By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net,
Kochi: Cutting across all sorts of affiliations, Kerala today is mourning the death of veteran Muslim League leader Shihab Thangal as CM, his colleagues and central ministers are paying their homage to the departed leader who was president of state unit of Muslim League for three decades.
Muslim League Kerala state president Panakkad Syed Muhammedali Shihab Thangal died at a private hospital in Malappuram yesterday. He was 73. The funeral will take place at 4 pm today at the Panakkad Juma Masjid. The body will be kept in the Malappuram Town Hall till 3 pm for the public to see.
Syed Muhammedali Shihab Thangal [Photo by malayamma]
Shihab Thangal was admitted to a private hospital in Malappuram early on Saturday morning after he fell down at his residence. He felt some physical discomfort at around 8.30 pm and was immediately shifted to the Intensive Care Unit. The great leader of the Muslim community departed this world within 15 minutes. The body was taken to the ancestral residence (‘Kodappanakkal Tharavadu’) at Panakkad in Malappuram by 9.30 pm.
Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and central minister Vayalar Ravi were among the many that came to Malappuram to pay final homage to the leader. The CM reached Malappuram Town Hall at around 10.30 am today. State ministers and other socio-political leaders also came to Malappuram to see the leader for the last time. People from different parts of the state are also flowing to Malappuram to have a last glimpse of the dear leader.
Thangal was the president of the state Muslim League for more than three decades. But he never opted for a parliamentary position and never even once contested elections to parliamentary bodies. The unexpected demise of Thangal, regarded as spiritual leader by Keralites irrespective of religion, was a great shock to the people. People began to flow to Panakkad at night itself on hearing the news.
Shihab Thangal was born on May 4, 1936 as the son of PMSA Pookoya Thangal and Ayisha Beevi. After completing religious and formal education in the state, he went to the Al Azhar University in Cairo for higher studies. He studied there from 1958 to 1961. He then joined the Cairo University and studied there for five years. He learned Arabic and did a three-year course in Sufism. He had good mastery over Arabic language and literature. Thangal began writing articles when studying in Egypt.
Shihab Thangal who was a great lover of books and literature took up the leadership of the Muslim League after the death of his father in 1975. Since then he was the state president of the party. He led the Muslim League from the front in achieving great heights in its political career. But he was much more than a party president to the common people. People, irrespective of religion and political orientation, loved and respected this staunch advocate of peace and communal harmony.
Thangal married Shareefa Fathima Beevi, daughter of Abdurahman Bafaqi Thangal who was the president of the Muslim League, in 1961. Shareefa Beevi died in 2006 when Thangal was in the USA for a medical treatment. They have five children – Shareefa Zuhra Beevi, Shareefa Fairoos Beevi, Shareefa Sameera Beevi, Basheerali Shihab Thangal and Munawarali Shihab Thangal. After the demise of Shareefa Fathima Beevi, Thangal married Ayisha Beevi.