A clan from Yemen and history of Malabar
There was one family in Malabar
whose socio-religious standing the British authorities feared the most for its
potential to inspire and mobilise the natives, especially Muslims, against the
colonial rulers. It was the descendants of this family, including the most
influential member of it, Syed Fazl Thangal, that the authorities furtively
extradited to Arabia in March 1852 and ensured that they never returned to the
coast of Malabar.
Who was this Syed Fazl Thangal?
How and why he and his family including his famous father, Syed Alawi Thangal,
a member of the Ba Alawi clan from Hadhramaut in Yemen, who arrived in Malabar
in February 1768 and settled at Mamburam in Malappuram district, to be later
known as the Mamburam Thangal, was an important figure in the history of
Malabar and its anti-colonial engagements?
The book
A book ‘Mappila Leader in Exile—a
political biography of Syed Fazl Thangal’ authored by K.K. Muhammad Abdul
Sathar, history professor and head of the History Department, PSMO College
Tirurangadi in Malappuram, attempts to give an answer to theses questions while
also throwing some light on the socio-political environment of the region
during the colonial times.
