Kuttichira to fete Zamorin’s role in defending Mishkal Mosque tomorrow

KOZHIKODE: At a time when historical sites, including tombs linked to medieval Muslim rulers, are becoming flashpoints of controversy in the country, the Muslim community of Kuttichira here upholds a tradition of communal harmony -- one that enriches the true spirit of Ramzan. Their representatives will pay a thanksgiving visit to the descendants of Zamorins -- the erstwhile Hindu rulers of Malabar -- on Sunday, the 22nd day of Ramzan, for defending the historical Mishkal Mosque from a Portuguese attack on the very same day in 1510.

The visit also commemorates the Zamorin's act of retribution by capturing the Chaliyam Fort of the Portuguese in 1571 and reconstructing the mosque using the very remnants of the fort. This year, representatives of various organisations in Kuttichira -- including descendants of the Qazi family, the mosque committee and the Qazi Foundation -- will visit the Thiruvanoor residence of the present Zamorin, K C Unni Anujan Raja, on Sunday afternoon. The delegation, led by acting qazi of Kozhikode and qazi of Mishkal Mosque Safeer Saqafi, will also present a memento to him.

In 1510, when Portuguese forces led by Afonso de Albuquerque attempted to burn down the Mishkal Mosque, the then Zamorin dispatched a 500-member army, largely comprising Nair warriors. These warriors fought alongside local Muslims, and some of them even laid down their lives in resisting the attack, though part of the mosque was burnt down and its mihrab (pulpit) was destroyed. The mosque, established by Arab merchant Nakhooda Mishkal, still bears the scars of that attack.

"The thanksgiving visit on the 22nd day of Ramzan is a reaffirmation of our close social bonds of togetherness and harmony. We have been dutifully following it for the past decade to ensure that the history of camaraderie does not get drowned in the present-day controversies," said M V Ramsi Ismail, a descendant of the Qazi family and general secretary of the Qazi Foundation.

Ismail said the Portuguese specifically targeted the Mishkal Mosque to wedge a divide in the warm relations that existed between the Arabs and Zamorins. "Kuttichira is completely a Muslim neighbourhood, but it has some prominent places of worship of other communities on its boundaries -- like the Shri Bhagwan Kalikund Parshvanath Jain Temple and the Gujarati temple. The communities have been living in amity," he said.

Historian P Sivadasan said the Mishkal-Zamorin bond had more significance in today's context, where attempts to steer the country away from the spirit of cultural symbiosis and to rake up ownership disputes over religious sites were on the rise. "The Zamorin's forces were able to crush the Portuguese in 1571 and capture the Chaliyam Fort, which was the first defeat suffered by Europeans in India. The fort was dismantled and in a symbolic gesture, the Zamorin provided timber from the fort to repair the Mishkal Mosque," he said.