What does Hijrah mean for a community that has never fled from their land, but is constantly displaced?” This paper argues for both a historical and spiritual interpretation of Hijrah by considering the lived experiences of the Mappila Muslims of Malabar, a community that has evolved over centuries of trade, Islamic scholarship, and resistance to colonial organizations and policies. While Hijrah is often discussed in the context of the Prophetic migration narrative, I argue for a definition of Hijrah that allows for local and contextualized experience, in response to injustice and violence.

Notably, despite being located in Kerala for generations, the Mappilas underwent forced displacements at the time of the 1921 Malabar Rebellion, where the notion of Hijrah, as flight from injustice, was invoked by many religious scholars and Oromo leaders. In the aftermath of the rebellion, following weeks of intense British violence, and events such as the Wagon Tragedy, a violent response to the rebellion, led to dislocation and fragmentation of Muslim identity. In the decades that followed, migration from Malabar to the Gulf, initially forced, then, increasingly voluntary, gradually became an economic and survival strategy, but, importantly, also retained a spiritual longing for dignity and respect, together with imaginary and ritual preservation of their tradition in response to Hijrah.

Current research studies the Mappila rebellion as a peasant revolt and Gulf migration as labor migration separately. Therefore, I bridge the gap in the existing narratives of the historical moment of Mappila rebellion and Gulf migration by framing the moments through the Islamic understanding of Hijrah, therefore combining ideology, resistance, and migration into one analytical device. Through the use of historical documentation, Mappila oral history, and cultural products like Arabi-Malayalam and Mappila Paattu, I will tell the story of how Hijrah is not a single event, but a cultural process that has persisted for centuries and shaped Mappila Muslim identity.

1. Introduction

In the scorching heat of August 1921, sixty-seven Mappila Muslim prisoners were crammed into a closed railway wagon by British colonial authorities. By the time the train reached its destination, all of them had died of suffocation. This tragic incident, now known as the Wagon Tragedy, became one of the most powerful symbols of colonial brutality in Kerala’s Malabar region. For the Mappila Muslims, this event transcended mere political violence—it was remembered as a moment of Hijrah, a sacrifice made in the name of God, dignity, and justice. Rooted in early Islamic narratives and shaped by centuries of trade, intermarriage, and resistance, the Mappila Muslim community of Kerala has historically expressed its identity through the Islamic concept of Hijrah—migration in the face of oppression for the sake of faith.

This paper explores how the Mappila Muslims of Malabar internalized, practiced, and culturally preserved the concept of Hijrah across three major historical phases: (1) the early centuries of Arab-Muslim contact through Indian Ocean trade, (2) the colonial period marked by the 1921 Malabar Rebellion, and (3) the post-independence era of mass Gulf migration. While Hijrah is often interpreted within Islamic scholarship as the Prophet Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم

Migration from Makkah to Madinah, this paper argues that for the Mappilas, Hijrah functioned as a moral and political framework for responding to displacement, injustice, and the need to preserve religious identity in the face of systemic marginalization.

The Mappila Muslims represent one of the earliest Muslim communities in South Asia, emerging as a distinct group through intermarriage between Arab traders and local Hindu women as early as the 7th or 8th century CE. Over centuries, they forged a hybrid identity—faithful to Sunni Shafi’i Islam, yet deeply integrated into Kerala’s language, culture, and society. Their use of Arabi-Malayalam (Malayalam written in Arabic script), their devotional songs known as Mappila Paattu, and their localized Sufi practices exemplify how Islam was indigenized in Malabar. This historical synthesis of faith and regional culture laid the foundation for the way Mappilas perceived concepts like Hijrah, not merely as geographical relocation, but as a spiritual and ethical journey toward divine justice and community dignity.

Despite this rich heritage, the Mappila experience has often been overshadowed by orientalist and colonial narratives, which reduced them to “fanatics” during events like the 1921 rebellion. Scholars such as Muhammad Shafi and M.H. Ilias have critiqued these biased portrayals, calling for more nuanced analyses that consider Islamic theological concepts like Hijrah and Ummah in shaping historical consciousness. This paper takes up that challenge by reading Mappila history through the lens of Hijrah, drawing on both academic and popular sources, including oral histories, local songs, and visual media like YouTube documentaries.

Ultimately, this research seeks to reframe the story of the Mappila Muslims: not as a community of rebellion or migration alone, but as one deeply grounded in Islamic ethics, continuously navigating the boundaries between faith, flight, and identity.

2. Literature Review

The academic engagement with the history of the Mappila Muslims of Malabar has undergone significant transformation in recent decades. From colonial portrayals that described them as irrational fanatics to more nuanced postcolonial studies exploring their socio-political consciousness, the literature spans a wide spectrum. However, a clear gap persists: while many studies have addressed Mappila resistance, economic migration, and cultural identity, few have framed their experience through the Islamic theological concept of Hijrah—a central analytical framework of this paper. This literature review surveys existing scholarship on Mappila Muslims across four key areas: (1) historical origins and identity, (2) colonial encounters and rebellion, (3) migration and diaspora, and (4) religious consciousness and memory, identifying gaps where this study contributes.

Historical Origins and Hybrid Identity

Scholars such as Roland E. Miller and Stephen Dale have long documented the historical formation of the Mappila Muslim community in Kerala. Miller’s seminal work, Mappila Muslims of Kerala, outlines the early trade-based Arab contact with the Malabar Coast, emphasizing how these interactions led to a culturally hybrid Muslim identity rooted in Islam but locally embedded in Malayalam language and customs. Miller notes the formation of Arabi-Malayalam literature, the importance of Sufi orders, and the social stratification that emerged among Muslims, including Sayyids, Thangals, and ordinary Puslans (common believers). While these works provide rich historical detail, they do not delve into Islamic doctrinal frameworks—such as Hijrah—that may have shaped community behavior.

Muhammed Shafi P.K., in his paper An Analytical Study on Malabar Local Muslim History and Its Historiography, critically analyzes the historiography surrounding Mappila Muslims, particularly highlighting how colonial narratives framed Mappilas as violent, irrational, and anti-modern. He critiques this orientalist bias and calls for a new methodological approach that centers Islamic worldviews and indigenous memory practices.1 Shafi’s work is important for this paper because it underscores how Islamic motivations, such as niyyah (intention), sabr (patience), and Hijrah, have often been ignored in dominant historical accounts.

Colonial Encounters and the Malabar Rebellion

The 1921 Malabar Rebellion, often referred to as the Moplah Rebellion, is the most widely studied episode in Mappila Muslim history. Traditional colonial narratives, including British government reports and early Indian nationalist writings, portrayed the Mappila uprising as either a communal riot or a peasant insurgency. However, more recent scholarship has attempted to reinterpret the rebellion in light of global Islamic movements and spiritual motivations.

J.B.P. More, in his chapter Kerala Muslims and Shifting Notions of Religion in the Public Sphere, offers a nuanced view of how the Khilafat Movement, Pan-Islamism, and broader anti-colonial currents reshaped Muslim political consciousness in Kerala.2 He explains how religion entered the public and political domain, shifting from private devotion to collective mobilization. More discusses the rise of ummah-centered activism, but he stops short of engaging with Hijrah as a structured theological response.

One of the most notable religious responses during this period was the 1921 Hijrah movement, where groups of Mappila Muslims—responding to religious scholars' fatwas—sought to migrate to Afghanistan and Hijaz as a form of spiritual escape from what they deemed a land ruled by kufr (disbelief). This is perhaps the most direct expression of Hijrah in Mappila history, yet even detailed studies of the rebellion, such as K.K.N. Kurup's or William Logan's, tend to overlook it as a serious religious migration. This paper re-centers the Hijrah movement not just as a reaction, but as a theologically motivated migration, deeply rooted in Islamic jurisprudence and historical consciousness.

Migration and Diaspora in the Modern Period

Post-1947, the academic focus shifted to Mappila migration to the Gulf countries. Scholars like Osella and Osella, and Ilias have explored this phenomenon as part of the larger story of Kerala’s economic and transnational labor migration. In Islam in Kerala: Groups and Movements in the 20th Century, M.H. Ilias provides a detailed account of how Mappilas negotiated modernity, transnationalism, and reformist ideologies in their diaspora experiences.3

Ilias shows that while many migrated for economic reasons, there was also a spiritual framing of migration—a desire to live in more Islamically aligned environments, a reinterpretation of Hijrah in the age of labor visas and oil economies. He notes how traditional Mappila religious life was transformed by contact with Salafi reform movements in the Gulf. Although this paper draws from Ilias, it takes the argument further by framing this Gulf migration as a continuation of the Hijrah ethos—a fusion of religious intention and economic necessity.

Memory, Songs, and Cultural Preservation

The Mappila Muslims preserved their historical experiences not just through books, but through folk songs (Mappila Paattu), oral narratives, and Arabi-Malayalam literature. Scholars have pointed out how events like the Wagon Tragedy and the Malabar Rebellion are encoded in song, transforming them into sacred memory. These cultural productions sustain a collective memory of resistance, migration, and martyrdom, much like Hijrah is remembered in Islamic tradition.

Recent YouTube documentaries, such as “The Wagon Tragedy – 1921” and “Mappila Muslim History”, reveal how modern media has taken over the task of preserving these narratives for younger generations.45 These popular sources echo what earlier scholarly works neglected: the deep intertwining of faith, flight, and identity in the Mappila memory of resistance.

Identified Gap and Contribution

The existing literature offers rich insights into the history, migration, and religious transformation of Kerala’s Mappila Muslims. However, the explicit framing of their experience through the Islamic concept of Hijrah remains largely unexplored. This paper contributes to the field by offering an Islamic-theological lens to reinterpret key historical moments—like the 1921 rebellion, colonial repression, and Gulf migration—not merely as political or economic phenomena, but as expressions of Hijrah, rooted in Islamic moral and spiritual values.

3. Methodology 

This study adopts a qualitative historical-analytical methodology that brings together textual, oral, and multimedia sources to explore how the concept of Hijrah has shaped the identity and lived experience of the Mappila Muslims of Malabar. The research is framed by the guiding question: How have the Mappilas historically interpreted, practiced, and remembered the concept of Hijrah in response to colonialism, migration, and modern reform movements?

The paper draws upon interdisciplinary methods that combine approaches from Islamic studies, history, cultural anthropology, and memory studies. The concept of Hijrah is treated not simply as a theological idea but as a lived ethical practice that emerges in response to real-world oppression and displacement. By grounding the study in both classical Islamic categories and localized cultural memory, the paper aims to capture how theology becomes embodied in specific social and historical contexts.

Academic Literature

A range of scholarly works provides the historical and analytical grounding for this study. These include:

• JBP More’s analysis of Kerala Muslims and the shifting nature of religion in the colonial public sphere, which helps frame the political turn in Mappila religious consciousness.1
• Muhammed Shafi P.K.’s critique of orientalist historiography, which underscores the need to reinterpret Mappila resistance through indigenous categories like Hijrah 2
• M.H. Ilias’s work on 20th-century Islamic movements in Kerala contextualizes Gulf migration and transnational religious reform within the broader framework of identity transformation.3

These sources are read critically and comparatively to identify gaps where Islamic ethics—particularly Hijrah—are underexplored.

Oral and Cultural Traditions

The paper incorporates the cultural memory practices of the Mappila Muslims, including:

• Mappila Paattu (Islamic folk songs) that preserve narratives of martyrdom, resistance, and migration.
• The use of Arabic-Malayalam as a literary medium for expressing devotion and dissent.
• Family and community-level oral traditions, particularly around the 1921 Hijrah movement and the Wagon Tragedy, which are often passed down across generations in non-written forms.

These oral and cultural materials are analyzed using tools from memory studies and ethnographic interpretation to trace how Hijrah continues to live in local consciousness, even outside of formal theology.

Multimedia and Popular Memory

To expand the scope beyond academic texts, the study engages with digital media and popular historical storytelling, particularly:

• YouTube documentaries such as “The Wagon Tragedy – 1921”4 and “Kerala Civilization | Mappila Muslim History”5, which are widely circulated within Kerala Muslim communities.
• These videos offer insights into how the concept of Hijrah is reimagined in modern public discourse, especially among youth and non-academic audiences.

By combining multimedia and academic analysis, the paper recognizes the plurality of historical consciousness among Mappilas, where the spiritual and political meanings of Hijrah are continually reinterpreted.

Contextual Background: Islam in Malabar

The presence of Islam in the Malabar region of Kerala predates the establishment of Muslim rule in North India. Unlike other regions of the subcontinent where Islam arrived through conquest, in Kerala, it was introduced via peaceful maritime trade with the Arab world, starting as early as the 7th century CE. The Mappila Muslims, Kerala’s oldest Muslim community, emerged from the intercultural synthesis between Arab traders and local Hindu populations, particularly through intermarriage. This historical setting produced a unique Indo-Arab Islamic identity, deeply rooted in both Islamic tradition and Kerala’s Dravidian cultural matrix.

• Early Trade and the Arrival of Islam

According to both oral traditions and historical records, Arab traders arrived on the Malabar Coast during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. Local legends speak of Cheraman

Perumal, a Kerala king who is believed to have embraced Islam and travelled to Makkah. Whether apocryphal or symbolic, this story reflects the deep spiritual legitimacy that the Muslim community in Kerala attaches to its early Islamic roots.

These Arab traders were welcomed by the ruling Hindu Chera dynasty, which granted them settlement rights and allowed for the construction of mosques—the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kodungallur (built in 629 CE) being the oldest surviving mosque in India. Islam thus arrived without conflict, forming a non-imperial, commercial, and familial relationship with local society.

• Formation of Mappila Identity

The term “Mappila” (also spelled Moplah or Mapillai) originally meant “bridegroom” or “honoured guest” in Malayalam. Over time, it came to denote the community born of the union between Arab men and local women, creating a culturally hybrid Muslim identity. This community maintained Sunni Shafi‘i jurisprudence, shared linguistic traits with the larger Malayali population, and developed its own religious and cultural systems.

This indigenized form of Islam manifested through:

• Arabi-Malayalam literature, where the Malayalam language was written in the Arabic script. This became the medium for religious texts, poetry, fatwas, and local chronicles.
• Mappila Paattu, a form of Islamic devotional folk music that often tells stories of martyrdom, Hijrah, and Jihad in poetic form.
• Sufi Orders (Tariqas) such as the Qadiriyya, Rifaiyya, and Shadhiliyya, which promoted spiritual ethics and communal harmony in premodern Malabar.

As Muhammad Shafi notes, these cultural elements were not accidental but served to Islamize the everyday life of the community in a way that harmonized with local aesthetics and social norms.

• Social Stratification and Internal Diversity

Over time, Mappila society developed its internal hierarchies:

• Sayyids/Thangals claimed descent from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and often held spiritual authority.

• Mullahs and Qazis provided religious and legal guidance.
• Ordinary believers, called Puslans, formed the working class and were mainly involved in trade, farming, or artisan crafts.

This stratification influenced how Islamic reform, resistance, and migration ideologies were adopted. For instance, Thangals played a prominent role in issuing fatwas on Hijrah and Jihad during colonial times, while laypeople often followed their guidance without access to Arabic texts themselves.

• Colonial Encounters and Economic Marginalization

The arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century, followed by Dutch, French, and finally British rule, radically altered the economic and political landscape of Malabar. The British East India Company’s land revenue policies, particularly the Zamindari system, dispossessed many Mappila peasants of their ancestral lands.

As JBP More notes, the British allied with upper-caste Hindu landlords (Jenmis) to enforce harsh rent collection, resulting in widespread impoverishment and social unrest among Mappilas2. This exploitation, compounded by cultural alienation and religious insult, led to rising militancy among segments of the community, especially during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

It was in this socio-political climate that Islamic concepts such as Hijrah and Jihad began to take on renewed importance, not as abstract theology, but as tools of resistance, moral reorientation, and identity preservation.

• Cultural Continuity and Resilience

Despite colonial repression and economic hardship, the Mappilas retained their religious traditions and cultural practices. This is particularly visible in:

• The continued production of Arabic-Malayalam texts well into the 20th century.
• The use of oral storytelling and song to remember past migrations, including the 1921 Hijrah movement to Afghanistan and Hijaz.
• The preservation of Islamic ethical language (niyyah, sabr, Hijrah) even in the face of political defeat.

These practices demonstrate that Islam in Malabar was not static, but adaptive, ethical, and deeply rooted in the prophetic example, particularly the idea of Hijrah as a response to tyranny.

As explored in popular narratives such as the YouTube documentary Kerala Civilization – Mappila Muslim History, the community continues to valorize these traditions, indicating a continuing cultural memory of Hijrah as sacrifice and moral migration.

• Colonial Repression and the Malabar Rebellion

The history of the Mappila Muslims under British colonial rule is marked by episodes of violent suppression, economic dispossession, and cultural alienation. Among these, the Malabar Rebellion of 1921 stands as a defining moment—not only in the history of the Mappilas but also in India’s broader anti-colonial resistance. While often dismissed in colonial and mainstream nationalist historiography as a mere “fanatical uprising”, a closer reading reveals that the rebellion was shaped by deep-rooted Islamic ethical frameworks, including Hijrah and Jihad. This section explores the conditions that led to the uprising, the role of religious leaders, and how the events, especially the Wagon Tragedy, have been remembered as symbolic expressions of Hijrah.

• Economic Exploitation and Religious Provocation

The British colonial administration, after annexing Malabar in 1792, introduced a Zamindari-style land tenure system, placing land ownership in the hands of upper-caste Hindu landlords (Jenmis). The Mappilas, primarily tenant farmers, found themselves caught in a cycle of high rents, forced evictions, and legal disenfranchisement. This structural exploitation led to over thirty localized Mappila revolts throughout the 19th century, each ruthlessly crushed by colonial forces.

As Shafi notes, these uprisings were not merely economic protests, but acts rooted in Islamic ethics, interpreted as resistance against zulm (oppression) and pursuit of adl (justice)1. However, colonial narratives branded them as irrational or sectarian, completely ignoring the Mappilas’ spiritual worldview.

• The Khilafat Movement and Global Islamic Consciousness

By the early 20th century, Malabar Muslims were increasingly influenced by global Islamic movements, especially the Khilafat Movement, which aimed to defend the Ottoman Caliphate after World War I. Mappila leaders and ulama interpreted British colonialism not just as a political force but as a threat to Islam itself. Their consciousness was shaped by transnational solidarity (Ummah), which was disseminated through sermons, Arabic books, Arabi-Malayalam writings, and public gatherings.

According to J.B.P. More this period marked a transformation of religion from a private domain to a mobilizing public force. Ulama began to issue fatwas calling for Hijrah and Jihad, linking the Mappilas' local struggle to the global Islamic imperative to defend the faith.

• The 1921 Rebellion: A Localized Hijrah and Jihad

In August 1921, tensions reached a boiling point in Ernad and Valluvanad Taluks when British officers disrupted a Khilafat meeting, arresting prominent ulama and insulting local customs. What followed was an armed insurrection by thousands of Mappilas. They attacked colonial outposts, seized weapons, and established short-lived autonomous zones, often governed by local qazi-led sharia structures.

For many Mappilas, this was not a secular revolt but an act of religious duty. Some began to migrate or prepare for migration (Hijrah) to Afghanistan and Hijaz, believing that British India had become Dar al-Harb (abode of war), and that migration to Dar al-Islam was obligatory. While only a few successfully migrated, the intention (niyyah) to migrate for the preservation of religion was widely preached and accepted among the people.

This Hijrah movement—though largely thwarted—was a theological response to colonial domination. It paralleled the Prophet Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم migration from Makkah to Madinah and was remembered in the community with similar spiritual reverence.

• The Wagon Tragedy: Martyrdom and Memory

The most chilling event of the rebellion’s aftermath was the Wagon Tragedy. After capturing hundreds of Mappilas, British forces transported 100 prisoners from Tirur to Podanur in a sealed goods train wagon without ventilation or water. By the time the wagon was opened, 67 had died of suffocation.

This event has been etched into the collective memory of Kerala’s Muslims. In Mappila tradition, it is remembered not merely as a massacre, but as an act of martyrdom (shahadah) and spiritual Hijrah. The community widely believes that the prisoners were migrating—if not physically, then spiritually—toward a state of divine justice. Documentaries such as “The Wagon Tragedy – 1921” capture the emotional depth of this memory, showing how it continues to resonate in both folk songs and religious discourse.

• The British Response: Suppression and Silencing

The British colonial government responded with overwhelming force:

• Thousands were arrested or killed.
• Entire villages were burned.
• Islamic literature and fatwas were banned, and prominent ulama were exiled or executed.

What followed was not just a military crackdown, but an epistemic erasure. Colonial records, including British gazetteers, refused to recognize the Islamic motivations behind the uprising. M.H. Ilias points out that this denial of religious legitimacy served the colonial strategy of portraying the rebellion as mere “fanaticism” or “peasant unrest,” effectively silencing the Mappilas' faith-based resistance narrative.

• Interpretations and Misrepresentations

Mainstream Indian nationalist historiography often marginalized the Mappila uprising due to its religious overtones, which did not align with the secular vision of India’s freedom struggle. As a result, events like the 1921 Hijrah and the spiritual framing of resistance were neglected in textbooks, archives, and mainstream media.

However, the Mappila Muslim community preserved its history through oral traditions, Mappila songs, and increasingly, YouTube and visual media. In Kerala Civilization – Mappila Muslim History, for example, local historians and cultural activists reframe the 1921 events as part of a broader Islamic historical trajectory, emphasizing the Hijrah spirit embedded in their sacrifices.

The 1921 Hijrah Movement

While the Malabar Rebellion of 1921 is widely known for its armed uprising, it also included a lesser-known yet profoundly important episode: the Hijrah movement initiated by segments of the Mappila Muslim community. This migration—or attempted migration—was not merely a physical relocation, but a deeply theological and ethical act rooted in Islamic law, historical memory, and anti-colonial struggle. It demonstrated that the concept of Hijrah was not limited to the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم’s journey from Makkah to Madinah, but continued to serve as a framework for moral and political action in modern contexts, especially when Muslims found themselves under oppressive rule.

• Origins of the 1921 Hijrah Fatwas

The idea of Hijrah gained momentum during the Khilafat Movement (1919–1924), which galvanized Indian Muslims across the subcontinent in defense of the Ottoman Caliphate. For Mappilas, this movement intersected with their historical grievances: British economic exploitation, cultural marginalization, and suppression of Islamic practices.

A group of Islamic scholars (ulama) in Malabar began issuing fatwas encouraging Muslims to migrate from British India, which they now viewed as Dar al-Harb (abode of war), to Dar al-Islam (abode of Islam)—specifically, to Afghanistan, which was perceived as a free Muslim land under Islamic rule. Some fatwas even proposed Hijrah to Hijaz (Saudi Arabia). These rulings were based on classical Islamic jurisprudence, which obligates Muslims, under certain conditions, to migrate from lands where practicing their religion becomes impossible or dangerous.

As Muhammad Shafi notes, these scholars were not inventing new doctrines but drawing from a long-standing fiqhi (juridical) tradition that viewed Hijrah as a spiritual obligation under tyranny.

• Planning and Mobilization

The announcement of Hijrah spread rapidly across villages through sermons, handwritten notices in Arabic-Malayalam, and word of mouth. Families began selling their properties, dissolving their debts, and preparing for long journeys. In some places, entire mosques were emptied as congregations left en masse, carrying only essential items and religious texts.

Though many intended to migrate, few reached their destinations. Some groups were intercepted by British authorities and arrested at the borders of princely states; others were deceived by local collaborators working with the colonial government. A few did make it to Afghanistan or the North-West Frontier Province, but often faced suspicion or lack of support from unfamiliar political entities.

Even so, the movement created a spiritual rupture within Mappila society. Those who tried to migrate were seen not as fugitives, but as mujāhirūn (those who perform Hijrah)—an identity embedded in the earliest Muslim narrative.

• Hijrah as Ethical Resistance

Theologically, Hijrah is more than a physical journey—it is an act of niyyah (intention), a demonstration of ikhlas (sincerity), and a means to preserve iman (faith). The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

He performed Hijrah not out of weakness, but to establish a society grounded in justice, law, and Tawhid (monotheism).

For Mappila Muslims in 1921, Hijrah became a way to:

• Disassociate from British rule (seen as anti-Islamic),
• Protect their religious life from erosion,
• Participate in a spiritual reenactment of the Prophetic tradition.

As M.H. Ilias notes, many Mappilas viewed this as a “living Sunnah”, a moral migration even if they never reached their destination.

The movement was not sanctioned by every religious leader. Some reformist and Sufi groups warned that Hijrah should not be undertaken without political clarity or communal consensus. However, this internal diversity only underscores the theological depth and seriousness with which the idea was debated.

• Cultural Memory and Popular Narratives

In the absence of archival documentation, the memory of the 1921 Hijrah movement survived through oral history, family narratives, and folk songs. Mappila Paattu (Muslim folk songs), composed in the aftermath of the rebellion, often speak of “crossing to the land of Islam”, martyrdom on the way, and divine reward for those who left behind comforts for the sake of Allah.

One popular song speaks of:

“Leaving the village for the Lord’s cause / Walking barefoot to the edge of Hind / Where the call of the Adhan is not mocked / And the soul may breathe again.”

YouTube documentaries such as “Kerala Civilization – Mappila Muslim History” have revived these stories for a digital audience, further preserving the hijrah narrative as a key part of Mappila Muslim identity.

• Legacy and Relevance

Though few physically migrated, the idea of Hijrah lived on. In the decades that followed, many Mappilas undertook economic migration to the Gulf, which, while driven by poverty and unemployment, was often framed as a continuation of that earlier ethical migration, seeking halal livelihood, escaping moral corruption, and sustaining Islamic life abroad.

Thus, the 1921 Hijrah movement was not a failure; it was a reassertion of agency—a spiritual protest against colonial degradation, rooted in centuries-old Islamic theology. It linked the local suffering of Malabar Muslims to a global Islamic tradition, revealing how faith, flight, and identity coalesced in the shadow of empire.

Cultural Memory and Identity Formation

While colonial records, government archives, and mainstream historiography often dismissed the Mappila resistance and Hijrah as “fanaticism,” the Mappila Muslim community preserved its narrative through alternative forms of memory transmission. These include folk songs, Arabi-Malayalam literature, oral storytelling, and now YouTube and digital platforms. In these cultural forms, Hijrah is not remembered simply as a historical event, but as a spiritual legacy and a framework for moral identity.

This section explores how Mappilas used their cultural imagination to protect, reinterpret, and pass down the ethics of Hijrah and Jihad, especially in the wake of events like the Wagon Tragedy and the thwarted 1921 Hijrah movement.

• Mappila Paattu: Songs of Struggle and Spiritual Journey

One of the most powerful memory-preserving tools in Mappila culture is the tradition of Mappila Paattu, a genre of Islamic folk poetry and song. These songs often narrate:

• The trials of martyrdom,
• The moral victory of the oppressed,
• Stories of exile, Hijrah, and resistance, and
• The remembrance of colonial atrocities like the Wagon Tragedy.

Composed in Arabi-Malayalam, Mappila Paattu fuses Quranic vocabulary with local poetic forms. As Shafi observes, these songs functioned not just as art but as “vehicles of resistance, pedagogy, and emotional resilience”1. Many songs composed after 1921 evoke the Prophet’s Hijrah to Madinah and liken it to the Mappila attempts to migrate to Afghanistan or Hijaz. The act of leaving British-ruled India was framed as an act of submission to Allah, not as political cowardice.

A popular line in one such song states:

“Not out of fear, but in faith we fled / Seeking Allah’s land to bow our heads.”

These songs were sung at home, in village gatherings, and in mawlid sessions, ensuring that the spirit of Hijrah lived on in communal memory.

• Arabi-Malayalam Literature and Everyday Theology

The Arabic-Malayalam script, unique to Kerala Muslims, was a medium for religious learning, correspondence, and record-keeping. It enabled Mappila Muslims—many of whom were not fluent in Arabic—to engage with Islamic texts, fatwas, and historical accounts in their language. During the early 20th century, several fatwas regarding Hijrah were circulated in Arabic-Malayalam, urging believers to flee unjust lands if they could no longer practice their religion freely.

According to Ilias, these texts also included Qasidas, travelogues, and even personal letters that narrated the trials of those who attempted Hijrah, offering both legal and emotional legitimacy to the act. Some texts were preserved in mosques, madrasas, and private family archives, later digitized by cultural preservation groups.

These documents help demonstrate that Hijrah was not a foreign idea imported from the Middle East, but a deeply localized ethical practice, adapted by Mappila scholars in conversation with global Islamic traditions.

• Oral Histories and Family Narratives

In addition to written and sung forms, the memory of Hijrah and resistance lives on through oral histories. Grandparents narrate the names of martyrs, routes taken toward Afghanistan, and the hardships of British jails to their grandchildren. In many Mappila families, stories about ancestors who tried to migrate, or who died in the Wagon Tragedy, are kept alive through ritual remembrance, naming practices, and even gravestone inscriptions.

In one oral interview conducted by local historians (as seen in the documentary Kerala Civilization – Mappila Muslim History), an elderly Mappila man states:

“They didn’t die in the wagon. They ascended, like the companions of the Prophet.”

Such oral statements show that the community interpreted their suffering within a sacred Islamic framework, reinforcing identity through spiritual storytelling rather than through secular historical accounts.

• The Role of Modern Digital Media

In recent years, digital platforms like YouTube have become crucial in preserving and reactivating Mappila memory. Videos such as “The Wagon Tragedy – 1921” and “Malabar Muslims History” offer detailed reconstructions of events through interviews, dramatic reenactments, and historical narrations.

These videos:

• Reach thousands of young viewers,
• Blend historical facts with moral messaging, and
• Often connect the Mappila Hijrah movement to modern migration experiences, such as Gulf migration.

Through visual and audio elements, these documentaries recontextualize Hijrah for the 21st century, portraying it as part of a long struggle for dignity, survival, and Islamic justice.

• Cultural Memory as Resistance and Reconstruction

Cultural memory among the Mappilas does more than commemorate past suffering. It:

• Challenges colonial and nationalist erasures,
• Reinforces Islamic values like sabr (patience) and niyyah (intention),
• Offers a framework for current identity formation, especially among the diaspora.

As Shafi notes, this memory is not nostalgic but politically charged. It motivates Mappilas to retain religious commitment in secular and globalized settings. Many Gulf migrants, for instance, carry with them tales of the 1921 Hijrah and frame their migration in spiritual terms—seeking not just economic betterment but moral safety and religious purpose.

Hijrah in the Modern Era: Gulf Migration and Beyond

If the Hijrah movement of 1921 symbolized the Mappila Muslims’ spiritual resistance to colonial oppression, the Gulf migration of the mid-to-late 20th century marked a continuation of that ethos in new historical conditions. While largely motivated by economic necessity, the modern migration of Mappila Muslims to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Qatar also carried implicit spiritual meanings. Migrants often framed their journeys in terms of religious purpose, halal livelihood, and the pursuit of a more morally aligned Islamic environment, reminiscent of the niyyah (intention) central to classical Hijrah. This section examines how post-colonial Gulf migration became a modern manifestation of Hijrah, blending economics with ethics, and explores its impact on Mappila Muslim identity both in Kerala and in the diaspora.

• Economic Push and the Call of the Gulf

Following Indian independence and especially after the oil boom in the 1970s, thousands of Mappila men left Malabar for employment in the Gulf. Unlike the 1921 Hijrah movement, this was not a collective theological campaign but an individualized migration, often brokered through informal networks. Nevertheless, for many families, the departure of a male member was seen as both a sacrifice and a religiously permissible act of survival.

Ilias notes that many migrants viewed their journey not only as a job opportunity but also as a way to live in a “purer Islamic society”, free from what they perceived as increasing secularization and moral erosion in India. Saudi Arabia, in particular, attracted devout Muslims who wanted to pray in the Haram, experience Ramadan in an Islamic country, and raise children in what they believed to be a more Islamically governed environment.

This religious framing reactivated the ethical core of Hijrah: the voluntary relocation to preserve one’s faith and build a righteous life.

• From Physical Hijrah to Moral Hijrah

In the absence of British oppression, Hijrah in the postcolonial era became more about internal transformation and moral migration. Islamic movements in Kerala, such as the Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) and Jamaat-e-Islami, began to reinterpret Hijrah as a symbolic shift—a withdrawal from ignorance (jahiliyyah), bid‘ah (religious innovations), or corrupt socio-political systems.

Such expressions suggest that religious aspiration remained intertwined with economic migration. As Shafi observes, even if not formally called Hijrah, the moral logic of these moves echoed the classical goals of the Prophetic migration: to live, worship, and raise a family in a spiritually safe space.

• Remittances, Reform, and Religious Return

The Gulf migrants played a vital role in transforming the religious and social landscape of Kerala:

• They funded mosques, madrasas, and Islamic charities.
• They brought back new religious ideas influenced by Salafism and Wahhabism.
• Many returned with renewed religious consciousness, sometimes reforming cultural practices they now viewed as un-Islamic.

This cycle of migration and return functioned as a form of religious revival, though it also generated tensions. Some reformists began to criticize traditional Mappila practices like Mappila Paattu, shrine veneration, and Sufi rituals. Thus, Hijrah in the modern context became not only a journey away from secular spaces, but sometimes a break from traditional Islam itself.

As Ilias notes, this gave rise to a new kind of internal Hijrah—a migration from inherited religiosity to what was perceived as "true Islam", reshaping Mappila identity in complex ways.

Conclusion

The concept of Hijrah, rooted in the life of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, has historically symbolized the pursuit of religious freedom, justice, and the creation of a moral society. Among the Mappila Muslims of Malabar, Hijrah was not merely remembered as a sacred event of the past but reimagined and reactivated across multiple generations—in different historical, political, and cultural contexts. This paper has traced how Hijrah, as both a physical and symbolic act, became a spiritual, cultural, and political response to colonialism, displacement, and modernity.

Beginning with early Islamic encounters via Arab maritime trade, Mappila Muslims forged a localized Islamic identity through intermarriage, Arabi-Malayalam literature, and devotional practices such as Mappila Paattu. This unique identity provided the moral foundation for their religiously motivated resistance against British colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries. During the Malabar Rebellion of 1921, Hijrah emerged as a structured religious response—encouraged by ulama through fatwas—as believers sought refuge from Dar al-Harb to Dar al-Islam. Though largely thwarted, this movement embodied the ethics of migration for the sake of faith, linking the Mappilas spiritually to the prophetic model of resistance.

The Wagon Tragedy, where 67 Mappila prisoners suffocated in a sealed railway wagon, became a martyrdom narrative, reinforcing the community’s self-perception as morally upright and divinely tested. This memory, transmitted through songs, oral stories, and now YouTube documentaries, continues to preserve the Hijrah spirit as a symbol of righteous suffering and divine reward.

In the postcolonial era, Gulf migration offered a new version of Hijrah—one driven by economic need but still infused with religious intention (niyyah). Many migrants viewed their journey as an escape from socio-political corruption and a move toward Islamically governed spaces, blending economic aspirations with moral purpose. Islamic reform movements within Kerala also reinterpreted Hijrah as a metaphor for internal transformation—away from cultural deviation and toward religious authenticity.

Through all these transitions—from the 7th century to the 21st—the idea of Hijrah has functioned as a moral compass, helping Mappila Muslims interpret suffering, motivate resistance, and sustain faith. What emerges is a picture of faithful mobility—not always in geographic terms, but in ethical, cultural, and spiritual dimensions.

This study contributes to the broader field of Islamic Studies by:

Highlighting a regionally grounded yet globally resonant understanding of Hijrah, challenging orientalist and nationalist erasures of Muslim resistance, and Demonstrating how Islamic ethics evolve to meet new social conditions without losing their core spiritual vision.

Ultimately, the story of the Mappila Muslims reminds us that Hijrah is not just a migration of bodies, but a migration of meanings —from oppression to dignity, from silence to memory, and from local suffering to global Islamic solidarity.

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