Muslim women of Malabar

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net

TCN Malabar series: Part 8


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In various towns of Malabar, it is not uncommon to see Muslim women on the streets, bazaars, and schools. They can be easily identified with their traditional mode of clothing. Young girls wear long colorful skirts, long sleeved blouses and heads covered in dupatta or a hijab. Older girls, it seems, prefer shalwar qameez. Married women wear saris or abayas.

However they may be dressed- traditional, modern, or religious- Mappila women cannot be ignored. Until recently, a section of ulama were opposed to women’s education but people’s attitude changed and now the same group of traditional ulama have set up an engineering college with a women’s hostel attached. Times have changed.




Mother and daughters- moving forward

This change, however, has come through with the tireless work by reformers like Makthi Thangal and Kunhahammed Haji. Haji encouraged women’s education and sent his daughters to school to set an example. C.H. Mohammed Koya, as the Education Minister of Kerala, introduced a scholarship for Muslims girls. The Mujhahid movement and the Jamaat-e-Islami also encouraged the education of girls.

These days, girls not only top various exams, but also more girls are enrolled in professional colleges than boys. Muslim women can now be seen taking full advantage of educational and employment opportunities available to them in Kerala. One Fathima benefitted from these opportunities and became the first women to be a Supreme Court judge. Justice M. Fathima Beevi also served as the governor of Tamil Nadu.



An unintended consequence that has occurred due to the large number of men from Kerala that are now working in Gulf countries, is that women of Kerala have taken on new responsibilities. To realize who really makes financial decisions here, just take a look at the thousands of billboards that you will encounter on the ever winding roads of Kerala. Among the thatched roofs, mosques, new buildings, and lush greenery, dotting the sides of the roads you cannot miss billboards advertising clothing, jewelry and home construction & furnishings. And suddenly when you see an ad for a scooter, asking the girls of Kerala – Why should boys have all the fun?- the question and the billboard doesn’t seem so out of place.






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