MAKKAN PILGRIMAGE FROM MALABAR IN MEDIEVAL TIMES- THE DESCRIPTION OF THE TRAVELERS
Dr.Hussain Randathani
The relation between Malabar, in South India and Makkah existed from time immemorial. Makkah had been the centre of attraction of the world because its commercial importance and the presence of Ka’ba- the ancient temple of Abraham . The trading cities of Ukaz and Makkah were profuse with the products of Malabar particularly the pepper and the Indian swords. When Makkah came under the control of the Quraysh tribe, it developed into a noted trading centre, place of pilgrimage and the site of festivals chiefly remarkable for intensely fought poetic competitions and the excessive behavior of idolaters. When prophet Muhammed started his preaching of Islam at Makkah, its eminence rose to the extent that it became the centre of Islamic revival under Prophet Muhammad It became the holiest of city of Islam and the pilgrimage to Makkah became an obligatory act up on Muslims. Until Jedda developed into a port the route to Makkah from the east was through Indian ocean reaching south Arabian port Eden and taking land route to Makkah. It was with the accession of Uthman, the third pious caliph Jeddah was developed into a port for facilitating the pilgrimage.
In Malabar there existed the tradition of the conversion of a king at the feet of Muhammad after witnessing the split of the moon, the celebrated miracle of the prophet. The king Banapperumal of Malabar by seeing the miracle enquired about the source and by realizing that it was the miracle of the prophet, he set out for sail to reach Makkah and visit the prophet in the fifth year of Hijrah.[1] Though there exists a chronological variation regarding the conversion of the king, the story goes on to say that the king had embraced Islam at the feet of the prophet. Some have even inclined to think that there is the possibility of the conversion of two Perumal kings of Malabar who had embraced Islam-one at the time of the prophet and another one century after the death of prophet. The traditions prevailing among the natives of Malabar, the folk tales and oral history affirms the king Cheraman Perumal had left for Makkah and had converted to Islam. One tradition goes like this: Cheraman Perumal Rama Varma Kulashekhara saw the miracle of splitting of moon, while he was relaxing on the rooftop of his palace in Kodungallore,[2] in a moonlit night. The king had come to know about Islam through Arab merchants and became more curious to know about the Prophet and his religion when he knew that the splitting of the moon was the work of the prophet.
About this time a group of Arabs from came to Kodungallore and approached the king to get permission to visit Ceylon, the present Sri Lanka, where they wanted to visit the mountain which has the footsteps of Adam.[3] King Cheraman asked his Arab guests about the miraculous moon-splitting incident. Sahiruddhin gave convincing reply to all the questions asked by the king. Cheraman then expressed his desire to embrace Islam and travel with them to meet the Prophet. Before going to Makkah, the king divided his Kingdom into three parts and appointed his sons and nephews to rule each province. He also visited many of his relatives and employees to give them instructions. The Arab visitors returned to Kodungallore from Ceylon to take the King along with them on their way back to Arabia. The party arrived at Shehr Muqlla and proceeded to Makkah where the king and his party met with the Prophet.[4] Another story narrated by the sufi saint, Umar Suhrawardi who visited Malabar in about sixteenth century also reveals the story of the conversion of the King Cheraman Perumal. Rihalat al Muluk of Umar Suhrawardi gives the story of Cheraman Perumal that he reached Makkah in 701 AD during the caliphate of al Walid. He and his party stayed in Arabia for twelve years and met the last disciple of the prophet, Anas bin Malik. On his way back to Malabar he died at Shahr Muqallah in 94 AH/713 AD[5] . According to the version given by Suhrawardi, the king and his party reached Basara where Malik b. Dinar and his relatives received them. At Basara they were initiated to the faith by Jafar b. Sulyaman. From Basara they moved to Arabia and stayed there for about twelve years. In 94 (713 AD) the party returned to Malabar, and on the way the Perumal died at Shehar Muqalla.[6]
Keralolpathi written by Dr. Herman Gundert speaks of two Chera Kings who went to Makkah. One Banaperumal after embaracing Boudha shastra (the religion of Buddha) went to Makkah. At the same time Gundert claims that Banaperumal had converted to Christianity. Whether the king had been converted to Christianity or Buddism, the doubt exists, why he had gone to Makkah. If the king had gone to Makkah it can be ascertained that he might have embraced Islam. The second Perumal who had gone to Makkah as mentioned in Keralolpathi is Cheraman Perumal. [7] It is also to be noted that the pilgrims landed at Shahr Muqallah which was the main port of Indian Ocean and Jeddah was not yet become a significant port at that time. Malik Dinar after constructing mosques and appointinting qazis in Malabar from among his relatives, he went to Makkah for Pilgrimage through Maldieves and there he converted the raja of Mahal dweep to Islam. He proceded to Makkah in 121 AH/738 AD and on his return to Malabar he brought with him more disciples. He remained at Kasargod, on the north of Malabar, in the mosque which later came to be called as Malik Dinar mosque. From here again he left for Shahar Muqallah[8]
The chronicles are almost silent on the pilgrimage of Muslims to Makkah in the early centuries of Islam except that one Zamorin raja of Calicut who after converting to Islam started for Makkah and on the way he died at in Dhofarr in Oman. His grave is often referred as that of Abdu Rahman Samiri but some claims that the grave is of Cheraman Perumal (Shakruti fermal). However the name Samiri indicates that it was that of a Zamorin who is said to have embraced Islam somewhere in thirteenth century at the influence of some Muslim missionaries in Calicut. It is said that the Zamorin accepted the name Abdu Rahman and went to Makkah where he presented a robe of honour to Ka’ba . On his return to Malabar, he died at Dhofar where his grave still exists with the name that of Abdu Rahman Samiri.[9]
Ibn Battuta,[10] the world traveler of fourteenth century gives vivid descriptions on the sea as well as land routes reaching Makkah from different parts of the world. Every where the learned men hailed from different countries and Ibn Battuta though not learned he was respected as an Arab from West Asia.[11] Ibn Battuta was also respected because he had performed hajj four times through different routes within thirty years of travelling. He started his journey with the intention of performing pilgrimage but his spirit of adventure made him a traveler throughout the world form east to west. He covered more than 70000miles covering Asia, Africa and Europe. [12]
We have an interesting Chinese account of one Muslim adventurer and trader Cheng Ho[13], a Muslim adventurer from China, who started for Makkah from Calicut in 1432. Cheng ho and his party sailed from Calicut and after covering 2500 sea miles reached Makkah. He covered an average of twenty six miles a day. He landed at Jeddah (Chih-ta) and there was a great chief who controls the place. From Jeddah Cheng Ho travelled west wards and after one day reached Makkah.[14] The traveler gives the following description on Makkah: “All round it on the outside is a wall; this wall has four hundred and sixty-six openings; on both sides of the openings are pillars all made of white jade-stone; of these pillars there are altogether four hundred and sixty-seven-along the front ninety-nine, along the back one hundred and one, along the left-hand side one hundred and thirty-two, [and] along the right-hand side one hundred and thirty-five. The Hall is built with layers of five-coloured stones; in shape it is square and flat-topped. Inside, there are pillars formed of five great beams of sinking incense wood, and a shelf made of yellow gold. Through out the interior of the walls , the walls are formed of clay mixed with rose water and ambergris, exhaling a perpetual fragrance. Over the hall is a covering of black hemp-silk. They keep two black lions to guard the door. Every year on the tenth day of the twelfth moon all the foreign Muslims--in extreme cases making a long journey of one or two years-come township inside the Hall. Everyone cuts off a piece of the hemp-silk covering as a memento before he goes away. When it has been completely cut away, the king covers over [the Hall] again with another covering woven in advance; this happens again and again, year after year, without intermission.”[15] From Calicut Cheng ho selected seven men including an interpreter who were brought to Makkah with a load of musk, porcelain articles and other such things. Ma Huan, the author of the book also mentions that the King of Makkah sent an envoy called Shavan to China in 1451.[16]
Although quantitative data on Hajj before the nineteenth century are scarce, a few outlines of the changes in patterns of religious travelling can nevertheless be sketched. These changes related to the nodal points of travelling, to the system of routes as well as to the size and composition of the groups of the travellers concerned.[17] Along with the growth of Makkah, new centres of pilgrimage emerged such as Jerusalam, Najaf, Karbala etc., and emergence of these centres of pilgrimage increased the flow of travellers on land routes in Asia, South-East Europe and North Africa and on sea routes in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.[18] The actual size of these flows in the course of time is not exactly known, but their importance can be glimpsed through a few scraps of evidence and some general observations in the literature on pilgrimage. Michael Pearson has calculated the flow of people making the hajj by sea or land from India in the period between c.1500 and 1800 at some 15,000 per year.[19]
As Pearson’s study on the hajj from India has shown, the coming of the Portuguese around 1500 did not spell a major break in the existing pattern of religious travelling in the Arabian Seas. Although the Portuguese initially had the ambition to block all Red Sea traffic, including the Mecca pilgrimage, entirely they soon switched to a system of passes, joined with custom duties, which meant that any ship with pilgrims sailing to or from India that was provided with the required Portuguese documents could proceed unhindered.[20] The appearance of the Dutch and English trading companies in Asian waters around 1600 did not hamper the pilgrim traffic either. The companies normally did not obstruct the passage of these religious travellers.
However, the statement of Pearson is doubtful. Vasco da Gama and his Portuguese men inflicted atrocities on Muslim when he inaugurated an era of colonialism in Malabar. His target was Muslims and he did his best to destroy the Muslim monopoly in the Indian Ocean trade. Shaikh Zainuddin, the author of Tuhfat al Mujahideen says: “They oppressed the Muslims, corrupted them and committed all kinds of ugly infamous deeds, too bad to be described. The Portuguese scoffed at the Muslims, and held them up to scorn…..They prevented the Muslims from journeys especially their pilgrimage to Makkah. They plundered their properties, burnt their cities, and mosques, seized their ships and trod down the Quran and other books under their feet and burnt them away…. How many sayyids, learned men and nobles, they captured and tortured and put to death! Howmany Muslim men and women they converted to Christianity….[21]. At Calicut in 1501,Vasco da Gama captured a passenger ship carrying Muslim passengers home to Calicut from a pilgrimage to Makkah. After looting the ship Vasco da Gama set fire to it deliberately burning to death hundreds of women and children.[22]
In the absence of original documents, the descriptions of the travelers are the only source of information on hajj pilgrimage during medieval period. The travelers often gave exaggerated accounts, which could only be corrected either comparing them with those of different travelers or with the accounts given in the in the Quran and the traditions. It is also to be noted that, the Muslims of Malabar coast always preferred sea routes for Hajj and no information is available on pilgrimage through land routes, since there is no need to prefer a tedious way to the Hajj.
[1] Akbar Shah Khan Najibabadi, Ain-e Haqiqat namah, n.d., pp.46-58; Mammad Koya Parappil, Kozhikkotte Muslimkalude Charithram, Kozhikode, 1994, p.34. The incident relating to the King is documented in an old manuscript in the India Office Library, London, which has reference number: Arabic, 2807, 152-173.Muhammad Hamidullah, Introduction to Islam, Lahore,1969.
[2] The place also called as Cranganur or Muziris was the chief ancient port of South India. It was the capital of early Malabar kings called Perumals
[3] Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka ascribe it to where Adam, the first Ancestor, set foot as he was exiled from the Garden of Eden. Buddhists regard it as the footprint of the Lord Buddha and Hindus as that of Lord Shiva
[4] Muhammed Koya Parappil, op.cit., p.34; This incident is well documented by M. Hamidullah in his book, Muhammed Rasulullah, See also William Logan, Malabar Manual, Madras, 1950.
[5] Sayed Mohideen Shah, Islam in Kerala, Thrissur, p. 23, When we analyse the Cheraman Perumal episode there is every possibility to believe that two Perumal Kings had visited Makkah, one directly met the prophet and converted at his feet by accepting the name Tajuddin and the latter visited Makkah in 701 AD and performed Hajj along with Malik bin Dinar and his disciples.
[6] ‘Umar b. Muhammad Suhrawardi, Rihlat al Muluk, Mal. Trans., Abdu Rahman, K, pp. 20-22.
[7] Herman Gundert, Keralolpathi, Balan publications, Trivandrum, 1961 (First Published in 1843) p. 32.
[8] Shaikh Zainuddin, Tufat al Mujahideen, tr., M.H Nainan, Madras, 1943, p.39
[9] Sayyid Shah Kabir Tanafuri, Tadkirat-al Kiram Tarikh-I, Khulafa-I Arab wo Islam, quoted in P.S.M. Burhanuddin, Hazrath Ubaidullah Madaniyum Arbikkadalile Pavizhadweepukalum, By the Author, 1976, p. 26.
[10] See Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa,1325-1354, Oxon, 2005
[11] Miriam Coke and Bruce Lawrence, Muslim Network from Hajj to Hip Hop, University of North Carolina, 2005,p.87
[12] Roxane L Euben, Journeys to the Other Shore Muslim and Western Travelers in search of knowledge, Princeton, 2006,pp. 64-74
[13]He is also known as Zheng He (1371-1443). He was the Chinese Hui court Muslim mariner ,explorer, diplomat, and fleet admiral during China's early Ming Dynasty. Zheng commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433.
[14] Makkah was then ruled by Sharief Barakat bin Hasan (1423-1453), Ma Huan, Ying –hai Sheng –Lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean’s Shores (1433), Trans., J.V.J.Mills, Cambridge, 1970,pp.173-75
[15] Ibid., All these descriptions are not correct. His blunders are evident when he says that the well zamzam is in Madina. P.177
[16] Ibid., p.178
[17] Marshall Hodgson, The venture of Islam. vol. III. The gunpowder empire and modern
times , Chicago/London 1974, p. 38.
[18] Marshall Hodgson, The Venture of Islam. vol. III. The gunpowder empire and modern times (Chicago/London 1974) 38.
[19] M.N.Pearson, Pious passengers. The Hajj in earlier times, London, 1994p. 50-53.
[20] Ibid., pp. 87-106, esp.102
[21] Shaikh Zainuddin, Tuhfat al Mujahidin, op.cit, p.62
[22] F.C.Danvers, The Portuguese in Jndia, 2 Volumes, quoted from, R.E.Miller, Mappila Muslims of Kerala, Madras, 1992, p.61