Islam in Kerala

Islam arrived in Kerala, the Malayalam-speaking region in the south-western tip of India, through Middle Eastern merchants. The Indian coast has an ancient relation with West Asia and the Middle East, even during the pre-Islamic period.

Kerala Muslims or Malayali Muslims from north Kerala are generally referred to as Mappilas. Mappilas are but one among the many communities that forms the Muslim population of Kerala. According to historian M. G. S. Narayanan and other scholars, the early members of Muslim Mappila community originated from the descendants of children born to non muslim Arab traders and native women along the Malabar coast, before Islam. These early individuals were referred to as ma-ppila, as they did not belong to any existing caste group. Arab traders often stayed on the Malabar coast for extended periods, sometimes up to three months, while waiting for the reverse monsoon winds, during which some formed temporary relationships with local women, often in exchange for money. The offspring of such unions were not accepted into any Hindu caste and came to be known as ma-ppila.

After the rise of Islam in Arabia, many among these mappilas embraced the new faith. However, the majority of present-day Mappilas estimated to constitute around 90 percent are considered descendants of lower-caste Hindus, mainly Dalits, who converted to Islam at a later stage to escape caste based oppression. Conversion to non-Hindu religions offered them social freedom, as the Brahmanical order did not define how such converts should be treated. Scholars note that these conversions were motivated primarily by the desire for social emancipation rather than by theological comparison between the Bhagavad Gita and the Qur’an.

Even after India’s independence, the practice known as Arabikalyanam (“Arab marriage”) remained prevalent in the districts of Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode, and Malappuram, where visiting Arabs offered money or wealth in exchange for temporary marriages with Mappila women. Several Mappila families in Kozhikode and Malappuram accumulated considerable wealth through these arrangements. As per some studies, the term "Mappila" denotes not a single community but a variety of Malayali Muslims from Kerala (former Malabar District) of different origins. Some were called 'Moors' in Kasargod district. Unlike the common misconception, the caste system does exist among the Muslims of Kerala. Muslims in Malabar are also known as Jonakar (similar to Tamil name  – சோனகர், Cōṉakar  – for Sri Lankan Moors), Koya, and Kaka (meaning “crow,” referring to its characteristics). During the colonial period, an unusual practice called Hal-ilakkam (running amok) was reportedly common among the Mappilas of Malappuram, in which a priest would select a mentally disturbed or emotionally vulnerable person, such as someone whose wife had been abducted, to incite him into attacking non-Muslims as a means of regaining his lost honour. This practice is described in detail by Lance Corporal Vincent J. Ryder of the Cheshire Regiment, in his 1907 book 'Two Years in Malabar'. The Muslims of Southern and Central Kerala or the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore are known as Methanmar and Rowthers.

Muslims in Kerala share a common language (Malayalam) with the rest of the non-Muslim population and have a culture commonly regarded as the Malayali culture. Most of the Muslims in Kerala follow Sunni Islam of Shāfiʿī School of thought. Kerala's Muslim community has a higher Total Fertility Rate (TFR) compared to other religious groups in the state, with a TFR of 2.25, nearly double that of other religious groups in Kerala. If a typical Hindu family has 2 children, a typical Muslim family in Kerala, based on the TFR ratio, would have around 3 children.