Malik Dinar Mosque
Kasaragod acquired over the years, considerabl importance as a centre of Islam on the west coast. It is the side of one of the mosques believed to have been founded by Malik Ibn Dinar. The mosque, Juma Masjid, which is one one of the best kept and mosque attractive in the district, is located at Thalankara. It contains the grave of Malik Ibn Mohammed, one of the descendants of Malik Ibn Dinar and the places is sacred to Muslims. Another notable mosque, in Kasaragod is the Theruvath Mosque which is in the centre of the town. An important local celebration takes place every year in commemoration of the arrival of Malik Ibn Dinar. The Uroos attract pilgrims from all over India.
Malik bin Deenar or Malik Ibn Dinar was a Tabi‘in. He is famous for being the first to bring Islam to India.
In 624 AD, Malik bin Deenar and 12 of his trade associates landed in Kerala[1], and continued the trade between India and Arabia. Their way of trading however was distinctly different from that of earlier Arab traders and the populace was wooed to Islam.
The King of the time, Cheraman Perumal, came to know of the surprising trade practices of these Arabs and had them brought to his palace. On enquiry, Malik Bin Deenar and his comrades related the reason for their honest trade practices to be their recent conversion to Islam.
The king asked them to explain Islam. They discussed the tenets of Islam and talked about Muhammad. The king then wanted to know if there was any proof that Muhammad was a prophet. The traders said Muhammad had performed supernatural deeds, including the Shaqq Al Qamar or the splitting of the moon into two.
The King then summoned his Hindu Astrologers who consulted their almanacs and reported a similar phenomenon recorded by them. The King forthwith abdicated his throne and left with Malik Bin Deenar for Arabia where it is chronicled that he met the Prophet Muhammad and performed the famous Last Hajj with him. On his journey back, he was drowned in a tempest which destroyed his ship and his body came ashore at Salalah, Oman where his grave is a famous landmark today.
History of Islam in India
ReplyDeleteJama Masjid, Delhi, one of the largest mosques in Asia-Pacific region.[5]Contrary to popular belief, Islam came to South Asia prior to Muslim invasions of India. Islamic influence first came to be felt in the early 7th century with the advent of Arab traders. Trade relations between Arabia and the subcontinent are very ancient. Arab traders used to visit the Malabar region, which was a link between them and ports of South East Asia, to trade even before Islam had been established in Arabia. According to Historians Elliot and Dowson in their book The History of India as told by its own Historians, the first ship bearing Muslim travelers was seen on the Indian coast as early as 630 AD. H.G. Rawlinson, in his book: Ancient and Medieval History of India[6] claims the first Arab Muslims settled on the Indian coast in the last part of the 7th century AD. Shaykh Zainuddin Makhdum’s “Tuhfat al-Mujahidin” also is a reliable work[7].This fact is corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts Manuals[8], and also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV.[9] It was with the advent of Islam that the Arabs became a prominent cultural force in the world. The Arab merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they propagated it wherever they went.[10]
Muslim neighborhood in Delhi circa 1852.The first Indian mosque was built in 629 A.D, at the behest of Cheraman Perumal, during the life time of Muhammad (c. 571–632) in Kodungallur by Malik Bin Deenar.[11][12][13]
In Malabar, the Mappilas may have been the first community to convert to Islam because they were more closely connected with the Arabs than others. Intensive missionary activities were carried out along the coast and a number of natives also embraced Islam. These new converts were now added to the Mappila community. Thus among the Mapilas, we find, both the descendants of the Arabs through local women and the converts from among the local people[14]
In the 8th century, the province of Sindh (in present day Pakistan) was conquered by an Arab army led by Muhammad bin Qasim. Sindh became the easternmost province of the Umayyad Caliphate.
In the first half of the 10th century, Mahmud of Ghazni added the Punjab to the Ghaznavid Empire and conducted several raids deeper into modern day India. A more successful invasion came at the end of the 12th century by Muhammad of Ghor. This eventually led to the formation of the Delhi Sultanate.
vry nice
ReplyDeleteHazrat Malek ibn Dinar(raz)
ReplyDeleteHe was the First Sahaba to visit India