Chennai/ Madras: Muslims
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Areas with a sizeable Muslim population
Authorship
Extracted from What are the most Muslim dominated areas in Chennai? | 2016-18| Quora
Authors: Akshay Chakravarthy, Ahmed, Balasubramanian Kailasam, CA Subramaniam Raghuraman, Muhammed Rafi, Venkataramani R, Mohammed Aslam
Notes
Chennai has slightly less Muslim population at around 10% compared to others such as Mumbai 22%, Kolkata 21%, Delhi 15%, Bengaluru 14%.
Pulianthope is an area once thought to be very sensitive for communal disharmony especially during Hindu festivals. Decades ago these were causes for communal clashes. Nowadays this Muslim ‘dominated’ area is rampant with broken marriages even when there is improvement in their educational, social and economic condition and there is low graph of crimes. Now a days people started living in harmony and brotherhood. There are no violent activities in recent years.
The localities
Alandur
Harbour area
Mannadi
Mount Road (some portions near Anna Flyover)
Parry’s Corner
Pattalam
Pulianthope
Ritchie street area ( Near The Hindu’s old office)
Royapettah
Thousand Lights
Triplicane (parts of)
History, contribution
A
Researcher highlights peaceful coexistence of Hindus and Muslims, AUGUST 20, 2009: The Hindu
“Muslims’ contribution is part of Madras history”
While talking about the history of Madras, the history of Muslims and the contribution that they have made to the city is never spoken about, said S. Anvar, researcher and historian.
The fact that the city has contributed a lot to Urdu literature has been completely forgotten. The city’s great tradition of Hindustani music also goes unsung, he added. He was speaking at a presentation on ‘Mosques and Muslims of Madras’ which was held at the Amir Mahal here as part of the ‘Madras Week’ celebrations on Wednesday.
To give some background to the Muslim presence in the city, he traced the route taken by early Arab traders who came to south India along the spice route and presented evidence to show that there was a sizeable Muslim population in the South as far back as the 7th century.
He said that there was a long history of peaceful co-existence between the Hindus and the Muslims which has been completely forgotten, and cited many examples of Muslim kings granting lands to temples and Hindu kings providing patronage for the construction of mosques.
The first mosque
“The first mosque to come up in Madras was built by a Hindu, Kasi Veeranna, also known as Cassa Verona. East India Company records show that he also had the alias Hasan Khan. That is our real past and tradition,” Mr.Anvar said.
The temple tank of the Kapaleeswarar temple was gifted by one of the Nawabs of Arcot and his only request from the temple authorities was to let Muslims use it one day every year during Ramzan.
“This continues even today, two centuries after the temple was built,” he said.
According to him, much of the divides we face in our society today stems from the misunderstanding the Europeans brought with them. “Their monolithic culture and religion could never comprehend the diversity of India and we are paying the price for it,” he said.
He also gave a brief summary about some of the significant architectural contributions made by Muslims in the city such as the Saidapet mosque, the Wallajah mosque, the Masjid-o-Anwari and the Chepauk palace. Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali introduced the speaker.
