Where Spices Met Faith: The Peaceful Spread of Islam in Kerala

  BY MUHAMMED NAFIH C K

 The spread of Islam through Arab traders was peaceful and respectful in South India, especially in Kerala`s Malabar region. This peaceful spread was largely due to Kerala`s long-standing openness to maritime trade and cultural exchange. Local rulers welcomed Arab merchants because they brought prosperity through pepper and spice trade rather than conquest. Unlike North India, where Islam often arrived through empires, in Kerala it came via traders by creating social relationships built on trust, marriage, and economic cooperation rather than political domination. Even during the period soon after Prophet Muhammed (7th century), Muslims were already present in Kerala. In fact, Kerala had been exporting spices to Arab regions even before the Prophet`s time. Jack Turner, in his book “Spice: The history of temptation”, says that the Kerala region had started exporting to the Arabs even before 3000 BCE(Turner,2004).

       Arab traders had strong ties with Kerala for thousands of years. Historian Hakeem Syed Shamsullah Qadiri wrote in his Urdu book “Malaibar" (1930) that Arabs came to Malabar even before the time of Alexander the Great. Ships from Kerala reached Yemen`s port city of Lufar and then carried goods through Hijaz to Syria, Egypt, and Rome. cities like Tadmur in Syria and Alexandria in Egypt were major trade centers. These routes helped spread not just goods, but also ideas and cultures including Islam.

       Trade between Kerala and the Middle East is even mentioned in the Bible. During the time of Prophets David and Solomon, ships were sent to places like Ophir and Tarshik (believed some to be in or near Kerala) to bring back gold, ivory, sandalwood, peacocks, and monkeys. The Bible also tells the story of Prophet Yusuf (Joseph), where Arab traders carried spices and incense from Lufar to Alexandria. Kerala`s pepper was so famous that Arabs called it “Biladul Fulful” (Land of Pepper). 

Around the 7th-8th centuries, the conversion of people to Islam began. Archaeologists have found the coins made by the Umayyad Dynasty in Kerala region, dating around the 7-8th centuries (Menon,1967).

UMAYYAD DYNASTY COINS
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The first group that came from Arabia to spread Islam in Kerala was led by Malik Dinar, they settled in the region, and they converted many people in the Malabar region to Islam. The oldest historical record which is related to Muslims in Kerala is from the 9th century, inscribed   on the Kollam (Quilon) Syrian copper plate. This suggests that Muslims had already become a significantly large population by then. Therefore, we can understand that the propagation of Islam in Kerala began around the 7th-8th centuries. The Arabs who arrived in Malabar married the local women and started families, which became a significant reason for the spread of Islam in Kerala.

KOLLAM (QUILON) SYRIAN COPPER 
PLATE
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Genetic studies on South Indian Muslims also show that Y-DNA markers from Arabian populations are present, proving Arab male ancestry. However, the absence of Arabian mitochondrial DNA (which passes only through mothers) suggests that Arab women did not migrate in large numbers (Samehsalari et al.,2023).

Historian M.G.S Narayanan points out that the mosques of the Muslim community were initially built by carpenters who were Hindus. because at that time, such construction work was done only by a sect of the Hindu religion. Therefore, early Muslim mosques can be seen to have more similarities with temples, such as Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kodungallur, one of India`s oldest mosques (Narayanan,2006).

CHERAMAN JUMA MASJID KODUNGALLUR
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The blending of architectural styles in early mosques, such as the Cheraman Juma Masjid, reflected how Islamic faith adapted to Kerala`s local traditions. This shows that Islam here was not just imported but indigenized through local culture.

One of the famous stories is about Cheraman Perumal, the King of Kodungallur. Arab travelers told him about Prophet Muhammed and the miracle of the moon splitting. The king was impressed and decided to convert to Islam. He traveled to Mecca to meet the Prophet but died on the way. This story is mentioned in “Tuhfathul Mujahideen” by Shaykh Zainuddin Makhdoom II. Historians like M.G.S Narayanan suggest that it may be a myth.

       There is some debate about which mosque was built first in Kerala. While many believe Cheraman Juma Masjid is the oldest (7th-8th centuries). But historians like M.G.S Narayanan suggest that the Cheraman Juma Masjid was probably built after the 15th century, because the famous Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta visited Calicut in Kerala in 1342. In his book “Al-Rihla”, he describes about the Muslim community at that time, cultures, and exportation in great detail. But in his book, not a single word is written about Cheraman Juma Masjid. Not only that, none of the travelers who visited Kerala before the 15th century mentioned the Cheraman Juma Masjid. Therefore,

M.G.S Narayanan suggests that Ponnani Thotungal Masjid might

be older (around 14th century). These discussions show how Kerala`s Islamic history is rich and complex (Narayanan,1996).

PONNANI THOTUNGAL MASJID
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Muslim scholars in Kerala also wrote important books. Shykh Zainuddin Makhdoom II wrote “Tuhfathul Mujahideen” in the 16th century, which talks about Islamic life and resistance against Portuguese rule. His grandfather, Zainuddin Makhdoom I, wrote “Tahril Ahlil Imani Alaa Jihadi Abaddati Zulban”, calling Muslims to defend their land. These books show that Kerala`s Muslims were not just traders, they were also thinkers and leaders. 

      The Zamorin kings (12th-17th centuries) who ruled Malabar, gave great importance to the Muslim community, Some British historians even described the Zamorin as the “King of Muslims”, though the Zamorins were Hindus. Moreover, Zamorin assigned the responsibility of ports such as polling and security to Muslims. He granted them the title “Koya”. Today, many Keralites still carry “Koya” as a family name. Zamorin had a strong navy, commanded by “Kunjali Marakkar” and was also led largely by Muslims (Narayanan,2006).

     In conclusion, the spread of Islam in Kerala represents a classic example of transoceanic flows where goods, people, and ideas moved together across the Indian ocean world. The Arab-Muslim traders who settled in Kerala created one of the earliest diaspora communities in the Indian Ocean world by maintaining cultural and economic ties with Arabia while deeply integrating into local society. The spread of Islam in Kerala, particularly in the Malabar region, was marked by peaceful exchanges rather than conquest. Through maritime trade, intermarriage, and shared prosperity, Islam became part of Kerala`s cultural mosaic. The good relationship between Muslim traders, Hindu rulers, and local people helped create Kerala`s unique culture of harmony and respect for all religions

 

 REFERENCES

1.Menon,A.S.(1967).A survey of Kerala history.Kottayam:National Book Stall.

2.Narayanan,M.G.S.(2006).Calicut:The city of truth(The city of truth revisited).Calicut:University of Calicut Press

3.Samehsalari,S.,Mohsenpour,K.,&Chandrasekar,A.(2023).South Indian Muslim mtDNA analysis.Journal of Genetic Resources,9(2),215-221

https://doi.org/10.22080/jgr.2023.25572.1361

4.Turner,J.(2004).Spice:The history of temptation.New York:A.Knopf

5.Narayanan, M. G. S. (1996). Perumāḷs of Kerala: Brahmin oligarchy and ritual monarchy—Political and social conditions of Kerala under the Cēra Perumāḷs of Makōtai (c. AD 800–AD 1124). CosmoBooks.

6.Malībārī, Z. al-D. ibn ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz. (2006). Tuḥfat al-mujāhidīn: A historical epic of the sixteenth century (T. M. H. Nainar, Trans.). Other Books. (Original work published ca. 16th century).