India: Joint efforts to preserve 16th century mosque

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - It seemed a normal winter January morning in the coastal city of Ponnani in Kerala, India, with merchants and fishermen going about their business in the market, but one sight stood out: a group of men were using spades to take apart part of a mosque dating back some 500 years.

Little did anyone know that the 16th century mosque, known as Misri Palli, a potential heritage site, would find its historic redemption with the help of a public official who was actually not a Muslim.

“It was afternoon of Jan. 9 when the committee members of the Misri Palli [mosque] were busy dismantling [a section of] the old mosque,” said Hasanul Banna, a journalist with Kerala-based popular newspaper the Madhyamam.

Some locals said that the mosque building was too old, with its wooden beams weakened in some places, running the risk of collapse at any moment, so the mosque committee decided to take parts of it apart and renovate it.

But when the work attracted attention, some people contacted a local legislator, P Sreeramakrishnan, who rushed to the site and stopped the work, so it could be done properly, he said.

“Sreeramakrishnan called a meeting of the mosque committee and convinced its members not to dismantle it so that it is preserved under the Muziris-Ponnani heritage conservation project,” he told Anadolu Agency from Kerala.

“But by that time a quarter of the structure had already been demolished.”

- Age-old mosque

Habeebul Rahman, a sociologist at Jamia Millia Islamia University in the Indian capital New Delhi, said that the mosque is about 500 years old and is popularly known as the Misri Palli or Egyptian mosque.

“It was built using local technology and architecture of that time,” Rahman, who comes from Ponnani, told Anadolu Agency.

“Clay tiles paved on wooden bars constitute the mosque’s roof and pillars. The mosques of that time in Kerala had two parts -- the inner masjid and outer masjid,” he explained.

“The natives, mostly fishermen, are largely unaware of the importance of preserving heritage in the region,” Rahman added.

- Kerala: Popular trade route

Locals say that a Hindu ruler of the region in the 16th century, Zamorin or Samoothiri, had made contacts with foreign traders.

“The ruler is said to have taken many relief measures for Muslim traders, including patronage of the mosques,” said Yasir PV, a policy analyst and advisor to P Sreeramakrishnan.

Ponnani is a cosmopolitan port city in Kerala, a state known to be a trade route for thousands of years in the Indus basin with the outside world, including with Arabs, Turks, Japanese and Dutch.

“Its significance marks the fact that the Nila River valley is rich with naval excellence, so it became a hub for Dutch, English colonialism and mercantilism,” said Yasir.

“Moreover, it has a great tradition of knowledge where foreign scholars would come and transfer knowledge to the people of the sub-continent.”

The Nila River flows through Ponnani to the waters of the Arabian Sea.

- Sheikh’s legacy

Islam is said to have reached the region in 7th century during the times of the prophet Muhammad.

“The Portuguese military tried to conquer Ponnani but were resisted under the leadership of Sheikh Zainudheen Makhdhoom in defense of Hindu ruler Zamorin,” said Yasir.

Makhdhoom was a revered Muslim spiritual leader and scholar, and Zamorin maintained harmonious relationship with Muslims of the region.

Makhdhoom’s grand mosque of Ponnani, a center of knowledge, was built around 1510 AD.

Locals recall stories they heard from their ancestors (documented in archival sources too) that before the first attack on Ponnani in the late 14th century, Portuguese forces had spread tensions in Ponnani and in the territories under Zamorin.

Seeking to defend the ruler, Makhdhoom sent letters to Turks, Egyptians, and to the people of Zanzibar for help.

“In 1505, Egyptian warriors came to Ponnani to defend Zamorin,” Yasir recounted.

“These Egyptian warriors built a mosque in the land allotted by a family for them to camp in their barracks. As the mosque was erected -- which at that time was the second in the town of Ponnani -- the Kammalikanakam family endowed this land and named it Misri [Egyptian] mosque as a tribute to these soldiers.”

Modern-day Ponnani boasts some 45 mosques.

- Muziris-Ponnani heritage conservation project

After word of the mosque’s renovation spread this January, P Sreeramakrishnan, the legislator, summoned officials from the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), including conservation, heritage and architectural experts, to submit a sensitive plan for the project.

“The Muziris-Ponnani heritage conservation project is rejuvenating corridors, old houses, rare texts, as well, to document the oral history of the assembly constituency,” Yasir PV told Anadolu Agency.

The project to renovate the mosque is set to cost some $50,000, said Yasir.

“The plan is to retrieve the bygone glory of this cosmopolitan town by creating knowledge centers and preserving heritage,” he added.

P Sreeramakrishnan, a legislator form the Communist Party of India (Marxist), told Anadolu Agency that the region has a rich legacy. “I am obliged to the locals who are generous and accepted my request. It is our duty to preserve our legacy.”

“Safeguarding these values is significant at a time when communal tensions are being reported. India is a harbinger of unity that has welcomed people from various identities,” he explained.

Being Indian should mean being “harmonious with all sectors” of society, added Sreeramakrishnan, who is also the speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly.