By Abdul Basith MA, TwoCircles.net,
Kooriyad [Malappuram]: The 85th annual conference of the Samastha Kerala Jam-iyyathul Ulema [SKJU] concluded here at the Varakkal Mullakoya Thangal Nagar on Sunday. The conference which lasted four days, since being inaugurated by the district president of Indian Union Muslim League(IUML) Syed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal last Thursday; discussed varied relevant issues and topics including the present Muslim life in Kerala, neo global Islamic vigilance and the present day threats and challenges faced by the community.
Besides being attended by the 25,000 permanent campers, now with the annual celebrations being organised after a long 15 years interval, had active participation from the EK fraction of Sunni’s who turned out to the place in thousands, towards the end of the four day conference. All dressed in white they reached the place raising slogans and vehicles were not allowed to pass through the adjacent NH 17 due to immense traffic for around five hours.
The concluding conference was inaugurated by Indian Union Muslim League [IUML] chairman Panakad Hyderali Shihab Thangal [Vice chairman, Samastha Kerala Jam-iyathul Ulema]. Kalambadi Muhammed Musliar presided over the function. Cherusheri Zainudhin Musliar, former Qatar Islamic board chief justice Sheikh Abdur Rehman Alu Mahmood, Minister of state for Human Resource E Ahmed and Kerala Industrial minister PK Kunjalikutty addressed the function.
[Photo Courtesy: http://islamicphotogallery.blogspot.in]
Hyderali Shihab Thangal said that, “the day won’t be too far when the community would kick away the one’s who defamed Islam through the ‘holy hair’ controversy.” He hoped the truth would soon come to limelight. “Samastha has been phenomenal in making the Mappila’s, a group who stands by moral values and justice, the improved state of Muslims in Kerala has close relations with the visionary tactics adopted by Samastha ”, said Thangal.
E Ahmed expressed his gratitude towards the scholarly organisation for waging their war against extremist thoughts and terrorism. “Though SKJU is by now 85 years old, with the sought of work they have done, it appears like they have been in the scenario for around three centuries” said Ahmed.
Kunjalikutty made it clear that, in matters related to the IUML, the party have always consulted Samastha for their valuable opinions, which since times have been of great help to Muslim League. “Samastha has been victorious in their endeavours because they were able share dais and cooperate with other Muslim fractions to find solutions to matters affecting the community as a whole” Kunjalikutty opined. Taking a dig at the Kanthapuram fraction Kunjalikutty, said that “being intolerant, some found their way out of the parental body [SKJU] because, Samastha was ready to share dais with other Muslims fractions, though they had ideological differences”.
Earlier IUML leader and Member of Parliament ET Muhammed Basheer inaugurated a seminar on ‘Minorities and their rights’, where he opined that minority appeasement is a term that has been widely used to violate basic constitutional rights of the minorities. He said that the social life and status of Muslims in Kerala is in no way comparable to the community’s miserable life out side the state. “The minorities in those states are privileged or appeased only from elections until the votes are counted”, said Basheer. He appreciated Samastha for its timely act of coming up with the Madrassa system, when the Muslim educational sector was at crisis in Kerala.
He was up against the CPIM for taking sides on the issue of ‘holy hair’. He added that IUML is not used to the habit of interfering in to the religious matters within the community, as Muslim scholars are the one’s obliged to finalise decisions on such issues, Basheer opined.
The conference theme asked the community to become ‘true witnesses’ of their own life. Samastha observed that, SKJU is the only organisational body which held the community intact preserving the traditional values. The conference turned out to become a platform for the SKJU leaders to mount attack on Kanthapuram, who according to them ‘has become the biggest threat’. The holy hair issue was again used as a weapon against the Kanthapuram Sunni’s but the conference condemned CPIM leader Pinarayi Vijayan for his statement, where he tried to interfere in to the community matters saying that, “hair is a body waste regardless of whether it is the Prophet’s or not.”
Samastha as a religious educational board, at present has 9118 Madrassas under it. Three members were selected from each ‘Madrassa circle’ for being the permanent campers in the conference all through the four days of programme and they were inspired and trained for tackling the present day challenges before the community through activities to be carried out on a ‘Mahal’ basis. The conference has decided and plotted practical measures to sophisticate Madrassa education and religious activities for a fruitful existence and later flourish of the community in India.
Samastha expressed its distress over the fact that despite sixty years of independence Muslims as a community is subject to extreme backwardness. It observed that, state have turned out to be a failure in preserving social justice as enshrined in the constitution. The conference shared an opinion that those commission reports portraying the pathetic situation of Muslims have stayed mere mathematical conclusions without being acted upon. The conference demanded the issue of a white paper regarding the backwardness of the community.
Samastha condemned America for their attempts to harass Islam through uncivilised methods like the recent incident of Quran being burnt at NATO centre in Afghanistan, ‘only devil’s could do such things’, said the conference.