Chekannur Moulavi
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A martyred reformist
Remembering Chekannur | JULY 26, 2017 | The Hindu
[In 1993] Chekannur Moulavi, a well-known Islamic scholar and religious reformer, disappeared mysteriously. His followers believe that the Moulavi had been murdered by religious fundamentalists who did not take his views on reforms within Islam too lightly.
Sakkeer B.V., secretary of the Koran Sunnath Society founded by the Moulavi, said that those who conspired to murder the Moulavi were still not behind bars as there was no evidence to prove their involvement in the case. “We all know that a well-known Muslim religious leader was behind the murder. This person has not been arrested and only the hired assassins have been nabbed,” he said.
“The Moulavi had opposed the practice of triple talaq years ago. Now, many among Muslims are accepting that argument,” Mr. Sakkeer said.
Abdurahman Mahe, president of the society, said the Moulavi’s reformist ideas assumed relevance at a time when non-Muslims were being threatened that their limbs would be cut off if they did not embrace Islam. He alleged that the community was attaching more importance to rituals and was ignoring the essence of Islam.
The Moulavi had opposed the practice of triple talaq years ago
Sakkeer B.V
Koran Sunnath Society
Karassery on the Moulavi
Mohiyuddin Nadukkandiyil Karassery has got threatening calls
Malayalee scholar MN Karassery's fight against religious fundamentalism will continue beyond elections in Kerala, where political parties have been reaching out to communities in run up to the May 16 polls
After "Gulf Bazaar", "Dubai Gold" shop, burkha-clad women and palatial houses, the serene hilly roads lead to the modest house of activist and writer Mohiyuddin Nadukkandiyil Karassery, who is fighting an almost lone battle against religious fundamentalism.
At a time when political parties- Left, Right or Centre– play to the tune of various religious sections in the run up to elections, Karassery says no party is brave enough to risk facing the ire of vote banks.
The 65-year-old scholar popularly known as MN Karassery castigates both Islamism and Hindutva as two sides of the same coin. The campaigning for Kerala's polling on May 16 came to an end on Saturday, but Karassery's battle will continue way beyond elections and politics.
It was during the agitations after the disappearance of Chekannur Moulavi, who had advocated several radical reforms, in the 1990s that Karassery got an anonymous call threatening that he would be next. "I asked him if he was brave enough to reveal his name and he disconnected the phone. These are cowards," he said.
His mission has left him with several enemies and few friends. Like Moulavi, Karassery too was seen as a threat by fundamentalists. He is undeterred by the threat letters and calls. "Very few people like me. There is no forum or association of people fighting fundamentalism," he said smiling.
"Chekannur fought superstition and blind belief and he was killed. For 19 years we agitated... Everyone knows about Govind Pansare (CPI leader) and MM Kalburgi (Kannada writer and rationalist, but who knows about Chekannur Moulvi. No politician raised the issue in the assembly," he said.
Karassery was apparently referring to the reluctance of the state parties-- Congress-led UDF and CPM-led LDF– to upset the Muslims, in a state where the community comprises 26.6 per cent of the population. According to him, though the Left claimed to be secular it had allied with fundamentalist outfits like Abdul Nasser Madani's People's Democratic Party.
"The Communists criticise Hindutva politics but keep silent about Muslim fundamentalism. The Congress also does the same thing. Neither are brave enough and they fear angering their vote banks," he said.
On the assertion of Muslim identity, Karassery said it has a history of around twenty years in the state. "They are imitating the life of the Arabs in gulf, in the houses they build, food, dress, customs, hugging and even greeting in Arabic at times."
According to Karassery, who has been writing on gender equality and done his PhD in Mappila paattu (folk song tradition of Muslims), the Islamism upheld by Jamaat--E--Islami was a threat to democracy. He said pan-Islamic Maududi visualised Muslims as part of Islamic nation and propagated a regime managed by clergy.
Court convicts one accused
Chekannur Moulavi;court convicts one accused | SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 | The Hindu
Hamsa_Case
CBI Special Court Judge S. Vijayakumar on Wednesday convicted V. V. Hamsa, the first accused in a case relating to the murder of Chekannur P. K. Mohammed Abdul Hassan Moulavi, a Malappuram-based Islamic scholar.
According to the CBI, he was abducted on July 29, 1993 from his home at Edapal and killed. The court will pronounce the sentence to be awarded to the accused on Thursday.
The court acquitted all the other eight accused in the case as offence against them had not been proved. The court found that the first accused had committed offences punishable under sections 302 (murder), 120 B (Conspiracy) read 364 (abduction), and 201 (destruction of evidence) of Indian Penal Code.
Hamsa was remanded to the Ernakulam sub- jail after delivering the verdict.
The Moulavi was found missing since he left his home along with some unidentified persons in July 29, 1993.The CBI took over the investigation on a directive from the High Court in 1996.
The court while convicting Hamsa said that all the proved facts and broad circumstances of the case were “conducive with the theory of murder of Chekannur”.The court pointed out that after killing Moulavi, the dead body was disposed off in some mysterious manner so as never to be recovered. It was established that Hamsa along with the un-identified co-abductor had entered into a criminal conspiracy for the murder of Moulavi.
The court noted that “as part of the conspiracy, the first accused and his companion tactfully abducted Moulavi so that he may be murdered. They then moved him to some secret place with the help of conspirators, murdered him and disposed of his body secretly and mysteriously”.
The court observed that “in the present day world of personal grudge, religious rivalries and physical violence, criminals seek to achieve a stage of being wiser than our criminal law. That cannot be allowed at any rate in a developed criminal legal system as ours'.
The first accused, who along with another person had been proved to have abducted Chekannur. It cannot be believed for a moment that he had let Moulavi free. It was evident that the abduction in itself was the result of a conspiracy of some fundamentalist individuals among the Muslims who could not tolerate the so called progressive philosophies of Chekannur. They wanted to put an end to this philosopher rather than debating his philosophy, the court observed.
