Rani dishonoured and crying. The basement was just beneath Lord Vishwanath's seat. The Hindu Rajas expressed their vociferous protests. They demanded justice. Aurangzeb ordered that Lord vishawanath may be moved to some other place, the temple be razed to the ground and the Mahant be arrested and punished.
Dr Pattabhi Sitaramaiah, in his famous book 'The Feathers and the Stones' has narrated this fact based on documentary evidence. Dr. P. L. Gupta, former Curator of Patna Museum has also narrated this incident ...
For more material go to
http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/pande.htm
Islam spread to India NOT by SWORD........
The above article CONFIRMS and ENDORSES history and spread of Islam to India was NOT BY SWORD as wrongly spread by Hindutva, but by traders and saints.
It is noteworthy from this article the first Masjid (Mosque) in Kerala was built in the year 629, while Prophet Mohammad was still alive AND while Islam was in it's budding stage.
By this I would like to inform IGNORANTS and HINDUTVA LIE spreaders, that Islam arrived in India, long before Mughal Rule.
Most importantly, it was NOT spread by SWORD, as WRONGLY CLAIMED - but by WORD of MOUTH and simplicity practitioners of Islam.
Islam means: A religion of PEACE and SUBMISSION to will of God.
An Indian
Not by sword in Kerala only............
The Muslims who were not spread by SWORD are only the KERALA MUSLIMS and they are now OBC MUSLIMS. The ISLAM in North India- especially Punjab, Baluchistan, Sind, UP, Bihar, Gujarat, etc etc were spread with sword. Hindus were forcefully converted to ISLAM. These explains the reason why there are no temples in these parts of North India which are older than 1720AD while temples which are 1000 years old exist in south India.
The population of Indian Muslims are less because of incidents in History between 1720AD to 1947.
-- From 1700AD to 1845AD the Marathas and Sikhs controlled most of India and there was large scale massacre of Muslims. In 1710AD, Sikhs capture SIRHIND- where GURU GOBIND SINGHS two sons were killed and massacre all MUSLIMS. The persecution of Muslims were at such a scale that MUSLIM RULERS invited AFGHAN King- ABDALI and joined him to defeat Marathas at Panipath III. But the Marathas and Sikhs regained control and retained it till 1845 when finally the British defeated them.
-- The British identified the 1857 uprising as an effort to re-establish ISLAMIC RULE in India. So Muslims in North India- UP, Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, MP etc was annihilated by British which continued upto 1865.
-- In 1947, Jinnah did the greatest service to India by carving out Pakistan and taking away a large Muslim population from India. If it was not for Jinnah, the AFPAK turmoil would have been AFIND (Afghan India) problem and the Muslims would have spread mayhem all over India as it presently happening in AFPAK.
Lastly Islam can mean anything but Muslims are the most violent group in the present day world. They spread violence in every place they live and kill each other in countries where they are absolute majority.
cheramans story short but very interesting
Salams and shukran Brother Kashif on the most informative news on the earliest, rather, the first Masjid in India in Kerala.
Though the article is short, the photographs and the pictures are simply wonderful.
Try to cover similar stories about the earliest arrival of Muslim into Gujarat, Punjab and places,very much before the invasion of of India by Moguls.
The aricle proves that Islam spread in India not by the namkevaste Mogul rulers but by traders and Sufi saints.
Please ask your editors and other Muslim historians to do deeper research into the journey of Cheraman from Kerala to Madina and the return journey of his companions to Kerala to spread islam.
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