By Shafeeq Hudawi, TwoCircles.net
Malappuram: There is a good chance that you may not have heard of Dammaj, a small town in the Sa’dah Governorate of North-western Yemen. However, this town has been brought to attention by the recent news from Kerala, where 15 youths have gone missing and are said to have fled to Dammaj, although many media houses used this to claim that these youths had joined ISIS.
Over the last one decade, Dammaj and the Salafi centre Dar Al-Hadith in the town have turned home to many young Salafis from the state.
“Being attracted by the spiritual teachings taught there, some of the youngsters have been fleeing to Dammaj, where they lead a spiritual life abstaining from the modernity. The trend dates back to 2004,” says Shabeel TN, a functionary of Mujahid Students Movement (MSM), the students outfit of Kerala Nadwathul Mujahideen (KNM). The persons, according to Shabeel, have broken all organization links with moderate Salafi groups in Kerala.
The story of these Salafis was unveiled when 43-year-old Nalakath Salman, a native of Methalangadi in Areekode in Malappuram district, was caught as captive by Houthi rebels when they attacked Dammaj in 2014. Salman was, however, saved by Yemen army following the intervention of Indian Embassy. Instead of coming home, Salman managed to flee to Saudi Arabia.
Two years later, Noufal Kurikkal, along with Abdulla, Abdul Rahman and Basim Ali are reported to have gone missing from Malappuram and Eranakulam and media reports, quoting Intelligence sources, said that the trio had left for Dammaj.
“These cases denote the merging of a new trend which lays stress on the life of Prophet. Denying modernity and all kind of reforms, these Salafis believe that true Islam and Sunnah (path of Prophet) is followed only when a believer allows his beard to remain uncut and breed goats as Prophet did to earn his livelihood,” says P A Rasheed, former additional director of Kerala Public Relations Department and Calicut University Syndicate member. They term other Muslim groups Bidaees, which literally means those who make in Islam changes in opposition to Quran.
“Rational and modern thoughts have nothing to do with this group. This group represents the hard-line way of Islam,” Rasheed adds.
Salman’s kin deny any terror link of this group. “He has left home in search for Islamic knowledge and he is not involved in any kind of terror activities,” says Nalakath Bashar, brother of Salman.
Citing a host of facts, Rasheed says that the 15 members group might have gone to Dammaj to join the spiritual heaven of Salafis.
Intelligence officers have also confirmed that the missing persons from Kasargod were interested in farming, despite their experience as professionals.
Replica of Dammaj in Kerala
Interestingly, a commune on the lines of Dammaj is functioning at Athikkad in Nilambur of Malappuram district, far away from the public. Salafi preacher Zubair Mankada formed the commune, with 18 families, in 2007. The commune offers the families a puritan life akin to Prophet’s with an atmosphere of a 7th century Arab Bedouin village, with cattle and meadows.
However, the fleeing of the youths and alleged links with ISIS has brought the commune under police scanner. Six of the 18 families have left the group and the madrasa has stopped functioning, leaving the students of these families going to nearby schools.
The six families left the commune due to an internal split among the members, residing here. These include Zubair Mankad, a Salafi leader, who established the commune here. Zubair was forced to leave the group after other members questioned him for violating his own teachings. “In this commune, mixed education is not followed. He teaching in an institution, where girls and boys were taught together,” said one of the commune members Mujeeb Rahman.
According to Mujeeb, the commune came under police scanner when Yasir Amani, who left the commune, issued a complaint at Nilambur police station alleging that mysterious activities were taking place. Yasir, according to Mujeeb, left Athikkad due to personal opinion differences.
To add to this, one of the members Siddique took his son Adil to Sri Lanka to give him Islamic education in one of the Salafi centres, functioning there. This along with the missing of the youths aggravated the doubt of the local police and intelligence.
Though commune members deny any link with the missing youths, local reporters say that some of the persons, who went missing from Kasargod, used to visit the commune and police have confirmed that they were traveling between Tirur and Kasargod. Tirur is the nearest major railway station to reach the commune. Besides, intelligence has confirmed after holding talks with the relatives that some persons had visited the missing persons houses in Kasargod to teach them farming.
Muslim organizations disapprove trend
However, Muslim leaders in Kerala disapprove the new trend, saying such actions are a motive for extremists.
“They are misguided. This group has put the entire community under various allegations,” says Nizar
Olavanna of Ithihadu Shubbanil Mujahideen (ISM).
“Salafism, which heralded reformation, has turned to be the advocate of conservatism and religious rigidity,” says Dr. Zubair Hudawi of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.
“They are to some extent, killing our faith and culture by holding attempts to go back to the infancy of the religion. The community should go forward in line with the changes of modernity and should have a sense of rational other than strictly attaching to conservatism,” Rasheed says.