Sdasienwissenschaftliche Arbeitsbltter Band 2

Islam in Tamilnadu: Varia

TORSTEN TSCHACHER

Halle (Saale) 2001

Islam in Tamilnadu: Varia

Sdasienwissenschaftliche Arbeitsbltter
herausgegeben von

Rahul Peter Das

am

Institut fr Indologie und Sdasienwissenschaften

der

Martin-Luther-Universitt Halle-Wittenberg

Band 2

Islam in Tamilnadu: Varia

TORSTEN TSCHACHER

Halle (Saale) 2001

 Torsten Tschacher

ISBN 3-86010-627-9

Arwi (Arabic-Tamil) An Introduction1

Possessed though I am of little knowledge, I desired to translate for them that which, by favour of Allah, was easy for me to gather from literary works and to explain it to them in plain language, so that they could benefit thereby. Imm al-Ars in the introduction to his Fatu d-dayyn (Imm al-Ars 1963: xxxix)

1. Introduction Within Tamil literature, the literature of the Muslims belongs to the most unknown (cf., e.g., Richman 1993: 74). Even more unknown is the literature in Arwi, that is, Tamil written in Arabic script, though works in Arwi have been noticed by Europeans quite early. Thurston in his Castes and Tribes of Southern India writes about the Labbai (1975: 205):
1

An earlier version of this article appeared in KOLAM. A Mirror of Tamil and Dravidian Culture 5 & 6 (www.fas.nus.edu. sg/journal/kolam/index.htm). Some mistakes, especially in transliteration, have been corrected and a few additions made. Otherwise, the article remains largely unchanged, except for various changes made by the editor of the series. Muslims may forgive me for not indicating the alawt after the name of the Prophet Muammad.
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For the purpose of the education of Labbai and Marakkyar children, the Korn and other books have been published in the Tamil language, but with Arabic characters.

Thurston goes on (ibid.):

When a book thus written is read, it is hardly possible to say that it is Tamil it sounds like Arabic, and the guttural sounds of certain words have softened down into Arabic sounds. Certain words, mostly of religious connection, have been introduced, and even words of familiar daily use. () Since the books are written in Arabic characters, they bear a religious aspect. The Labbai considers it a sacred and meritorious duty to publish them, and distribute them gratis among the school-going children. A book so written or printed is called a kitb, rather than its Tamil equivalent pustagam, and is considered sacred. It commands almost the same respect as the Korn itself, in regard to which it has been commanded Touch not with unclean hands. A book of a religious nature, written or printed in Tamil characters, may be left on the ground, but a kitb of even secular character will always be placed on a rihal or seat, and, when it falls to the ground, it is kissed and raised to the forehead. The origin of this literature may be traced to Kyalpatnam, Mlaplayam, and other important Labbai towns in the Tinnevelly district.2

In spite of having been noticed so early, Tamil written in Arabic characters was rarely mentioned at all by writers other than Tamil speaking Muslims. It is mentioned in one sentence by C. and H. Jesudasan (1961: 235):
Ajmal Khan too mentions the reverence for books written in Arabic characters (1999: 42).
2
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The Muslims even went so far as to write Tamil in Arabic script, for the simple reason that Tamil does not accommodate all Arabic sounds, and Arabic technical terms and names read better in Arabic script.

Scholars engaged in the study of Islam and its literatures also comment on Arwi only rarely. Annemarie Schimmel mentioned Tamil being written in a modified Arabic script: they adjusted Arabic script also to that language to create a rich Islamic literature of mainly religious content (1980: 63). But later she wrote that the Muslim literatures of Bengal and South India remained inaccessible to the Muslims of the north owing to the difficulties of different scripts, e.g. scripts that do not use the Arabic alphabet (1993: 4). There is a short note on Arwi in the entry on Ceylon in the Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd edition), written by A.M.A. Azeez, one of the important personalities among the Muslims of Sri Lanka (1995: 28). In fact, Arabic is highly regarded throughout the Muslim World, as it is the language of the Qurn and the Prophet Muammad, and also taken to be spoken in Paradise. Thus, most languages spoken by Muslims have at one point or another been written in Arabic characters. Two reasons (apart from the general prestige of Arabic) may also be of paramount importance for the formation of Arwi. First, Muslims are reluctant to translate words of religious importance, as by translating these words their meaning may be distorted. Many authors have stressed the impossibility of translating the Qurn. Thus, writing their mother-tongue in
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the Arabic script enabled Muslims to impart religious education without having to translate religious terms or distorting their pronunciation by having to write them in a script other than the Arabic one. Second, many Muslims learn to read the Qurn in Arabic. Thus, there are a number of Muslims able to read and often write Arabic while being unable to read the scripts normally used for their mother-tongues. For them, writing their mother-tongue in Arabic is often easier than learning another script. Both Shu'ayb and Ajmal Khan stress that Arwi promoted literacy, especially among women (Shu'ayb 1993: 87-9 and 115; Ajmal Khan 1999: 42). The aim of this article is to give a glimpse of Arwi literature and its importance for the study of the Tamil speaking Muslims, but also as a possible factor in cultural contact and exchange in the Indian Ocean area. Arwi 2. The Name Arwi Arwi Most modern authors use the term a|aputtami{ (ArabicTamil) when writing about Tamil written in the Arabic script. I have instead followed Shu'ayb (and, according to him, the authors of Arwi books) in calling it arwi, or, fully, lisn al-arwi (the Arwi tongue).3 Some authors have linked
3

According to Uwise, the term Arwi is used to denote the Tamil language in Arabic and Arabic-Tamil, and only rarely in the meaning Arabic-Tamil (1990: 239). On the other hand, Shu'ayb writes that the Muslim savants called this language Lisnul

this name with the term aravam, used by the Muslims of the Deccan (including the Urdu speaking Muslims of Tamilnadu), in Telugu and Kannada to denote the Tamil language (Caldwell 1974: 14; cf. Uwise 1990: 239; Shu'ayb 1993: 100-1). The possible connection with Tamil aravam, a confused noise should be noted. This is also the etymology favoured by M. Syed Mohamed Hasan, who considers the term arwi to be originally a derogatory term used by Urdu speaking Muslims.4 On the other hand, Uwise suggests that Arwi may be linked in some way to Arabic (arab) (Uwise 1990:
Arwi and not Arabic Tamil or Arabu-Tamil as it came to be popularly known later (1993: 99-100). I could not find either term in any of the texts in Arabic script I surveyed, except for a booklet called Arabuttami{ plar pam, designed to teach the Arabic script to children (Shh al-amd n.d.). The editions of Fatu d-dayyn __ and Maghn that I used are in English and Tamil respectively, so __ I do not know whether the term Arabic-Tamil which is used there is also found in the original. I have followed Shu'ayb mainly out of convenience, as Arwi is shorter than Arabic-Tamil, but it was certainly in use by 1937, when Sayyid Ysn Mawln alBalqmi released his Arabic-Arwi dictionary (see 4.5 4.5). Azeez uses the term Arabic-Tamil to denote Tamil spoken by Muslims, irrespective of the script it is written in: The term Arabic-Tamil has therefore gained currency to indicate the Tamil of the Muslims. () Today Arabic-Tamil is being generally written in the Tamil alphabet with or without diacritical marks (1995: 28).
4

Personal communication on 27.2.2001 in Chennai.

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239; cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 101). 3. Script 3.0. Preliminary Remarks The following discussion of the Arwi script is based on my own work with Arwi texts. Many things are still not watertight and need further study. The basis of the characters used by Arwi is, naturally, the Arabic alphabet, consisting of 28 letters. But in Tamilnadu, Kerala and Sri Lanka, a 29th letter is inserted before the final letter y, called, according to Shu'ayb, lm alif hamza.5 In addition, the positions of the letters h and waw (26 and 27) have been interchanged. These changes are apparently also in use among Muslims in more eastern countries like Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and southern China (Shu'ayb 1993: 96-7; Shh al-amd n.d.: 3). __ The following list is made to show for each Tamil letter the Arabic character(s)6 usually employed in writing it.7 Of
5

Lm alif hamza is no independent letter, but simply the combination of lm with alif. Thurstons example (1975: 205) uses the letters of the Urdu alphabet instead of the Arwi letters. I am not able to say whether this was a common practice in Thurstons times. Since it proved impractical to give Arabic letters here, I have denoted these through their respective names.

Transliteration in this article proved to be slightly difficult, as for both languages, Tamil as well as Arabic, there are established con6

course, there are no rigorous rules of orthography, so different authors might write words differently, and sometimes the same author will write the same word in the same poem in two different ways. For this list I thus relied mainly on the Hadya mlai by Sayyid Muammad of Kilakkarai (1816-98), also known as Imm al-Ars or Mppiai Leppai lim,8 and
ventions of transliteration which are not always compatible. Tamil words are transliterated according to the system of the Tamil Lexicon of the Madras University, Arabic ones according to the system used in the Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd edition), with the change that qf has been transliterated as -q-, and jm as -j- instead of -d_-, _j and that I have indicated the assimilation of the article al: thus addn instead of al-dn. In case of doubt I have kept to the way the authors transcribed the word or title. I wanted to transliterate the Arabic letters for emphatic sounds with two dots instead of the usual one (e.g. --, --) to distinguish them from the Indian letters for retroflex sounds, but the font utilised here did not allow this. I hope the use of one subscribed dot to denote both retroflex and emphatic sounds does not create too much confusion. Titles too proved to be difficult, as they often contain Arabic and Tamil words. Usually, I have kept to the systems of transliteration in use for the two languages rather than devising a new one. I have not indicated the doubling of consonants between Tamil words in Arwi titles. Also, except for the first word of a title, I have not used capitals. I will call him Imm al-Ars throughout the article, as he is usually referred to by that title. For the Hadya mlai, I will henceforth use the abbreviation HM, and then indicate stanza and line, e.g.
7
8

the examples Shu'ayb gives in appendices 33 a-c (1993: 7768). I shall first deal with the consonants, then the vowels, and finally a list of the special characters employed in Arwi, which I shall henceforth call Arwi letters. 3.1. Consonants -k-: Usually written kf (-k-), but between vowels an Arwi letter is employed (see below 3.3 though this is not always 3.3), used. In the Hadya mlai, kamy is written simply with kf in the first stanza, but with the Arwi letter in the sixteenth (HM 1.1 and 16.3). Some editions do not use the Arwi letter at all (Shihb ad-Dn n.d.), while in others it __ appears also after the class nasal -- (Ysuf Labbai n.d.). --: This is written with an Arwi letter. -c-: This is one of the most difficult consonants, given the strong variations in pronunciation. There are four letters in use for it: 1. An Arwi letter is used primarily when the letter is doubled, but also at the beginning of words and after the class nasal. 2. The letter sn (-s-) is used sporadically at the beginning of a word, e.g. in HM 2.2 and 17.2. 3. _hn (-s_-) is quite common at the beginning of S_ _h words, as well as being the usual letter written between
12.2 for stanza 12 line 2. The edition I used can be found in the bibliography under Imm al-Ars 1996.
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vowels. 4. After the class-nasal, it may be written jm (-j-). The same words may be written with different signs in the same poem, thus col in HM 1.3 with an Arwi letter, in HM 2.2 with __n. sh --: This letter usually occurs in combination with -c-, and is then written simply nn (-n-). I could not find an instance where it is written at the beginning of a word. But in the title of a collection of poems by Sayyid siya Umm called Meza tpa rattizam, the same Arwi letter for -- represents the -- in the word meza (cf. Sayyid siya Umm 1976: 1). --: This is written with an Arwi letter. --: For this character too an Arwi letter is used. -t-: At the beginning of words, doubled and in combination with other consonants, it is written t (-t-). Between vowels, _h (-t_-) is usually used, but occasionally, dhl (-dh-) t_ _h __ __ may occur (e.g. HM 20.1 and 2). -n-: This is written simply with the letter nn (-n-). -p-: In most situations, an Arwi letter is employed for -p-. In some cases, though, it may apparently be written f (-f-) between vowels, e.g. wallafam in HM 4.3 for vallapam. This is the only case I was able to find, with another possible one in the first line after the heading of Shu'aybs appendix 33(a) (1993: 776). Between vowels, -p- is very rare, and most of the words are of Sanskrit origin. The other examples of intervocalic -p- in the Hadya mlai,
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upatcam (HM 25.4 and 29.1), upakram (HM 12.1), kpam (HM 14.1) and cpazam (HM 33.2), are all written with the Arwi letter. One might speculate on whether the Sanskrit sound on which the intervocalic -p- is based being voiceless or voiced could have an influence on the spelling in Arwi. But then, cpazam (Sanskrit obhana) should be written with f. Still, I do not want to dismiss the whole case simply as a spelling mistake. The use of f for intervocalic -p- would be in line with a tendency to write stops between vowels with a sibilant, clearly visible in the case of -t- and a bit less so in that of -c-. It would also explain why the Arwi letter for -p- is based on f rather than b, as it is in Persian. -m-: Mm (-m-) is used to write this letter. -y-: This character is written y (-y-) -r-: For this Tamil letter there is an Arwi one, though r (-r-) too can occur for it. -l-: Lm (-l-) is used for this letter. -v-: This is written with the Arabic character ww (-w-). -{-: There is an Arwi letter for this Tamil letter. --: It is usually written with the same Arwi letter used for -{-, but Shu'ayb gives another Arwi letter for this (cf. 1993: LVI and 783), which I could not find anywhere in the Hadya mlai. -|-: This letter is generally written r (-r-), but there are many instances when it is written with the Arwi letter for -r-. For example, the root a|i- to know, understand, compre10

hend, etc. is written with the Arwi letter in HM 2.2, and with r in 2.4. There are a number of other instances where the two signs are interchangeable. This is also true when the letter appears in combination with -z- or when it is doubled. For example, uz|az in HM 3.4 and oz|vatu and muz|vatm9 in HM 10.1 and 3, respectively, are written with the Arwi letter for Tamil -r-, while ez|u is usually written with r. To make things more complicated, variants of ez|u, for example emphatic ez| (HM 14.4) or at the occurrence of sandhi, like ez|a|intu (HM 23.2), can have -- instead of -z|-. This seems to be generally true of the finite forms of ez-, like ez|r, usually written er in the Hadya mlai. At least in the Hadya mlai, -||- seems not to be written with r, perhaps because of its peculiar pronunciation. In some instances it appears with the doubled Arwi letter (aka||iy in HM 33.3), but double t (-tt-) seems to be more common (e.g. ca||um in HM 8.3 being written cattum).10
9

This special case has the further variation of writing -z- with the Arwi letter used for retroflex --.

That Arabic r is considered to be equivalent not to the letter -r-, but to -|-, might produce problems in devising a system for transliterating Arwi, as Arabic r and Tamil -r- are both transliterated as -r-. The strong variation in writing the two Tamil r-letters (-r- and -|-) is even more problematic.
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The peculiarities in the writing of the two r-sounds correspond closely to the scientific method of transcribing and transliterating Arabic with Tamil letters described by Das (1981-82). Tamil -|- is much more often used to transliterate or transcribe Arabic r, as -|- corresponds to the traditional pronunciation of r. On the other hand, -|- is not used if the transliteration/transcription would result in Tamil -z|- or -||-, as this might lead to mispronunciation (1981-82: 344). -z- : This letter is usually represented by nn (-n-). 3.2. Vowels Those Arwi texts which I have come across were all conveniently written with vowels, and the same seems to be true of manuscripts. Probably, the authors of Arwi texts felt that these would turn out completely unreadable if vowels were not indicated. For those vowels which also exist in Arabic, that is -a-, -i-, -u-, --, --, --, and the diphthongs -ai- and -au-, the same signs are in use that are used in Arabic, i.e. fata, kasra and amma for the short vowels,11 long vowels being indicated by additional alif, y and ww, respectively, and the diphthongs being written with fata (-a-) plus y or ww.
According to Shu'ayb, the Persian names of these signs, zabar, zer and pes_, are used among South Indian Muslims instead of the _h Arabic ones (1993: 98).
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There are two new vowel signs for -e- and -o-, which will be described below. To write -- and --, y or ww are added, in the same way as -- and -- are written. Hamza does not seem to be used at the beginning of words. One interesting feature is that -i-, --, -e- and -- at the beginning of a word usually have y as their base instead of alif, thus indicating the omission of the glottal stop in words which start with these vowels. Not all, but the majority of words starting with -i- or -- in the HM exhibit this feature. Those starting with -e- or -- have y as their base; the sole exception is the word ematu, our, in appendix 33(a), in which -e- has alif as its base (Shu'ayb 1993: 776). That Arwi authors were aware of this peculiarity of pronunciation is made clear by a remark made by Imm al-Ars in his Fatu d-dayyn on the pronunciation of the first sentence of the Kalim (Imm al-Ars 1963: 36):
The i of ilha has to be sounded from the throat, almost like a guttural. If we give the sound of yi we will be saying yilha or yilla, and what we declare will not then become the Kalim.

Both __adda (indicating doubling of consonants) and sush kn (indicating a consonant without a vowel) are also commonly used. Madda (long -- in combination with alif) is written usually as a small vertical line beside alif, not horizontally above it (cf. HM 11.3, 12.1).

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3.3. Arwi Letters In addition to the basic Arabic letters, several characters have been introduced to write Tamil sounds not found in Arabic. Kokan credits Imm al-Ars with the introduction of alterations in Arabic script to suit the peculiar Tamil phonetics (1974: 521; cf. also ibid.: 53), but he does not mention which alterations were introduced and whether there had been special characters before. As can be seen from what has been said in 3.1 some Tamil letters can be written with more 3.1, than one Arabic or Arwi letter, or one of these Arwi letters can stand for more than one Tamil letter. The Arwi letters are:12 1. To the letter jm (-j-) two dots are added above the dot already present to write Tamil -c-, in the same manner as -c- is written in Urdu and Persian. 2. A dot below the letter dl (-d-) denotes Tamil --. 3. Tamil -r- is written like the Arabic letter r (-r-) with a dot below it. 4. By placing a dot beneath the right half of d (--), the Tamil letters -{- and -- are written.13
Shu'ayb gives lists and descriptions of the Arwi letters at several points in his book (1993: LV-LVI, 95-9 and 782-4). Azeez gives only the signs nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6 of the following list plus the vowel signs (1995: 28). The edition of the Hadya mlai which I used transliterates -with Tamil -- (e.g. HM 7.2 far accidentally{?} written par
14
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5. To write Tamil --, three dots (two up, one down) are inserted in the lower bow of the letter ain (--). 6. To the letter f (-f-) a dot is added below, creating Tamil -p-. This is quite different from Persian or Urdu, in which -p- is written with a letter based on Arabic b (-b-). 7. The Tamil letter -k- is produced by placing a dot below the Arabic kf (-k-). This letter is mainly employed in intervocalic positions (see above 3.1 3.1). 8. To write retroflex --, a dot is added below nn (-n-). Shu'ayb mentions three more letters that I will call Shu'aybs letters (cf. 1993: 783-4), which I could not find in any of the texts I surveyed, with one exception (see below). These letters are: 1. Tamil -- is said to be written by placing two dots below dl.14
transliterated pa|u on page 62). This deviates slightly from the pattern found by Das, in which Tamil -l- is used (1981-82: 344-5). I could find it only in a line from the Rasl mlai quoted by Shu'ayb (1993: 693). It might also be employed in Thurstons example, which elsewhere uses mainly Urdu chraracters (1975: 205 in the first line of the example towards the end). The edition of the Hadya mlai which I consulted does not use it, instead writing -with the usual Arwi letter for -- and __adda, the Arabic sign used sh to indicate the doubling of a consonant, the same way all the other double consonants are written. This is also used in the invitation to a wedding given by Shu'ayb in appendix 33(b) (1993.: 777), to write the name of the town Czakai (Shnakai). __
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2. By placing a dot below the right part of the letter d (--), Tamil -- is supposed to be written, but, as mentioned earlier, the same Arwi letter which is used for -{- is usually used for this letter.15 3. Finally, according to Shu'ayb, by adding two dots below nn (-n-), the Tamil letter -- is written. In those instances where I found words containing --, it was always written nn, but, as mentioned above, none of these had -in initial position. Perhaps this letter is employed then. Shu'aybs letters nos. 2 and 3 appear in a booklet which teaches the Arabic script to children via Arwi, thus enabling them to concentrate on learning the letters without the additional burden of memorising foreign words (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 188-90 on employing Arwi to teach Arabic). The letters are probably used here to supply an Arwi letter for each Tamil letter not represented by the Arabic script, thus avoiding any confusion which might arise if one Arabic letter is used to denote two Tamil letters. As the main aim of the book is to enable children to read Arabic and not Arwi, it does not matter if two characters should have been used here which are
It is used once in the invitation given by Shu'ayb in appendix 33(a) (1993: 776, the last letter in the third line from the bottom), but this seems to be a spelling mistake, as -- here is part of the plural marker ka (in this instance ceyvrka), which is written with the same Arwi letter which is used for -{- throughout the rest of the document (cf. the words just above and below the word mentioned).
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not normally found in Arwi texts. There is a slight difference with regard to the letters for -and -{- between Shu'ayb and the booklet. According to Shu'ayb, Arwi letter no. 4 is used for -{- and Shu'aybs letter no. 2 for --, whereas it is the other way round in the booklet which has Arwi letter no. 4 for -- and Shu'aybs letter no. 2 for -{- (cf. ibid.: LVI; Shh al-amd n.d.: 16-7; but see also __ the title of the book, where the -{- of arabuttami{ is written with Arwi letter no. 4). To write the Tamil vowels -e- and -o-, two new vowel signs were introduced, whose form is like (the form of the apostrophe, not the letter ain!) below and above the consonant, respectively. Their names are given by Shu'ayb as ko _h zer and ko pes_. Shu'ayb links the syllable ko in these words with the prefix ku-, which according to Winslow is a prefix to words of Sanscrit origin implying bad, evil, ill, unfair, &c (1989: 311). As mentioned in 3.2 the long vowels -- and 3.2, -- are written by adding y or ww, respectively, after the consonant which carries the vowel signs. 3.4. General Orthography and Colloquial Language From what has been said above, it can be seen that Arwi, though being written in the Arabic script, follows Tamil orthography to a certain degree. This holds true especially for the stops. After nasals, for example, when stops in Tamil are usually voiced, no effort was made to use existing letters for
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voiced stops to write these. In Arwi, inta (this) is written in exactly the same way as in Tamil, that is with voiceless t (-t-) instead of voiced dl (-d-), though it would have been no problem to write inda. With regard to the stops, there is some variation, of course, with retroflex -- following Tamil orthography most closely (one should say identically). On the other hand, the greatest variation is exhibited with regard to -c-. Apart from the stops, the tendency to write words as they were spoken or heard by the authors cannot be overlooked. Obvious examples are -n- and -z- both being written nn, the variation and interchangeability of -r- and -|-, -||- being usually written -tt-, and the tendency to turn stops into sibilants between vowels. At least the Hadya mlai also exhibits a certain number of colloquial forms. For example, the sentence hadya nlutz vum er appears two times (HM 13.1 and 18.1) instead of the classical hadya nzkutz vum ez|r.16 Should other Arwi poems also contain colloquial forms, then Arwi could be a source for colloquial Tamil of the last three centuries. 4. Arwi Literature 4.0. Preliminary Remarks I have given some of the most important works in Arwi
The author of the commentary felt compelled to correct some of these forms, writing nzku for nlu and ez|r for er in his transcription.
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below. They are sorted into different categories, which are a bit arbitrary, as many works would fit into more than one, especially in the case of poetic anthologies. But I did not want to overburden the reader by mentioning too many works together whose topics are of course linked, but still separable. Sometimes it was difficult to determine whether a work is Arwi, Tamil or Arabic. For example, Shu'ayb lists the Magh__ n by Imm al-Ars as an Arabic work in his bibliography (cf. 1993: 813). Though the Maghn of course does contain __ quotations and other passages in Arabic, its main text is in Arwi. Also the fact that Shu'ayb calls all the Muslims of Sri Lanka and the South Indian coast from Quilon in Kerala to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh Arwi Muslims (ibid.: LII) sometimes makes it difficult to determine the real language of a work.17 In some instances, doubts may remain.

17

For example, Shu'ayb gives an English translation of a poem by the Arwi mystic-poetess Rasl Bw (I|aclpvi) on p. 413. The translation is, as Shu'ayb states, based on a translation by Sahabdeen (1995: 114). The original text and the sources given by Sahabdeen are both in Tamil (cf. ibid.: 297-8). Further, Shu'ayb does not mention Rasl Bw under the heading Poetesses (1993: 504). By calling her an Arwi poetess, he is probably referring not to the fact that she wrote in Arwi, which does not seem to have been the case, but that she was an Arwi Muslim.
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4.1. Tafsr and adth A tafsr is a commentary, especially on the Qurn. (I will discuss only commentaries on the Qurn here. Commentaries on other works can be found in 4.5 As already mentioned, 4.5.) the Qurn is considered to be untranslatable. That does not mean that the Qurn has not been translated, but that the translation was considered to be clearly inferior to the original Arabic text, which alone was the basis of all commentaries. The Arwi tafsrs always give the Arabic text, followed by a translation of the verse in question and a commentary and explanatory notes. The reluctance to provide translations of the Qurn and to comment on it in Arwi can be seen from the fact that no tafsr was written in Arwi before the late nineteenth century, and that most works are called a translation of the tafsr of the Qurn instead of a translation of the Qurn (Shu'ayb 1993: 274-6). The first Arwi tafsr is Fatu r-ramn f tarjamati tafsri l-qurn by Shaykh Muaf (1836-87) of Beruwala in Sri _ _ __ Lanka. Only the last 5 juz (parts), nos. 26-30, of this tafsr have been printed in Bombay in 1874, covering 46 Sras of the Qurn (ibid.: 110-1 and 275-6; Jalltz 1999: 111-3; Uwise 1990: 233). Apparently, 11 more juz (the first and second juz as well as nos. 17-25) are available in manuscript form (Jalltz 1999: 111 and 119-20). Other tafsrs in Arwi are: Futtu r-ramniyya f tarjamati tafsri kalmi r-rabbniyya by Playam abb Muam20

mad lim published in 1878, which gives the esoteric (bin) interpretation in the marginal notes in addition to the external meaning (hir). Fatu l-karm by N Labbai lim ibn Abd al-Qdir (1830-190518) who is also known as N the Junior, was published in 1881. It also contains discussions on creed and jurisprudence. Another tafsr, Fatu r-ram, published in 1886, deals mainly with mystical points. While Shu'ayb says that it too was written by N the Junior (1993: 277-8), Uwise gives Playam abb Muammad lim as its author (1990: 234). Both Shu'ayb and Uwise mention some more works (Shu'ayb 1993: 277-8; Uwise 1990: 234). A adt_ (pl. adt_) contains information on the conduct _h _h and traditions of the Prophet Muammad. Many of the most important Arwi authors have translated these or composed works giving the essential meaning of a certain adt_. The _h
Shu'ayb (1993: 493) gives the year of death for N the Junior as 1856, but this creates problems, as not only were most of his works published after that year, but it would also contradict the established opinion that the first tafsr in Arwi was the one by Shaykh _ _ __ Muaf, published in 1874, since N the Junior himself wrote two tafsrs. Incidentally, should this be the correct year of death, then N the Junior would have died at the age of 26, which is a bit too young, as he is credited with a number of works in Arabic and Arwi. Thus I suppose that the correct dates are those given by Shu'ayb 1993: 277.
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first works available are Periya adt_ mikka mlai and _h Cizza adt_ mikka mlai by Sm Shihb ad-Dn _h __ (1634/1635-1709), a younger brother of the famous Shaykh _ _ __ adaqatullh (1632-1703). They contain translations of 1119 and 608 traditions respectively (Shu'ayb 1993: 282). __ Shuabu l-mn by Kaml (ibid.; Uwise 1990: 221 has Jaml) ad-Dn lim Pulavar, which according to Uwise was written in 1823 (1990: 235), is based on an Arabic work by Ab Bakr Amad ibn al-usayn al-Bayhaq (d. 1066). It also is supposed to contain a lot of material on faith in general (Shu'ayb 1993: 282; Uwise 1990: 221-3) N the Junior has translated 1077 adt_ in Fatu l-ma_h jd f adt_i n-nabiyyi l-amd. Several other translations _h of traditions have been prepared (Shu'ayb 1993: 282). The anthology Shuabu d-dn by K{akkarai Taikk ib, __ which will be discussed in more detail in 4.2 contains a a4.2, _h dt_ mlai (K{akkarai Taikk ib 1990: 105-8). Two poems by Imm al-Ars are based on adt_. Asa_h nu l-mawi wa azyanu l-malfi contains 380 verses19 in Arwi and Arabic, each of which contains the gist of a adt_ (Shu'ayb 1993: 282). This holds true also for Mawia_h tun muzayyana wa mulaffaatun muassana, containing 53 verses (ibid.: 282 and 613).

19

320 verses according to Muammad Nilm (1963: xxiii).

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4.2. Jurisprudence, Creed and Religious Manuals Especially during the nineteenth century, a number of religious handbooks, a kind of introduction to Islam, were written in Arwi. These manuals provide information on creed, law, ethics, rituals and mysticism, as far as was deemed necessary for the intended audience of the book. These topics are largely inseparable. Many of the explanations on points of creed contain mystical ideas, and all human actions, from extraordinary situations like warfare, through legal procedures, faith and rituals, down to the basics of everyday life such as greeting, eating, washing and marital relations, are governed by the same legal categories.20 There are also a number of works dealing with a specific subject. I will first give an overview over the manuals and then proceed to these more specialised texts. For works on mysticism (taawwuf), see 4.3 4.3. As I already stated, most of the religious manuals in Arwi were produced in the nineteenth century, mainly during the second half. But the roots of these manuals lie in Tamil and Arwi literature of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. In Arwi, poems were written on specific religious topics and sometimes brought together in anthologies. These poems are dealt with later. In Tamil, we have the catechism-like question-and-answer poems of the macal genre (sometimes written mas al, from Arabic masala, question), one of
These are obligatory (wjib), supererogatory (sunna), permissible (all), undesirable (makrh) and forbidden (arm).
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which, the yiramacal by Vaapparimaappulavar written in 1572, has the distinction of being the oldest complete Muslim work extant in Tamil (cf. Uwise 1990: 15-9 and 122-3; Ajmal Khan 1999: 44). During the seventeenth century, Pr Muammad (late sixteenth to first half of the seventeenth century) wrote several works concerning mysticism, theology and ethics (cf. Uwise 1990: 220-1). An important religious compendium compiled in Tamil is the Vta puram by N the Senior (N Walyullh al-Qhir, d. 1743). It is composed of 26 chapters dealing with various topics seemingly arranged at random. Among the topics included are the kalim, prayer (to{ukai), fasting (nzpu) and tawd (the unity and uniqueness of God) (cf. list of contents of Periya Nku 1999: no page no. between 16 and 17). Its language is rather difficult, and it was apparently not composed for the layman (personal communication by M. Syed Mohamed Hasan on 14.3.2000 in Chennai).21 Though several books on Islam in general have been written in the past 150 years, both in Tamil and Arwi, none have attained the fame of the religious manuals written by Imm al-Ars. His later works are originally based on a work on
According to Shu'ayb, the book was written in Arwi (1993: 817), but neither in the secondary literature nor in the introduction to the latest edition could I find any hint of this (cf. Uwise 1990: 112-3 and 219-20; Periya Nku 1999: 3-17; cf. also Ajmal Khan 1985: 56). M. Syed Mohamed Hasan also confirmed that it was written in Tamil script (personal communication on 14.3.2000 in Chennai).
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fiqh (jurisprudence) called Fatu l-matn, which was superseded by Fatu s-salm, which added information on creed. But it was the revised and enlarged edition of Fatu s-salm called Fatu d-dayyn f fiqhi _hayri l-adyn, printed k_ for the first time in 1873-74, which became popular (AniffDoray 1963: ix; Shu'ayb 1993: 159, 611 and 636). The Fatu d-dayyn is a religious compendium based on the Shfi school of law, though contrasting its practices __ from time to time with the anaf school.22 It deals in several chapters with dn (religion) and its pillars, namely mn (faith), islm (submission to God), tawd (unity and uniqueness of God) and marifa (knowledge, cognition [of God]), going on to discuss prayer, alms tax (zakt), fasting and pilgrimage (four of the five pillars of islm; the confession is treated in the chapter on islm). Following these are chapters on food, inheritance, marriage and miscellaneous topics, ending with a discourse on tawba (repentance). Naturally, the stress is different in each chapter, with the one on marifa, for example, containing more mystical points while the chapter on inheritance is concerned more with juridical matters. Imm al-Ars used a number of Arabic, Persian and Arwi sources for compiling this manual. Apart from the Qurn,
These are the two schools Sunnites in South Asia usually belong to. The anaf school is followed by more Muslims in South Asia, while the Shfi school is present mainly among the Muslims of __ the coastal areas of Kerala and Tamilnadu, as well as those in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
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the adt_-collections by al-Bukhr and Muslim and the _h __ writings of the founders of the four law-schools, he has drawn on material of scholars and Sufis like Ibn Arab, alG_azzl, Abd al-Qdir Jln and the North Indian Sufi Mu_h ammad G_awt_ of Gwalior (cf. Imm al-Ars 1963: 515_h _h 18). Contrary to the Vta puram, the Fatu d-dayyn was written as a handbook for ordinary Muslims, as Imm al-Ars states in his introduction (cf. the quotation given at the beginning of this article). As the Fatu d-dayyn superseded Fatu s-salm, it in turn was superseded by the commentary which Imm al-Ars himself wrote on it. The Maghn mulai t-tibyn f __a__ sh rai man fati d-dayyn, or short Maghn, is often con__ sidered the magnum opus of Imm al-Ars. The second edition of the Fatu d-dayyn contains cross-references to the Maghn, which was printed in the same year, 1886 (Aniff__ Doray 1963: ix; Shu'ayb 1993: 160 and 636). Being intended as a commentary, the Maghn naturally follows the Fatu d__ dayyn in content, but giving more details and adding information on trading, finance and juridical procedures.23 Other handbooks were written by authors of renown, such as Shaykh Muaf, who in fact translated or adapted an Ar_ _ __
It should be noted that according to Imm al-Ars own statement, the Maghn is not the last work in this chain of religious __ manuals. This credit goes to the Ghanmatu s-slikn, which will __ be mentioned in 4.3 (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 160-1).
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abic work, (Jalltz 1999: 112; Uwise 1990: 237). Another handbook was written by his son Shaykh Muammad, and _ _ __ there are a number of similar books by other authors (cf. Uwise 1990: 217-8 and 237). As already mentioned, Arwi authors wrote poems on different topics relating to creed, jurisprudence or other religious matters. Already Sm Shihb ad-Dn, one of the earli__ est (if not the earliest) Arwi authors wrote poems of this type. Among them we find works like Ulam mlai (ulam, sg. lim religious scholar), Khuba mlai (khuba __ __ sermon) and a poem against smoking tobacco (see 5.1 Sa5.1; yabu Maraicar 1996: 82-6). Among his works on jurisprudence is Ikhtilf mlai, based on the Arabic work Al-mznu __ l-kubr by Abd al-Wahhb as h-Sharni (d. 1565). It is a __ _ _ poem dealing with 550 points on which the Shfi and ana__ f schools of jurisprudence differ (Shu'ayb 1993: 140-1). Kokan lists some other poems which seem to be of interest here, some of which have the same title like poems from K{akkarai Taikk ibs Shuabu d-dn (e.g. To{ukai mlai) (1974: __ 54-5). Sm Shihb ad-Dn also wrote poems on the position __ of women, with which I will deal later. An important prose work on creed is Imu l-fawid f nimi l-aqid by Mamd b of Porto Novo (Parangipettai) (d. approx. 1727), which Shu'ayb mentions as an Arwi book (1993: 425; cf. also ibid.: 453, 489 and 804-5; Kokan does not mention any Arwi books by Mamd b, cf. 1974: 60). Besides describing creed and dogma, it also contains
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points on mysticism. Shaykh Abd al-Qdir of Kilakkarai (1778-1850), who is us_ _ __ ually known as K{akkarai Taikk ib, wrote a collection of forty poems24 usually called Shuabu d-dn f taqqi ul__ mi d-dn. They deal with various topics, mostly with taawwuf (mysticism), but also with other religious matters. Among the poems which are of interest here are a To{ukai mlai, Nzpu mlai, Zakt mlai, adaqa mlai (on charity), Taqw mlai (on piety) and Bid mlai (on innovations in
Ajmal Khan writes that K{akkarai Taikk ib wrote some forty books in Arabic, Arabic-Tamil and Tamil (1985: 62). He further mentions a work by him called Pazziraumlai containing Tamil poems (ibid.). It seems to me that he mistook the Shuabu __ 'd-dn for the total work of K{akkarai Taikk ib, and that the Pazziraumlai refers to an edition of twelve poems (pazzirau twelve) from the Shuabu 'd-dn published in Tamil script (cf. __ K{akkarai Taikk ib 1990: 6). Zvelebil mentions an author named Aptul Ktir Leppai who wrote a Pazziraumlai. Zvelebil probably refers to K{akkarai Taikk ib, though he mistakenly assigns him to the late nineteenth century (cf. Zvelebil 1995: 55). I am unsure whether the name Shuabu 'd-dn was already used by __ K{akkarai Taikk ib, but it is definitely better to use this name than Pazziraumlai, as there are more than just twelve poems. M. Syed Mohamed Hasan told me that only twenty poems were published in 1990 as the text of the other twenty poems was too damaged to be intelligible (personal communication on 27.2.2001 in Chennai).
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religion), to mention just a few.25 The poems usually consist of 10-40 stanzas. If put together, they actually form something like a religious handbook having some resemblance with texts like the Vta puram, which is also in verse (K{akkarai Taikk ib 1990: 5-6; Shu'ayb 1993: 165 and 524; some of the other poems from the Shuabu d-dn are men__
Shu'ayb mentions a Shara mlai by K{akkarai Taikk ib, __ which also seems to be part of this collection (1993: 433 and 454). In fact, Imm al-Ars quotes several times from an Arwi poem called Shara mlai in his Fatu 'd-dayyn (cf. for example 1963: __ 22 and 32). As author, he gives just the name Abd al-Qdir, which could mean both K{akkarai Taikk ib and Kyalpaizam Taikk ib. The index does not help, as it just adds al-Qhir to the name, which in case of South Indian Muslims denotes that he was born in Kayalpattinam (not in Cairo, against the usual meaning of al-Qhir, cf. Shu'ayb 1993: LIII), which is true for both Taikk ibs. But it is quite clear that K{akkarai Taikk ib is meant, as Imm al-Ars calls him in one instance our leader and teacher (1963: 501); K{akkarai Taikk ib was the teacher and spiritual guide as well as the father-in-law of Imm al-Ars. Further proof comes from the fact that Imm al-Ars quotes part of a poem by the famous poet Kuakui Mastn ib where he identifies Kuakui Mastn ib as a disciple of the said Abd al-Qdir. It is known that Kuakui Mastn ib was a disciple of K{akkarai Taikk ib (ibid.: 74). Sadly, the Shara m__ lai is not contained in the collection of 20 poems from the Shuabu __ 'd-dn printed in Tamil script which is available to me (cf. K{akkarai Taikk ib 1990).
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tioned in 4.1 4.3 and 4.5 Shuabu l-mn by Kaml ad-Dn 4.1, 4.5). __ lim Pulavar, which has been mentioned in 4.1 also con4.1, tains points on creed (Uwise 1990: 221-3). The Hadya mlai by Imm al-Ars, a poem of 33 stanzas (Kokan states that there are 66 verses, but the printed edition has only 33, cf. Kokan 1974: 522), was written around 1869, thus before the bulk of his religious manuals. To a certain degree it is comparable to the poems of his teacher and fatherin-law K{akkarai Taikk ib, but it does not deal with single aspects of religion. Rather, forty ways of behaviour are listed, ranging from reducing sleep and food, attending prayers regularly, or obeying ones parents, to loving the Prophet and his family and engaging in dhikr ( the glorifying of __ Allh with certain fixed phrases, repeated in a ritual order, either aloud or in the mind, , Macdonald 1995: 75). Four each of these modes of conduct should be offered as gifts (hadya) to a person or thing connected with the afterlife. These are (1) the Angel of Death, (2) the grave, (3) the angels Munkar and Nakr, (4) Mlik, the overseer of hell, (5) his counterpart Riwn, the chief angel of paradise, (6) the bridge leading to paradise, (7) the scale on which ones good and bad deeds are weighed, (8) the Prophet Muammad, (9) the soul (r) and (10) God himself. Apart from these gifts, the qualities and characteristics of death are discussed in the poem. It is said that Imm al-Ars wrote this poem for his wife, who had asked for a necklace made of forty gold coins (kcumlai). Instead, her husband wrote this poem to serve as an ornament for her soul (Shu'ayb 1993: 614; cf. al30

so ibid.: 153-5; Imm al-Ars 1996: xx). Uwise mentions an Arwi poem written by Kas hwatta __ Muammad Labbai lim, a contemporary of Imm al-Ars, called Dn mlai, which is supposed to deal with various aspects of Islam (Uwise 1990: 234-5; Shu'ayb 1993: 112). A book that deals with all schools of jurisprudence and the points on which they differ is Fayu r-ramn f ikhtilfi l__ aimmati l-ayn by abb Muammad ibn adaq Muammad Ibrhm printed in 1878 (Shu'ayb 1993: 141 and 185; Uwise 1990: 236-7).26 Among the texts concerned with jurisprudence we also have to mention the works listed by Shu'ayb under the heading Sexology (1993: 184-6).27 Ibid.: 184: The authors
I am not able to say whether this abb Muammad is identical with the author of Futtu'r-ramniyya mentioned in 4.1 4.1. The work Fath hul Mueen, which Uwise mentions as a work on jurisprudence by Imm al-Ars (1990: 236), cannot be found in the list of works by him supplied by Shu'ayb (1993: 610-26). But it is mentioned by Shu'ayb that a book named Fatu'l-mun by one Makhdm Zayn ad-Dn al-Mabar has been translated into Arwi __ (1993: 284). Imm al-Ars states in the Fatu 'd-dayyn: Several books, that are not works on jurisprudence, describe many acts relating to sex in the lessons on Ilmun-Nis (knowledge of women). I have not included them in this work because authorities are not given there (1963: 453). I was not able to find any information regarding these works. All the texts containing information on ilmu'n-nis
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 strictly confined themselves to the domain of legitimate marital acts. In fact, there is a warning in all these works that the instructions given in them are to be used wholly and solely for achieving the perfect all [i.e. permissible, T.T.] act of attaining marital bliss and not for indulging in any arm [i.e. forbidden, T.T.] acts.

Among these works is Miftu -al f i n-nik by Ysuf Labbai lim of Ammapattinam (d. 1887), which contains juridical information on marriage and divorce beside subtle points on sexology wholly based on religion (ibid.) and which was proscribed by the British in the 1930s, and Ilmu n-nis by Sayyid Amad Kabir of Kilakkarai, printed in 1949. Some of the books mentioned before, like Fatu d-dayyn (cf. Imm al-Ars 1963: 449-56) or Fayu r-ramn, as well as the Kitbu l-wisda (see 4.3 deal at 4.3), certain points with similar questions. Mention should be made of the books written especially for women, which deal with the essentials of Islam and information of special interest for women, sometimes condemning things like giving dowry and advising parents to impart education to their daughters. Shu'ayb attributes three works to Sm Shihb ad-Dn, namely Pe putti mlai, Kaly__ a bidat mlai and Tkai mlai (1993: 162). Sayabu Maraicar lists Tkai mlai as a work of Sm Shihb ad-Dn, but __
which I could find or which are mentioned in the books available to me (including the Vta puram, cf. Periya Nku 1999: 53-6) seem to deal also with juridical questions (and to give authorities).
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while referring to a Kalya bidat mlai and two works with the title Pe putti mlai, he gives different authors for these poems. But it is of course possible that Sm Shihb ad__ Dn wrote poems with similar titles (cf. Sayabu Maraicar 1996: 82, 85 and 86-7).28 Kokan also mentions the Tkai mlai, and gives another work with the title Kalya pitru (?) mlai (1974: 54). Imm al-Ars has also written works especially for women. Two of them, Talai ftia and Marifatiz ru, are dealt with below. T{i pe patikam is another work by him on the subject. A number of other books for women have been published. There are also books imparting basic religious knowledge for children, like Simu -ibyn by Ysuf Labbai lim of Ammapattinam which describes the anaf school of jurisprudence. Two other important books for children are Tufatu l-afl and Minatu l-afl, both by Sayyid Muammad known as Colombo lim ib, which deal with the anaf and Shfi schools respectively __ (Shu'ayb 1993: 162-3 and 510).

Sayabu Maraicar mentions a Putti mlai as a poem by Sm Shi__ hb ad-Dn, but this could as well be a work on taawwuf (1996: 153). A Pe putti mlai was recently republished. Though no author is given, he identifies himself in the second stanza as Muammad usayn, who wrote during the late eighteenth century. A poem from the Talai ftia by Imm al-Ars (see 4.4 is also in4.4) cluded in this edition (Anonymous n.d.: Title page, 1 and 44-8; Imm al-Ars n.d.: 6-9; Zvelebil 1995: 443 and 542).
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4.3. Taawwuf (Mysticism) Often, Arwi texts on mysticism form part of an anthology or a religious handbook which is also concerned with creed and jurisprudence, and these fields are often inseparably intertwined. In coastal Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka, and particularly with respect to the Arwi authors, we find few traces of a distinction or even enmity between juridical and mystical Islam. Rather, most Arwi authors are both, lim (religious scholar) and f (mystic), and combine the ideas of both in their writings. The arqas (f-orders) common in the area where Arwi is in use are usually quite orthodox and stress the importance of the Shara. By far the most common __ arqa in the Arwi area is the Qdiriyya, founded by Abd alQdir Jln (1077 o. 1078-1166). Many important authors, like Sm Shihb ad-Dn, K{akkarai Taikk ib, and Imm __ al-Ars, were its members. Another arqa of importance among Arwi writers is the Shdhiliyya, founded by Abul-a_ _ __ san as h-Shdhil (1196-1258) (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 61-3; Eaton __ _ _ __ 1996: 54).29 The first mystic poet in Tamil Muslim literature is Pr Muammad, who is buried in Takkalai in Kanniyakumari district. In Arwi, there are some poems by Sm Shihb ad-Dn __ which seem to deal with taawwuf. Among them are a Marifa mlai and a Neca|ivu mlai (Sayabu Maraicar 1996: 153),
29

The #is htiyya, the most important order of South Asia, is of lit__ tle importance among Tamil speaking Muslims.

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and possibly also ya mlai (Kokan 1974: 54). The Nimu l-aqid by Mamd b (see 4.2 as has already been 4.2), mentioned, seems to contain information on mysticism too. K{akkarai Taikk ibs anthology Shuabu d-dn con__ tains a number of poems on taawwuf, like arqa mlai, aqqa mlai, Marifa mlai, D_ikr mlai, Wujd mlai and _h __ Shuhd mlai (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 165; table of contents of K{akkarai Taikk ib 1990: 120). This is in line with the importance of K{akkarai Taikk ib as one of the leading teachers of the Qdiriyya in South India, among whose disciples were important f authors in both Tamil and Arwi, like Imm al-Ars (Arwi) or Kuakui Mastn ib (Tamil).30 It was K{akkarai Taikk ib who started the Kitbu l-wisda (see below). Imm al-Ars continued the mystical traditions of his __aykh and father-in-law. In many of his earlier works we s h __ find references to mystical ideas, thus to the prophetic tradition die before you die (cf. Schimmel 1985: 197-8) in HM 2.1, and the religious handbooks deal with similar topics in
Kuakui Mastn (many publications have the Tamil name form Mastz) ib is considered to be the most important f poet in Tamil. His poems are usually printed in Tamil, but Shu'ayb calls him an Arwi poet, and Imm al-Ars quotes a poem by him in the Fatu 'd-dayyn which is written in Arabic script. Thus I am unable to say whether Kuakui Mastn ib used both scripts or just one, and if just one, which one (Shu'ayb 1993: 488-9; Imm al-Ars 1963: 74; Zvelebil 1974: 115; cf. Sahabdeen 1995: 297).
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many instances (see for example the chapter about marifa in the Fatu d-dayyn cf. Imm al-Ars 1963: 53-76). A further Arwi work on taawwuf by Imm al-Ars is Marifatiz ru, a lullaby on mystical points written especially for women. Imm al-Ars seems to have written several lullabies on mystical topics (Shu'ayb 1993: 162, 455 and 624). But his most important contribution to taawwuf in Arwi is G_anmatu s-slikn. It was first printed in 1894. It deals _h with all the essential aspects of mysticism (ibid.: 160) as well as with jurisprudence (ibid.: 611, cf. also ibid.: 455 and K{akkarai Taikk ib 1990: 6). According to Muammad Nilm it also contains biographical information on asan and usayn, the grandsons of the Prophet (cf. Muammad Nilm 1963: xxiii). In the introduction, Imm al-Ars mentions that he collected information from the writings of earlier saints and compiled them in this book, as the laymen of his period did not seem to have much leisure to devote themselves to the study of Sufic ideas. As a single book, it embodies the substance of all that is found in my earlier works Fat-ul Matn, Fat-ud Dayyn, Maghn and Fat__ ussalm (translation by Shu'ayb; 1993: 161). Thus, the G_a_h nmatu s-slikn forms the last of the religious manuals written by Imm al-Ars. Especially as regards the last three volumes Fatu d-dayyn, Maghn and G_anmatu s-sli__ _h kn, there seems to be a slight difference with regard to the intended audience: Fatu d-dayyn for the layman, Magh__ n for the lim and G_anmatu s-slikn for the f. But _h
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still all of the works were intended for a general audience without sufficient knowledge of Arabic. Both lim and f were of course expected to collect information from the original sources. Imm al-Ars also wrote books on taawwuf in Arabic. In fact, he, like other Arwi authors, seems to have been careful not to reveal too many mystical points to the general reader without any mystical experiences, to avoid misinterpretations (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 631). This becomes especially clear in his discussion of the famous sentence an l-aqq (I am the absolute truth; I am God), uttered by Manr al-allj (d. 922). He writes (Imm al-Ars 1963: 403-4):
Living saints, at moments of ecstasy, have lost control of themselves and given vent to expressions like I am Allah and I am the Truth. Their utterances are similar to the utterances made under duress, and ordinary people can never reach their stage of attainment to make such utterances. The expressions made by them were made at moments when they were forgetful of themselves, and in saner moments, when they were reminded of what they had uttered in their forgetfulness, they always repented and prayed for forgiveness It is for this reason that the reading of books written by learned men of great wisdom, , have been ruled to be arm for ordinary people who are incompetent to read and understand them. Many of the ordinary people who read such books slip and fall off the right path, through lack of understanding.

Authors who passed on this kind of information were subject to criticism, as the example of Siddi Levvai shows. Siddi
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Levvai (1838-98) started a controversy through his book Asrru l-lam, because of revealing intricate mystical points to the common masses (Shu'ayb 1993: 500-1).31 This attitude gave ammunition for groups who criticised Arwi and the use of the Arabic script as well as taawwuf in general. It may also have contributed to the image of the Muslim Brahmins which was brought up by the Self-respect Movement (cf. More 1993: 90-1). A very famous book by Shaykh Muaf of Beruwala is _ _ __ Mzn mlai, first published in 1868, which deals with taawwuf (Shu'ayb 1993: 159; Jalltz 1999: 112). Uwise says that it deals with all aspects of Islam and its path of purity (Uwise 1990: 234; cf. also ibid.: 221). Another mystical work in Arwi is Mawhibu l-makkiyya by Muammad G_awt_ of Melapalayam published in 1887, _h _h which seems to deal mainly with the theory of the nr muammad, the Light of Muammad, the technical term for the pre-existence of the soul of the Prophet Muammad (Massignon 1995:452), from which the other souls emanated. Muammad G_awt_ used works by ar-Rz (d. 1209) _h _h and as-Suy (1445-1505), among others, as sources (Shu'ayb 1993: 286-7 and 418-9). A work called Jawhir nafsa by Ysuf Labbai lim of
I am not sure whether the book is in Arwi. In his bibliography, Shu'ayb lists it as Tamil, but that refers to a reprint made in 1974. As many Arwi works are reprinted today in Tamil, I cannot say whether the original is Arwi or Tamil.
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Ammapattinam is mentioned. Shu'ayb does not mention which language it is written in, though all other works of this author mentioned by Shu'ayb are in Arwi. Jawhir nafsa deals especially with the Qdiriyya Sufi order (ibid.: 455; cf. also ibid.: 820). At the beginning of the twentieth century we have the works of Sayyid siya Umm (1868-1949), who wrote mainly mystical poems. A number of her poems have been published in 1976 (cf. Sayyid siya Umm 1976). Another poetess, Fima Jawhariyya (b. 1900), wrote poems of spiritual nature, that have been partly published in 1985 by her son (Shu'ayb 1993: 504). Finally, mention must be made of the Kitbu l-wisda, also called Talaiyaai kitb or pillow book, maybe named thus on account of its size. It is a manuscript kept in the library of the Madrasatul-Arsiyya in Kilakkarai. According to Shu'ayb it contains material written by more than a hundred Saints and which deals with various aspects of religious and worldly life (1993: 95 note 28). It was started by K{akkarai Taikk ib to preserve the writings of important saints and scholars for future generations (Ajmal Khan 1985: 62; cf. also Uwise 1990: 217; K{akkarai Taikk ib 1990: 5-6 even states that more than 350 saints wrote in it). Beside mysticism, the wide range of topics covers not only creed and jurisprudence, but also science, like medicine (see 4.5) 4.5 or zoology (personal communication from M. Syed Mohamed Hasan on 13.6.2000 in Chennai).
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4.4. Biographies and Panegyrics Biographies and panegyrics occupy an important place in Islamic culture. Praising the Prophet, his companions (aba) and the saints was and is considered to be a meritorious act by many Muslims, and though a number of reformist and revivalist groups condemn this praising as un-Islamic, the recital of panegyrics still forms part of celebrations in the Islamic world.32 Similarly, the biographies of holy people are important for Islam, as the lives of the aba, saints and above all the Prophet himself set the precedents for a life led according to the rules of Islam, which is also the basis for the adt__h literature. Of course, the biographies will not only give the dry facts of the life of this or that person, but also extol and praise their qualities. The first biographical poems in Arwi were written by Sm S_ihb ad-Dn. Most important among them is the Rasl m_h lai, a biographical poem on the life of the Prophet (Shu'ayb 1993: 286; cf. also Uwise 1990: 152;33 Sayabu Maraicar 1996:
I was able to visit several recitations of mawlid, panegyrics (literally birthday or place of birth), on the Prophet between Au_h gust 1999 and June 2000 at the dargah of arat Ukks_a (Ukk in Tamil, cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 14) in Porto Novo; he is said to have been a companion of the Prophet and a participant of the battle of Badr.
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Uwise writes that the Rasl mlai was written by Sm Shihb __ ad-Dns son, whom he calls Nayin Lebbai. But all other authors attribute it to Sm Shihb ad-Dn himself. The edition of Rasl m__

40

89; Manavai Mustafa 1986: 200).34 Kokan lists two more poems by Sm Shihb ad-Dn which might deal with the life __ of the Prophet: Sra mlai and Nab mlai (1974: 54-5). But it is as well possible that these are just other names for the Rasl mlai, which is, as Uwise mentions, also called Napiyull35 mlai (1990: 152). According to Shu'ayb, Sm Shihb ad-Dn also wrote a bio__ graphy on Abd al-Qdir Jln, the founder of the Qdiriyya arqa, called Muyi d-dn mlai (1993: 288-9). But no other author mentions this work, though there are other works with the same name by other authors (cf. Uwise 1990: 153;

lai that is available to me calls the author Shihb ad-Dn Shm __ __ Nayn Labbai. That this person is identical with Sm Shihb ad__ Dn is corroborated by the fact that the edition includes a Mrn mlai by the same Shihb ad-Dn Shm Nayn Labbai, besides a __ __ Nkaimai mlai by another author (cf. Shihb ad-Dn n.d.: 1 and __ 107). The Mrn mlai is unanimously accepted as a work by Sm __ Shihb ad-Dn, though it is not mentioned by Uwise (on the Mrn mlai see below). As the Rasl mlai was written almost at the same time as the C|ppuram, the most important Tamil Muslim epic, it might be interesting to compare the two works, especially as there is a legend that Sm Shihb ad-Dns brother Shay__ adaqatullh sup__ _ _ kh plied the necessary information to Uma|uppulavar, author of the C|ppuram (cf. Shulman and Subrahmanyam 1993: 524).
35 34

Tamil name form, as given by Uwise.

41

Sayabu Maraicar 1996: 88).36 But it is probable that Shu'ayb refers to a poem by Sm Shihb ad-Dn called Mrn mlai, __ which deals with the life of Abd al-Qdir Jln (cf. Sayabu Maraicar 1996: 88; Kokan 1974: 55; Shihb ad-Dn n.d.). __ There are two other works which seem to be biographical poems by Sm Shihb ad-Dn: Nlu yrka mlai or Nlvar __ mlai (on the life of the four first caliphs), and |u imm mlai (on six Imams; I am unable to say which Imams are meant) (Sayabu Maraicar 1996: 85; Kokan 1974: 54). While I could not find any panegyrical or biographical poems by K{akkarai Taikk ib (that is, none where these topics predominate), there are a number of them by Imm alArs, both in Arwi and Arabic. Among the most important of the Arabic poems is Mawhibu z-zayn f manqibi l-asanayn on the life of asan and usayn, the grandsons of the Prophet, which has been translated by the author himself into Arwi (Shu'ayb 1993: 288 and 616). Among the Arwi panegyrics by Imm al-Ars, Talai ftia is the most important. Its content are prayers for the intercession and help of the prophets, their wives, and especially of Fima, the daughter of Muammad. It contains an Arabic qadah of 78 lines with its Arwi translation in between. It also contains 115 lines of Arwi and Arabic poems (Shu'ayb 1993: 613). But the editon of the Talai ftia available to
36

Both Shu'ayb and Uwise mention a number of other biographies (often said to be translations) on Abd al-Qdir Jln (Shu'ayb 1993: 289; Uwise 1990: 235-6).

42

me contains much more material. Of its seventeen texts (some, like the introduction, in prose), seven are in Arwi, six in Arabic, and four employ both languages. The Arabic poems are on the whole shorter than the Arwi ones, making up only about eight of the 68 pages (including the title page) of the edition, though the Arwi is sometimes heavily Arabicised. But the longest text, called Laka l-amdu,37 combines both languages and makes up nearly half of the total; this is probably the Arabic poem with Arwi translation Shu'ayb is referring to (cf. Imm al-Ars n.d.: 13-44). The Talai ftia is recited particularly by women, mainly during the months of Raman and Muarram, as well as on special occasions like pregnancy. Though certain revivalist groups have attacked and condemned the work and its recital as un-Islamic, it seems to be still held in high esteem by many Muslims, especially in Sri Lanka (ibid.: 74-5). Apparently, the G_anmatu s-slikn also contains biogra_h phical information on asan and usayn (cf. Muammad Nilm 1963: xxiii). Two biographies have been prepared on the founder of the S_dhiliyya order, Abul-asan as_-Shdhil. One was writ_ h __ _h _ _ __ ten by N the Junior. This work is called Nafatu l-anbar f manqibi qubi l-akbar. The other biography called Hidyatu s-slikn was written by a certain Muammad Isml of Nagapattinam. N the Junior has apparently also translated a famous col37

In most cases the first words of a poem form its title.

43

lection of biographies of saints, Fard ad-Dn Ars Tadh__ kiratu l-awliy, into Arwi. These were published as Ad-duraru f hikyti l-ghurar al-mulaqqabi bi qaai l-awliy __ in 1881. A number of other biographies, for example on the Nagore saint Shh al-amd or Maryam (Mary), seem to exist (Shu__ 'ayb 1993: 286-90). Shaykh Muaf of Beruwala eulogised Umar of Kayal_ _ __ pattinam in the poem Meyzattuti. He discusses the mystical significance of the three Arabic letters which constitute the name Umar: ain, mm and r. While Shu'ayb says it is in Arwi, Jalltz explicitly states that it is written in Tamil language and script ( tami{ mo{iyil, tami{ lipiyil iya||iya kavitai nl, meyzat tuti ezpatkum, Jalltz 1999: 113; Shu'ayb 1993: 110-1; Uwise 1990: 202). _h Kas _watta Muammad Labbai lim is reported to have written panegyrics on his spiritual master, Kyalpaizam Taikk ib, in Arabic and Arwi (Shu'ayb 1993: 112). Quite popular in Arwi are poems of the munjt genre (the Arabic term denotes a secret dialogue or confidential conversation), which invoke blessings and are also generally used for the extempore prayer offered after the usual liturgical form has been recited (Uwise 1990: 120-1; cf. also Ajmal Khan 1999: 44). Among the poems by Sayyid siya Umm published in 1976 is a large number of munjts (cf. Sayyid siya Umm 1976), and Uwise mentions a collection of twelve such poems in the Arabic script (1990: 121).
44

4.5. Miscellaneous Apart from the above-mentioned works, there are a number of works on different topics which I could not sort into one of the sections. First, there are some commentaries on works listed above. S_aykh Muafs son, Shaykh Muammad jiyar, has _ h __ _ _ __ written a commentary on the Mzn mlai (see 4.3 named 4.3) Ihru l-aqqi ani l-bil f bayni murdi mzni l-dil (Shu'ayb 1993: 496; Uwise 1990: 237-8). At least two commentaries have been prepared by Muft Muammad Tamm of Madras (1865-1944), one on Mamd bs work on creed, Nimu l-aqid (see 4.2 the other 4.2), on Jawhir nafsa by Ysuf Labbai lim of Ammapattinam (see 4.3 though, as I have already mentioned, I do not 4.3), know whether that work is in Arwi or Arabic (Shu'ayb 1993: 425 and 455). A special place in the Arabic literature of South India is occupied by Shaykh adaqatullhs Qadatu l-witriyya f _ _ __ madi _hayri l-bariyya, also known as Takhmsun wa tadhk_ __ __ ylun al qadati l-witriyya. Takhms means that to each __ couplet in an original text, three hemistiches are added before the couplet, thus producing a stanza of 5 lines. The original Qadatu l-witriyya was composed by K_ab al-Bagh_h __ dd. The takhms by Shaykh adaqatullh contains 4210 __ _ _ __ hemistiches, of which 1218 form the original of this panegyric poem. Shaykh adaqatullhs work was translated into _ _ __ Arwi by N the Junior, as Nafatu l-itriyya f __arai lsh
45

witriyya, and printed in 1896. Apparently, it also contains a commentary (ibid.: 129-33 and 292-3; Uwise 1990: 238). Of the works translated from Arabic into Arwi and Tamil, I want to mention a translation of Bidyatu l-hidya by alG_azzl (1058-1111), which was first translated by Sayyid _h Muammad lim Pulavar (1880-1959) into Arwi, then printed in Tamil script, and called Nrva{iyiz rampam (Shu'ayb 1993: 201 and 283-4; Ceyyit Hasaz Maulz 1999: 296). Apparently, also al-G_azzls Mirju l-rifn and Abd al-Karm _h Jls (d. between 1408 and 1417) Al-insn al-kmil have been translated into Arwi (Ceyyit Hasaz Maulz 1999: 296). Perhaps the earliest translation is Tarjamatu l-bahja by Shaykh adaqatullh, which is the translation of as_-Shaa_ _ __ _h _ _ nawfs Bahjatu l-asrr, an important work on the life of Abd al-Qdir Jln. Shulman and Subrahmanyam call the translation Shaykh adaqatullhs best-known work (1993: _ _ __ 524; Shu'ayb 1993: 288). There are a number of translations of _hubas, sermons, ink_ to Arwi, especially those of Abd ar-Ramn ibn Nabta (d. 984), which have been translated by Imm al-Ars and his students. N the Junior and Shaykh Muaf are also repor_ _ __ ted to have translated _hubas by ibn Nabta. Apart from k_ that, there are a number of other translations of sermons (Shu'ayb 1993: 173-5; Jalltz 1999: 113).38
38

An interesting detail is that the _huba collection of the Luckk_ now scholar Mawln Abd al-ayy (1847-85), who thought that

46

A certain Abd ar-Ramn of Nellikuppam (d. 1927), who according to Shu'ayb was a converted Brahmin, translated the Fatw-i lamgr into Arwi (Shu'ayb 1993: 285). This collection of rulings was prepared by a panel of leading ulam of the anaf school of jurisprudence. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb aimed at a compilation of authoritative and reliable rulings which soon gained popularity in the empire (cf. Richards 1994: 173-4). Shu'ayb states that Shaykh _ _ __ adaqatullh was the chief advisor of the panel and his son one of the members (cf. 1993: 284-5). It should be noted that according to Shulman and Subrahmanyam, an oral legend recorded at the beginning of the twentieth century states that Aurangzeb repeatedly offered juridical positions to Shaykh _ _ __ adaqatullh, which the latter refused, sending other people like his son instead (1993: 525). Unfortunately, Shu'ayb does not give his source, thus I am unable to comment on the reliability of the tradition that Shaykh adaqatullh and his son _ _ __ were involved in the compilation of the Fatw-i lamgri. Finally, the Bible has apparently been translated into Arwi (ibid.: 103-4). Many books to help students in a number of matters have been published. Mention has been made in 4.2 of the books which provide children with basic information on the schools of jurisprudence. There are translations of Arabic grammars and works that help to pronounce the Qurn correctly. Textthe translation of sermons is undesirable (makrh), was translated into Arwi and published in 1942 (Shu'ayb 1993: 173-5).
47

books and primers in Arabic have also been published, most important among them being a book series called Hidyatu l-qsimiyya to teach Arabic to children, published by Siddi Levvai (Shu'ayb 1993: 111, 164-5, 293 and 500-1). There are also a number of dictionaries. Between 1903-05, the first Arabic-Arwi dictionary was published in the form of a periodical by akm Muammad Abdullh ib. Though running to 504 pages, it only covers the first three letters of the Arabic alphabet plus some items of the fourth letter. The first complete dictionary was compiled by a student of Imm al-Ars, Muammad Ibrhm, who was the principal of the Indian Arwi School in Singapore. The first edition was released, apparently in Singapore, in 1917 (Uwise gives 1913, 1990: 238). The title is At-tufatu -amadiyya f tarjumati alfi l-arabiyya. An Arwi encyclopaedia, Najtu l-anm f nayli l-marm, was prepared by Muammad Ibrhm. A dictionary consisting of two parts was compiled and published in 1937 by Sayyid Ysn Mawln al-Balqmi (1889-1966). Uwise gives its title as Kaamoosul arabi va arvi (ibid.: 239). f Kona S_aykh Abd al-Qdir (b. 1938), known as f arat, com_ h __ piled a dictionary of legal terms with explanations. Unfortunately, Shu'ayb does not give any further information. Finally, there seems to be an Arwi-Arabic dictionary by Muammad Muyid-dn of Kilakkarai (Shu'ayb 1993: 290-2). There are poems on medicine, e.g. by K{akkarai Taikk ib, and translations of medical works, sometimes as part
48

of other books like the Kitbu l-wisda (ibid.: 165-6). An interesting work has been reported to be in the Indonesian Manuscript Library in Jakarta. It is a book on medicine edited in 1807 and written in four different languages, namely Javanese, Persian, Arwi and Arabic (Shu'ayb 1993: 105-6). Shu'ayb mistakenly calls Almat lankapuri, published in Malay by a Malay, Tuan Baba Yunus, at Colombo in 1869, the first Arwi journal. But several Arwi periodicals, most of them weeklies, were published, like Ajibu l-akhbr at __ Madras in the 1870s and Kas_fu r-rn an qalbi l-jn at Co_h lombo from 1889 onwards. Other magazines appeared during the first half of the twentieth century (Shu'ayb 1993: 103). Imm al-Ars has written a novel called Madnatu nnus (Tamil authors usually translate it as Copper Town, but this story from the Arabian Nights is more famous in the West as City of Brass). At one point, Shu'ayb states that it probably belongs to the writers earlier period, while at other places he specifies the year 1858-59. Both he and Ajmal Khan state that the novel was written before Piratpa mutaliyr carittiram by Vtanyakam Piai and Acazp carittiram by Siddi Levvai. If this should be true, then Madnatu'n-nus could be the first novel written in the Tamil language. It was printed in the Arabic script in 1900 at Colombo, and in the Tamil script in 1978-79 in Madras (ibid.: 104, 619-20, 632 and 785-6; Ajmal Khan 1985: 79).39
39

Shu'ayb convincingly argues that the writing of a novel by Imm

49

5. Important Arwi authors __ 5.1. Sm Shihb ad-Dn The fourth of the five gems, the sons of Shaykh Sulaymn _ _ __ 40 (1591-1668) (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 498-9), was according to Shu'ayb born in 1634-35 in Kayalpattinam (ibid.: 140 and 281; Sayabu Maraicar 1996: 153). In contrast to his brothers Shams __ ad-Dn, Amad, adaqatullh and al ad-Dn, he concentrated on the writing and propagation of Arwi literature. Though he also wrote some Arabic works, most of his writings are in Arwi. Being one of the first (if not the first) known authors in Arwi, he produced a great number of works on different topics (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 140-2 and 483; Ajmal Khan 1985: 52). Like his brothers, Sm Shihb ad-Dn was engaged in the __ revival of Islam and Muslim educational institutions in South India and Sri Lanka after Portuguese colonialism. His trans_h lations of adt_ as well as his poems on different aspects of Islam in Arwi (ibid.; see 4.1 and 4.2 were part of this 4.2) mass education campaign, as was the habit of reciting
al-Ars was facilitated by the greater importance of prose works in Arabic in comparison to classical Tamil literature. Imm al-Ars himself wrote a number of prose works in Arabic and Arwi (personal communication from Dr. Shu'ayb on 28.11.1999 in Chennai). The title of the edition of the novel in the Tamil script has been translated into Tmirappaaam (Ajmal Khan 1985: 79).
40

Kokan mentions that Shaykh Sulaymn himself wrote poems in _ _ __ Tamil, but he gives no details (1974: 54).

50

takhms (see 4.5 at private houses on Thursdays (Ajmal __ 4.5) Khan 1985: 53). He travelled with his brothers Shaykh adaqatullh and _ _ __ al ad-Dn to the holy places of Islam and during this time campaigned with them against the use of tobacco and tobacco products. They are even said to have appealed to the Ottoman emperor to ban the use of tobacco. (ibid.: 52-3; Shu'ayb 1993: 480-1).41 Sm Shihb ad-Dn is said to have written a __ work in Arwi against tobacco called Tampkkumlai (Ajmal Khan 1985: 52; Sayabu Maraicar 1996: 86 calls it Pukaiyilai vilakku mlai). Similarly, he campaigned against a number of social evils, including the habit of taking dowry (Ajmal Khan 1985: 153; Shu'ayb 1993: 163). He survived all his brothers and died in 1709 (ibid.: 53). K{akkarai 5.2. K akkarai Taikk ib S_aykh Abd al-Qdir of Kilakkarai is popularly known as _ h __ K{akkarai Taikk ib to differentiate him from his contemporary and brother-in-law, Shaykh Abd al-Qdir of Ka_ _ __
41

Shu'ayb calls the emperor appealed to Murd (1993: 480), though this is hardly possible, as the reign of Sultan Murad IV ended in 1640, when most of the brothers were but children (and al ad-Dn was not even born yet), and the next Murad to ascend the throne was Murad V in 1876. Thus, if we do not want to dismiss the legend as pious fiction, the Sultan cannot have been called Murad. The most probable ruler would be Sultan Mehmed IV the Hunter (reigned 1648-87).
51

yalpattinam, called Kyalpaizam Taikk ib (1777-1855) (Shu'ayb 1993: 487-8). In fact, K{akkarai Taikk ib was also born in Kayalpattinam in 1778, being a descendant of one of Shaykh adaqatullhs daughters. He studied in Ki_ _ __ lakkarai and married a granddaughter of Awwkkr Maraikyar (1693-1766), who had supported Muslim scholars and the construction of mosques and madrasas (Islamic educational institutions). With her, he had five daughters, but no son (Ajmal Khan 1985: 62; cf. also Shu'ayb 1993: 510; Itrs Maraikkyar 1986: 62-3). K{akkarai Taikk ib later (1805) was given charge of one of the most important madrasas in Tamilnadu at Kilakkarai, which had been founded in 1671 by Shaykh adaqatul_ _ __ lh and renamed Madrasatul-Arsiyya after its reorganisation in 1851 by Imm al-Ars (see 5.3 Shu'ayb 1993: 8035.3; 42 4). He introduced a scheme of free boarding and lodging there (ibid.: 524). Many of his pupils became famous on their own, like Kuakui Mastn ib, probably the best known f poet of South India (see 4.3 the poet Shaykh Abd al4.3), _ _ __ Qdir Nayn Labbai lim called Pulavar Nyakam, to whose credit go four epics in Tamil, Imm al-Ars, K{akkarai Taikk ibs son-in-law and deputy (khalfa) (see 5.3 __ 5.3), Ysuf Labbai lim of Ammapattinam (cf. ibid.: 500) and the
The introduction to Shuabu 'd-dn states that K{akkarai Taikk __ ib started the madrasa himself (K{akkarai Taikk ib 1990: 7). According to Kokan, it was started by Imm al-Ars (1974: 518).
52
42

merchant abb Muammad Aracar (1777-1816), who was a descendant of Awwkkr Maraikyar like K{akkarai Taikk ibs wife. Apart from supporting many institutions founded by Awwkkr Maraikyar, abb Muammad Aracar is credited with the establishment of a mosque and reportedly also an Arwi school on the Island Phulo or Pulau Brani three miles from Singapore, on which a naval base is situated nowadays (ibid.: 511-2; Ajmal Khan 1985: 61). Among K{akkarai Taikk ibs many literary contributions (see 4, especially 4.3 is also one of the most important 4.3) Arabic qadas of South India, called Al-qadatu 's h-s haf__ __ iyya f madi _hfii l-jamiyya or short Shafiyya (Shu'ayb s_ __ 1993: 136-9 and 358-61). K{akkarai Taikk ib died in 1850 and was buried in Kilakkarai (cf. ibid.: 488, 524 and 602-3). al-Ars 5.3. Imm al- Ars Sayyid Muammad lim lim Sayyid Muammad, known as Imm al-Ars, was born in _ _ __ 1816 in Kayalpattinam.43 His father Shaykh Amad (17841845), also known as Veai Amad, and his mother Amna (1790-1880) stemmed from the family of Shaykh adaqatul_ _ __ lh. Most of the information on his family and childhood comes from an Arabic elegy on his parents. He had eight
The life sketch of Imm al-Ars is based on Muammad Nilm (1963: xix-xxii & xxvii-xxix), supplemented by information from other books.
53
43

brothers and four sisters, but four of his brothers and one of his sisters died at a young age. His father got his income from scribing. At the age of two, Imm al-Ars and his family migrated to Kilakkarai. He was trained in religious subjects from a very early age, and memorised the whole Qurn before reaching the age of ten. In Kilakkarai, he got the opportunity to study under K{akkarai Taikk ib. His teacher was so pleased with him that he married his fourth daughter, Sra Umm (d. 1859), to him in 1837. He was also accepted by K{akkarai Taikk ib as his disciple (murd) in the Qdiriyya order, and later was even appointed his deputy (khalfa). __ He earned his livelihood through a hardware business in Madurai. Later, a branch was opened in Kilakkarai, where goods were sold which had been brought in from other places in British India. He also used to transport scrap iron from Sri Lanka to Kilakkarai and import rice from Burma (Shu'ayb 1993: 588). Imm al-Ars was in charge of the Madrasatu'l-Arsiyya, an office he had inherited from his teacher K{akkarai Taikk ib. He expanded the scheme of free boarding and lodging at the madrasa which had been introduced by the latter. This earned him the attention of the Nawab of Arcot, G_ulm G_awt_ K_n Bahdur Wljh V. As Imm al-A_h _h _h _h rs refused, in accordance with the tradition of his forefathers, to meet the Nawab at his palace, the meeting took place in the Wljhi-mosque in Madras. Imm al-Ars composed two Arabic poems on the Nawab, who himself intro54

duced the free boarding-and-lodging system at the Madrasa-i Azam in Madras (ibid.: 514-5; Ajmal Khan 1985: 66). Funds for the Madrasatu'l-Arsiyya came from different sources. Imm al-Ars used some of his own earnings for the madrasa. Another source of income was the sale of the books by Imm al-Ars, not only among his many pupils, but also to a wider public. This was in part facilitated by the establishment of lithographic printing presses in Bombay and Kilakkarai (in 1883). Donations were a third (though limited) way of funding. Finally, the madrasa is said to have received one rupee from each boat touching the port of Galle in Sri Lanka, where the Muslim community enjoyed an influential position. This money was remitted to Kilakkarai through the _halfa of Imm al-Ars, Muammad Al (cf. k_ Shu'ayb 1993: 589-91). Imm al-Ars travelled widely in India, Sri Lanka and several Arab countries, of course including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He is credited with participating in the establishment of more than 350 mosques in Sri Lanka as well as some in India (ibid.: 640; Ajmal Khan 1985: 81). Apart from building up a library for the madrasa, he is credited with 82 major works in Arabic and Arwi, as well as an unknown number of smaller poems, composed on mosques, donors of books etc., in the same languages as well as Malayalam written in Arabic script.44 He is said to have
44

Shu'ayb gives a couplet in Arabic-Malayalam at the bottom of 1993: 377.

55

known Malayalam, Persian, Urdu and Sanskrit, besides Arabic and Arwi/Tamil. A number of honorific titles were bestowed on him. The title Imm al-Ars and the Tamil equivalent Mppiai Leppai are the best known. According to Shu'ayb, he was called thus as he combined religious knowledge with external cleanliness, being always dressed well like a bridegroom (Tamil mppiai, Arabic ars; Shu'ayb: 586). On the other hand, Muammad Nilm and some other authors link this name with the fact that he was the son-in-law (also mppiai) of K{akkarai Taikk ib, who himself called him this way (1963: xx-xxi; cf. also Itrs Maraikkyar 1986: 70; Ajmal Khan 1985: 65) There are a number of other titles (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 586-7). Imm al-Ars had three daughters and two sons with his first wife. Both of the sons, Shaykh Abd al-Qdir known as _ _ __ ib al-K_alwa (1848-1913) and Shh al-amd known as _h __ ib al-Jalwa (1854-1920), as well as at least one of the daughters, Sayyid Fima (1845-1907), were scholars of renown.45 In 1844 he married another woman, Fima Bw, with whom he had a daughter, but the girl died young. After
The son and _halfa of ib al-Jalwa, Shaykh Amad Abd alk_ _ _ __ Qdir (1891-1976), known as Shaykh Nyakam, was the president _ _ __ of the South Indian jamatu'l-ulam (association of Muslim religious scholars). He tried to further the use of Arwi by supporting teaching institutions and encouraging the ulam to use Arwi. Dr. Shu'ayb in turn is his son (Shu'ayb 1993: 523, 794 and 804).
56
45

the death of his first wife Sra Umm he married her sister but had no children with her. Muammad Nilm mentions a last daughter with a slave-girl (surrya) towards the end of his life (1963: xxi). Imm al-Ars died in 1898 in Kilakkarai and was buried beside his teacher and father-in-law, K{akkarai Taikk ib. _ _ ayk _ 5.4. Shay _ h Muaf of Beruwala S_aykh Muaf was born in Beruwala, Sri Lanka, as the son _ h __ of Adam Bw in 1836. He studied in Kayalpattinam in South India under a number of scholars, but his most important teacher seems to have been Kyalpaizam Taikk ib, since he mentions Shaykh Umar, the father and Shaykh _ _ __ _ _ __ of Kyalpaizam Taikk ib, as his Shaykh several times _ _ __ and has also written a panegyric poem about him (see 4.4 4.4). But Shaykh Umar died in 1801, about 35 years before the _ _ __ birth of Shaykh Muaf, so it is most probable that Ka_ _ __ yalpattinam Tayka ib, son of Umar Wali, might have been the spiritual master and a teacher to Shaykh Muaf __ __ Wali (Shu'ayb 1993: 276 note 1; cf. also ibid.: 110-1, 501 and 525). That another important scholar of Sri Lanka, Kas__h watta Muammad Labbai lim, was also a disciple of Kyalpaizam Taikk ib, makes this even more probable (ibid.: 112 and 525).46
46

That Shu'ayb mentions him and Kas_watta Muammad Labbai _h

57

Apart from Kyalpaizam Taikk ib, Shaykh Muaf _ _ __ also had other teachers (Kyalpaizam Taikk ib died in 1855 when Shaykh Muaf was just 19 years old), among _ _ __ them Playam abb Muammad lim, who wrote the second tafsr in Arwi, Futtu'r-ramniyya, while Shaykh _ _ __ Muaf wrote the first (see 4.1 and Amad ibn Mubrak 4.1), Mawln, a scholar from Yemen, whom Shaykh Muaf _ _ __ eulogised in an Arabic poem (ibid.: 276; Jalltz 1999: 112). Shaykh Muaf apparently returned to Sri Lanka after his _ _ __ studies and is among the most important Muslim scholars of the country. He contributed several works in Arwi, among them the Mzn mlai (see 4.3 and the first Arwi tafsr 4.3) Fatu r-ramn (see 4.1 He also wrote in Arabic and 4.1). translated works from Arabic to Arwi, like the above-mentioned _hubas of ibn Nabta (see 4.5 Jalltz also mentions k_ 4.5). the translation of a part of a work just called Ihy (Iy ulmi 'd-dn by al-G_azzl?). He calls the translated part _h Pavyitul akyit (Fawidu'l-aqid?) and states that it has been included in the Mzn mlai (1999: 113). Shaykh Mu_ _ __ af died in 1887 or 1888 (cf. ibid.: 111; Shu'ayb 1993: 159, 275 and 496).

lim as disciples of K{akkarai Taikk ib in one instance (1993: 454) is probably a mistake. Kokan credits Shaykh Umar _ _ __ with composing Tamil poems, too, but as with Shaykh Sulaymn, _ _ __ he does not elaborate on this (1974: 454).
58

6. Conclusion Several conclusions regarding the nature and character of Arwi literature and its authors can be drawn from what has been said above. Arwi started to develop from the end of the seventeenth century onwards, thus a bit later than Muslim literature in Tamil script. Apparently the Muslim community had recovered by that time from Portuguese persecution. It should also be kept in mind that the northern tracts of Tamilnadu were incorporated into the Mughal empire during the first years of the eighteenth century. Shaykh adaqatullh is _ _ __ claimed to have been in close contact with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who is credited with having ordered the erection of the tomb of the Shaykh in Kilakkarai (Shu'ayb _ _ __ 479-80; Shulman and Subrahmanyam 1993: 525). The Arabic script continued to be used by the Tamil speaking Muslims beside the Tamil script. Arwis golden age seems to have been the end of the nineteenth century, which saw a number of important authors, like Imm al-Ars, S_aykh Muaf, N the Junior and Ysuf Labbai lim. _ h __ Lithographic printing in Bombay and the establishment of a lithographic printing-press by Imm al-Ars in Kilakkarai may have furthered the publishing of Arwi books. The colonial situation and the notion that the Tamil speaking Muslims were not Muslims proper, which was current among the British and a number of Urdu speaking Muslims, may have been additional reasons for an increase in the production of literature written in the Arabic script, emphasising the close con59

nections to the heartlands of Islam.47 Regarding its relation to Muslim literature written in Tamil proper, there are differences as well as similarities. With regard to the content, Arwi poems are rather didactic than narrative. While many of the Tamil poems dealing with the teachings of Islam still retain a narrative frame (like the yiramacal), most of the poems in Arwi have no narrative part (except, of course, the biographies). The content-matter of an Arwi poem is often indicated in the title, thus producing a number of poems which share the same title but were written by different authors. The loosely defined genre of mlai probably served this kind of didactic poem best. Only rarely do we find poems written in another one of the genres
The British district gazetteers provide a good example of whom the British considered to be the real Muslims. In the gazetteer of South Arcot district written in 1906, Francis states that the Musalmans of pure descent [that is, Urdu speaking Muslims with ties to northern India; T.T.] hold themselves to be socially superior to the Marakkyars and the Marakkyars consider themselves better than the Labbais (1906: 87; my italics). These Muslims of pure descent were considered to be much more worthy of interest than the Tamil speaking Muslims. The statistical appendix for Madurai of 1905 collectively calls Tamil Muslims Labbai, while the Urdu speaking Muslims are divided into different sub-groups like Sheik or Pathn, even though the number of the Urdu speaking Muslims does not exceed 30000, which is only a small group compared with the 137119 Labbais mentioned (Statistical Appendix 1905: 7).
60
47

common in Tamil Muslim literature, except for the genres employed exclusively by Muslims, especially the munjt genre. Thus, the anthology Shuabu 'd-dn by K{akkarai __ Taikk ib contains a Kummippu (cf. 1990: 101-4). The religious manuals written in the second half of the nineteenth century are to a certain degree the result of these developments, and form a very distinct part of Arwi literature by that time, especially as they are written in prose. But, on the other hand, there is no real dividing line between Islamic literature in Tamil or Arwi when it comes to ideas and authors. Certainly, Arwi poems, whose authors were often members of the ulam and wrote works in Arabic as well, may have had a stronger tendency towards orthodoxy, and some Tamil poems might hardly be considered Islamic by certain Muslims, but by and large they have a common outlook. Anything else would in fact be quite surprising, as the authors often had very close connections. As mentioned, the Arwi author K{akkarai Taikk ib was the teacher of the Tamil poet Shaykh Abd al-Qdir _ _ __ Nayn Labbai lim as well as of Imm al-Ars, the most important personality in Arwi literature. A characteristic trait of many Arwi authors is the combination of religio-juridical scholar (lim) and orthodox mystic (f), similar to the type of reformist Sufis described by Eaton in his study on Bijapur (who were also mainly members of the Qdiriyya order).48 But there is also a major diffe48

A clear division and opposition between lim and f is diffi61

rence. Contrary to the Muslims of northern India, the South Indian Muslims were used to living in states governed by non-Muslims. There was no use in urging the rulers to create an Islamic society or to criticise their un-Islamic habits. The best the Muslims could hope for was some kind of autonomy in juridical matters, as Duarte Barbosa reports from Kayalpattinam at the beginning of the sixteenth century (cf. Duarte Barbosa 1989: 124). The Arwi poems reveal their concern to pass religious information to the general population which was not able to read the Arabic originals, and to attack customs which the ulam considered to be un-Islamic. On the other hand, as there was no ruler to check the spread of heretical teachings, the fear of these very same scholars of revealing too much and causing misinterpretations becomes understandable. Thus, while the reformist Sufis of Bijapur tended to use Arabic and to address themselves to the court instead of the common population (cf. Eaton 1996: 1334), their South Indian counterparts wrote for the general Muslim population as well. The use of the Arabic script did not hinder their efforts to reach the laymen, as many of the inhabitants (including women) of the Muslim towns in coastal Tamilnadu as well as in Sri Lanka were able to read
cult to discern for the time before the nineteenth century anyway. The discussion on certain practices often linked with fs, like tomb worship etc., is perhaps better seen in the light of reformists vs. traditionalists rather than of ulam vs. fs (cf. van der Veer 2000: 58-64).
62

Arabic. In the town of Koothanallur in Tiruvarur district, for example, most people were able to read and write only Arabic, but not Tamil, during the first half of the twentieth century (personal communication from Capt. Nam Ameen on 18.6.2000 in Koothanallur). There are a number of reasons for the decline of Arwi. First, the Sufic background of the authors and their defence of the arqas, of beliefs and practices associated with the veneration of the Prophet (like belief in his intercession on the Judgement Day, or mawlid recitals) and other practices have been attacked and denounced by purist groups since the nineteenth century. The necessity to learn the Tamil script and the easy availability of modern printing presses for this script may also have had their share in the decline (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 120-2). Finally, the propagation of Urdu and ignorance of the special Arwi signs among Tamil speaking Muslims had their impact on Arwi. I have often heard people saying things like araputtami{ rompa kaam, Arabic-Tamil is very difficult, while in fact for somebody who knows both the Tamil and the Arabic script (as many of the people I spoke to did), learning the few special letters would be a matter of hardly one or two hours. That Arwi texts are usually written with vowels makes them much more easy to read than, for example, Urdu texts. But it is exactly the ignorance about these special letters which causes the difficulties. Not so much their shape, but the fact that they are not recognised as special letters is to be blamed for this. A discussion I had with two small boys in Parangipettai on
63

18.3.2000 may illustrate this: One of the two boys, who both learned Arabic, had a small booklet containing sras from the Qurn and prayers. In-between each text were some introductory lines, also written in the Arabic script. One of the boys pointed to these and said Tamil. I spotted some of the special Arwi letters in the sentence and tried to decipher them. The boys apparently had no knowledge of these signs, and insisted on reading them like the Arabic letters on which they were based. This of course produced words which were in no way understandable to the boys, and had they not been told that the language of these sentences was Tamil, they would have probably believed it to be Arabic, too. I indicated to them that the word they read as ullafadukirat_u was _h Tamil collappauki|atu, it is said, and they only started to believe me when I showed them that the word they had pronounced as aff was simply app, father. What startled me most was their unwillingness to accept the Arwi letters as special letters, even though they acknowledged that there were some dots too many in the texts. One of the things that had confused them was the knowledge of the Persian-based Urdu alphabet, especially the fact that -p- is written in an entirely different way in the two scripts. Of course, the two boys had expected the use of the very same signs which are used in Urdu, to write Tamil. To make the texts of Arwi authors again available to a greater public, there is a tendency to publish Arwi works in the Tamil script nowadays. Poems by K{akkarai Taikk _h __ ib as well as the adt_-translations of Sm Shihb ad-Dn
64

are available in the Tamil script (cf. Shu'ayb 1993: 282), and I had no problems obtaining an edition of the Maghn by __ Imm al-Ars in the Tamil script in a bookshop in Chennai, while I could not get any in the Arabic script. Given the tendency of some editors to make changes in the text (correcting colloquial language, translating Arabic words), the original editions in the Arabic script are to be preferred to those in the Tamil script. The research of Arwi can offer insights into a number of subjects. The texts are not only interesting for linguists and scholars involved in the study of Islam, but for example also for historians, as many of the poems refer to customs practised in certain periods (the case of paying dowry is one example) or the texts discuss the introduction of new ideas.49 Arwi might also be important for research in the networks across the Indian Ocean, especially with regard to Islamic scholarship and mysticism. Many scholars of the Arwi regions were known for their works in Arabic in Arabia proper, they travelled to the holy places and engaged in discussions on religious topics. In chapter 11 of his book, Shu'ayb lists some examples where the scholars of South India held opinions differing from those traditionally accepted among
Imm al-Ars refutes the ideas of Abd al-Wahhb, the founder of the Wahhbiyya, and two of his disciples, in his Fatu 'd-dayyn (cf. 1963: 296-7). The ideas of the Wahhbiyya have been current in South India since the first half of the nineteenth century (cf. Kokan 1974: 381-3).
65
49

Arabic scholars. An instance would be the controversy, mentioned by Shu'ayb, between Shaykh adaqatullh and al _ _ __ ad-Dn with the scholar Muammad Jafar al-Barzanj, who lived in Mecca, on the correct pronunciation of Allh (1993: 382-3). On the other hand, Arabs and Arabic scholars seem to have visited the important religious places of South India and Sri Lanka fairly often. According to Ajmal Khan, scholars from Arabia came with Shaykh adaqatullh to teach in the mad_ _ __ rasa founded by him (1985: 55-6). The presence of the Yemenite scholar Amad ibn Mubrak Mawln, one of the teachers of Shaykh Muaf, in Kayalpattinam, is another _ _ __ point in case. Examples of the possible importance of Arwi for cultural contacts with Southeast Asia are the medical book written partly in Javanese and partly in Arwi, among other languages, mentioned in 4.5 and the first Arwi journal being pub4.5, lished by a Malay (see also 4.5 These few examples should 4.5). be sufficient to indicate Arwis role in the reception and transmission of Islamic teachings across the Indian Ocean area. Arwi has passed almost unnoticed among Western scholarship for a long time. But it should not be overlooked that it forms an important part of Muslim culture in Sri Lanka and Tamilnadu.50
I would not have been able to write this article without the support of several people in India and Germany. In India, I have to
66
50

Bibliography
(A year in brackets indicates the year of first publication) Ajmal Khan (Ajmalkz), P.Mu. 1985. Tami{akattil muslimka. Prccukciyar varukaikku muzpum pizpum. Cezzai: Millat Piriars (A. Aptul Ktir). Ajmal Khan (Ajmalkz), P.Mu. 1999. Tami{il arapu ilakkiyat tkkam, in: Akila ulaka islmiyat tami{ ilakkiya rm mnu. Ci|appu malar. Cezzai: Islmiya Ilakkiyak Ka{akam: 41-46. Aniff-Doray, Saifuddin J. 1963. Translators Note, in: Fat-uddayyn fi fiqhi _hairil adyn. A Compendium on Muslim Theok_ thank Dr. Tayka Shu'ayb and M. Syed Mohamed Hasan (Chennai), S. Abdul Hameed (Parangipettai), M. Sayabu Maraicar (Karaikal) and Capt. Nam Ameen (Koothanallur) for information and the supply of books, as well as for their hospitality. In Germany, I want to mention my brother Jochen, and Sascha Ebeling of the Institute of Indology and Tamil Studies of the University of Cologne for supplying information that was not available to me while I was in India, Hanna Repp of the Landesspracheninstitut Nordrhein-Westfalen (Arabicum) at Bochum for her help on transliterating Arabic titles, and Prof. Annemarie Schimmel for making M. Y. Kokans book available to me. I also have to thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for granting me a scholarship to study at Pondicherry University. This made it possible for me to participate in the 6th International Islamic Tamil Literary Conference in Chennai from the 30th of November to the 2nd of December 1999, where I first developed the idea of writing an article about Arwi, as well as collecting the information needed for the article.
67

logy and Jurisprudence. Translated by Saifuddin J. Aniff-Doray. Colombo: The Fat-ud-dayyn Publication Committee: viixv. Anonymous. No date. Pe putti mlai. Madrs: j Yem.Y. Shh __ al-amd a Sans. Azeez, A.M.A. 1995. Ceylon, in: C.E. Bosworth et al. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Volume II C-G. Leiden: E.J. Brill: 26-28. Caldwell, Robert. 1974 (1913). A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages. Revised and edited by J. L. Wyatt and T. Ramakrishna Pillai. Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation. Ceyyit Hasaz Maulz, Es..r.Em. 1999. A|aput tami{ (ARWI) ilakkiyam, in: Cmumu Mukamatali and .A. Kj Mukaitz (eds.). yvarakak kvai. Cezzai: Islmiya Ilakkiyak Ka{akam: 288-296. Das, Rahul Peter. 1981-82. Zur Transliteration und Transkription des Arabischen im Tamil, in: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlndischen Gesellschaft 131: 343-348, and 132: *4*. Duarte Barbosa. 1989 (1921). The Book of Duarte Barbosa. An Account of the Countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants, written by Duarte Barbosa and completed about the Year 1518 A.D. Volume II. Translated, edited and annotated by Mansel Longworth Dames. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. Eaton, Richard Maxwell. 1996 (1978). Sufis of Bijapur 1300-1700. Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. Francis, W. 1906. Madras District Gazetteers. South Arcot. Madras: Government Press.
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Imm al-Ars. 1963. Fat-ud-dayyn fi fiqhi _hairil adyn. A k_ Compendium on Muslim Theology and Jurisprudence. Translated by Saifuddin J. Aniff-Doray. Colombo: The Fat-ud-dayyn Publication Committee. Imm al-Ars. 1996 (1950). Haty arp. Mppiai Leppai lim ez|u puka{pe||a K{akkarai Allm Aeyku Ceyyitu Muhammatu Immul Ars avarkal araputtami{ ceyyukaka iya||appe||a Haty mlai ez|a nallupatcap pokkiam mlamum uraiyum. Edited and commented by Em.K. Ceyyitu Muhammatu Pukri piz Kavtupv eyku Muhammatu Kavtul Ktiri. Cezzai: Millat Piriars. Imm al-Ars. No date. Talai ftia. Madrs: Hj Yem.Y. Shh __ al-amd a Sans. Itrs Maraikkyar, Em. 1986. Krttimikum K{akkarai. Cezzai: Maraikkyar Patippakam. Jalltz, Em.Es.Em. 1999. Araputtami{il e{utappaa alkurz virivuraik kalaiyiz vaarcci, in: Akila ulaka islmiyat tami{ ilakkiya rm mnu. Ci|appu malar. Cezzai: Islmiya Ilakkiyak Ka{akam: 111-120. Jesudasan, C. and H. 1961. A History of Tamil Literature. Calcutta: Y.M.C.A. Publishing House. K{akkarai Taikk ib. 1990. uaputtz mlaika 20. Meyza corpar, Kmil Val eyku Aptul Ktir Leppai (K{akkarai Taikk Chipu App) avarka piyaruiyavai. Araputtami{ mlattiliruntu tami{kkam ceyyap paavai. Edited by Mu. Ceyyitu Muhammatu Hasaz.Cezzai: Maraikkyar Patippakam (Em. Itrs Maraikkyar). Kokan, Muhammad Yousuf. 1974. Arabic and Persian in Carnatic 1710-1960, Madras: No publisher mentioned.
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Manavai Mustafa (Maavai Mustap). 1986. Tami{il islmiya ilakkiya vaivaka. Cezzai: Mr Papikaz. Macdonald, D.B. 1995 (1953). Dhikr in: H.A.R. Gibb and J.H. __ Kramers (eds.). Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: E.J. Brill: 75. Massignon, Louis. 1995 (1953). Nr Muammad in: H.A.R. Gibb and J.H. Kramers (eds.). Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: E.J. Brill: 452. More, J.B.P. 1993. Tamil Muslims and Non-Brahmin Atheists, 1925-1940 in: Contributions to Indian Sociology 27.1: 83-104. Muammad Nilm, I.S. 1963. A Biographical Sketch of the Author, in: Imm al-Ars. Fat-ud-dayyn fi fiqhi _hairil adyn. k_ A Compendium on Muslim Theology and Jurisprudence. Translated by Saifuddin J. Aniff-Doray. Colombo: The Fatud-dayyn Publication Committee: xix-xxxvi. Periya Nku Leppai lim Oliyullh. 1999 (1984). Vta puram. Edited by Mu. Ceyyitu Muhammatu Hasaz. Cezzai: Millat Piriars (Mu.Ki.Mu. Muhammatu Hasaz). Richards, John F. 1993. The Mughal Empire. The New Cambridge History of India I.5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richman, Paula. 1993. Veneration of the Prophet Muhammad in an Islamic Piaittami{, in: Journal of the American Oriental Society 113: 57-74. Sahabdeen, A.M. Mohamed. 1995 (1986). The Sufi Doctrine in Tamil Literature. Colombo: Abdul Majeed Mohamed Sahabdeen Trust Foundation. Sayabu Maraicar (Cyapu Maraikkyar), Mu. 1996. Islmiyar tami{t tou. Cezzai: Kakai Puttaka Nilaiyam. Sayyid siya Umm. 1976. Meza tpa rattizam. Madrs: Maj70

diyya Piras. Schimmel, Annemarie. 1980. Islam in the Indian Subcontinent. Leiden: E.J. Brill. Schimmel, Annemarie. 1985. Mystische Dimensionen des Islam. Die Geschichte des Sufismus. Mnchen: Eugen Diederichs Verlag. Schimmel, Annemarie. 1993. Introduction in: Anna Libera Dallapiccola and Stephanie Zingel-Av Lallemant. Islam and Indian Regions. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag: 1-6. __ Shh al-amd, Hj Yem.Y. No date. Arabuttami{ plar pam. Madrs: Hj Yem. Y. Shh al-amd a Sans. __ __ Shihb ad-Dn Shm Nayn Labbai. No date. Rasl mlai. Mrn __ mlai. Nkaimai mlai. Madrs: Hj Yem. Y. Shh al-a__ md a Sans. Shu'ayb lim, Tayka. 1993. Arabic, Arwi and Persian in Sarandib and Tamil Nadu. A Study of the Contributions of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu to Arabic, Arwi, Persian and Urdu Languages, Literature and Education. Madras: Immul Ars Trust. Shulman, David and Sanjay Subrahmanyam. 1993. Prince of Poets and Ports: Ctakkti, the Maraikkyars and Ramnad, approx. 1690-1710 in: Anna Libera Dallapiccola and Stephanie ZingelAv Lallemant. Islam and Indian Regions. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag: 497-535. Statistical Appendix. 1905. Statistical Appendix for Madura District. Madras: Government Press. Thurston, Edgar. 1975 (1909). Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Volume IV K to M. Madras: Government Press. Uwise, M.M. 1990 (1953). Muslim Contribution to Tamil Literature. Kilakkarai: Fifth International Islamic Tamil Literary Conference.
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van der Veer, Peter. 2000 (1994). Religious Nationalism. Hindus and Muslims in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Winslow, M. 1989 (1862). A Comprehensive Tamil and English Dictionary. Tami{ - kila akarti. Delhi: Asian Educational Services. Ysuf Labbai lim of Ammapattinam. No date. Simu -ibyn. Madrs: Abul-Barakat lim ib. Zvelebil, Kamil V. 1974. Tamil Literature. A History of Indian Literature X.1. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. Zvelebil, Kamil V. 1995. Lexicon of Tamil Literature. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

72

Subgruppen tamilsprachiger Muslime Sdindiens1

1. Einleitung Unter den Muslimen Indiens gehren die tamilsprachigen wohl zu den am wenigsten erforschten. Eine Erklrung hierfr mag ihre geringe Zahl sein. Laut dem Zensus von 1991 waren gerade 5,5 % der Bevlkerung Tamilnadus, die zu diesem Zeitpunkt bei knapp 56 Millionen lag, und 6,5 % der Bevlkerung Pondicherrys (1991: 808.000 Einwohner) Muslime. Diese machten nur 3 % bzw. < 0,1 % der muslimischen Bevlkerung Indiens aus (Zahlen nach: Assayag und Tarabout 1997: 22). Natrlich ist Tamil auch nicht die Muttersprache aller dieser Muslime, und so wird die tatschliche Zahl der tamilsprachigen Muslime in Indien noch niedriger sein. Ein zweiter Grund fr die geringe Beachtung der tamilsprachigen Muslime mag ihre scheinbare Inaktivitt im politischen Bereich sein. Im Gegensatz zu den Muslimen in Nordindien ist es auf dem Boden Tamilnadus nur zu wenigen muslimischen Staatsbildungen gekommen. Auch waren die Trger dieser Staaten Muslime aus Nordindien, wie im Falle des kurzlebigen Sultanats von Mabar in der Region von Ma-

Dieser Artikel ist die revidierte Fassung eines ursprnglich in KOLAM. A Mirror of Tamil Culture 4 erschienenen Artikels (www.fas.nus.edu.sg/journal/kolam/index.htm).
73

durai (1333/1334 1377/1378) oder der Nawabs von Arcot im 18. Jahrhundert. Dabei sind Muslime in dieser Region von groem Interesse fr das Studium sowohl des indischen Islams wie der wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Netzwerke im Raum des Indischen Ozeans. Die Anwesenheit von muslimischen Arabern in der Region ist seit 875 n.Chr. belegt, an der Malabarkste seit 788 n.Chr. und in Sri Lanka sogar schon seit dem Beginn des 8. Jahrhunderts (Wink 1991: 71, 78 und 80f.). Die tamilischen Muslime spielten eine wichtige Rolle als Hndler im Indischen Ozean, wobei vor allem ihre Kontakte mit der malaiischen Welt von Bedeutung sind (ebd.: 79; Bayly 1989: 74 und 1993: 459ff.; More 1997: 15-8). Da ein Teil der tamilsprachigen Muslime der __fitischen Rechtsschule angehrt, hebt sh sie zusammen mit den Mappillas und Navayats an der Malabarkste von den brigen indischen Muslimen ab, die ausschlielich der anaftischen Rechtsschule angehren (falls es sich um Sunniten handelt) (Mines 1984: 431; Wink 1991: 70). Das zum grten Teil harmonische Zusammenleben mit nicht-muslimischen Tamilen, sowie ihre erst wenig erforschte Literatur in Tamil, Arabisch und Arabisch-Tamil, Arwi/ Arvi genannt, sind weitere wichtige Elemente der Kultur der tamilsprachigen Muslime (Mines 1984: 433f.; Shu'ayb 1993: xxxviii und 84f.). Unter den tamilsprachigen Muslimen werden eine Reihe von Subgruppen identifiziert, ber deren Natur in der Wissenschaft nur geringer Konsens herrscht. Historische Entwicklungen, regionale Unterschiede sowie unterschiedliche Ver74

wendung der Gruppennamen erschweren den Zugang. Das Ziel dieses Aufsatzes ist es, einen berblick ber die wichtigsten in der Literatur gebrauchten Termini zu geben, und vor allem deren unterschiedlichen Gebrauch zu dokumentieren und (wo mglich) zu erklren. Das Hauptziel des Aufsatzes ist es also nicht, Gruppen zu definieren, was ohnehin verfehlt wre, da Gruppenidentitten selbst bei Individuen flieend und zuweilen berlappend sind. Der Aufsatz soll vielmehr bei einer kritischen Betrachtung der vorhandenen Quellen und Publikationen helfen, um so Fehler zu vermeiden, die entstehen knnen, wenn z.B. derselbe Terminus in verschiedenen Publikationen gebraucht wird, aber mit anderen Inhalten. Als Quellen dienen hierbei die wichtigsten neueren Verffentlichungen zu Muslimen in Tamilnadu, vor allem von Bayly, Fanselow, Mines und More, sowie die britischen District Gazetteers und Manuals. 2. Allgemeine Merkmale muslimischer Subgruppen 2.1. Subgruppen und soziale Stratifizierung Die Ausbreitung des Islam in Tamilnadu wurde durch zwei Prozesse geprgt: Zum einen die Ansiedlung arabischer Hndler entlang der Kste seit dem 9. Jahrhundert und mehrere Invasionen und Eroberungen durch muslimische Herrscher des nrdlichen Indien, zunchst im 14. und dann wieder seit der zweiten Hlfte des 17. Jahrhunderts. Von diesen Ereignissen gingen dann weitere Konversionen aus den unterschiedlichsten Grnden aus. Die Ansiedlung arabischer Hndler wird im allgemeinen mit der Ausbreitung der __fish
75

tischen, die Eroberungen mit der der anaftischen Rechtsschule identifiziert (Fanselow 1996: 202). Die meisten Autoren stimmen darin berein, da im Gegensatz zum nrdlichen Indien, wo das System der verschiedenen muslimischen Subgruppen zumindest Parallelen zur hinduistischen Kastenhierarchie aufweist, die tamilischen Subgruppen nicht als Kasten bezeichnet werden knnen (vgl. Mines 1978: 166). Tamilsprachige Muslime betonen den egalitren Charakter des Islam (Mines 1975: 406; Naidu 1994b: 264). Stratifizierung unter ihnen basiert nach Mines nicht auf dem Status der Subgruppe, sondern dem Alter, Reichtum, Charakter und der Religisitt eines Individuums (Mines 1978: 162). Allerdings beziehen sich diese Angaben auf den urbanen Kontext, in dem Mines seine Studie anfertigte. Dieselben Individuen, die im urbanen Kontext groen Wert auf Egalitarismus und andere orthodoxe Werte des Islam legten, konnten im Kontext ihrer lndlichen Herkunftsorte strkere Betonung auf Unterschiede in Reichtum und Abstammung legen. Auch spielen hier Heiligenkulte eine grere Rolle als in der Stadt, und die klare Trennung von Muslimen und Hindus in Ritualen der Muslime ist im lndlichen Bereich nicht vorhanden (Mines 1975: 411ff.). Orthodoxes Verhalten und Religisitt spielen eine wichtige Rolle fr den Status und das Prestige des Individuums in der Stadt unter einer greren Zahl anderer Muslime. Im lndlichen Kontext mu dagegen die Identitt als Muslim laut Mines nicht erst etabliert werden, denn sie ist bereits durch die Geburt bestimmt (ebd.: 414f.). Fanselow bezeichnet diese Form der Be76

tonung muslimischer Identitt gegenber anderen Muslimen als competitive Islamisation (1996: 217). Die Betonung von Orthodoxie und des Gegensatzes Muslim-durch-Abstammung kontra Konvertit wird von einigen Autoren als wichtiges Element der Gesellschaftsstruktur und Stratifizierung sdindischer Muslime genannt. Bayly schreibt, da die Zugehrigkeit zur __fitischen Rechtssh schule von den an der Kste angesiedelten Muslimen als Beweis ihrer Beziehungen zu Arabien angesehen wird. Diese Muslime shen sich als Nachfahren von Arabern, oder zumindest als sehr frhe Konvertiten, die den Islam auf wesentlich direkteren Wegen empfangen htten, als die Mitglieder der anaftischen Rechtsschule, welche strker mit Zentralasien und dem iranischen Hochplateau verbunden wird als mit Arabien (1986: 39 und 1989: 80). Solche Unterscheidungen htten aber nicht zu scharfen Trennungen zwischen den unterschiedlichen muslimischen Gruppen gefhrt (ebd.: 101). Abstammung, insbesondere die Nhe zur Sippe des Propheten, spielt eine bedeutende Rolle unter indischen Muslimen, und die Subgruppen der urdusprachigen Muslime basieren zu einem nicht unbedeutenden Teil auf der behaupteten oder tatschlichen Abstammung verschiedener Gruppen von Arabern, Pathanen und anderen nahstlichen oder sdasiatischen Ethnien (vgl. Mines 1972: 335 und 339). Abstammung dient oft dazu, die ber- oder Unterlegenheit einer Gruppe zu behaupten. Ein Beispiel findet sich im District Manual von North Arcot von 1895 (Cox 1895: 206f.):
Some of the Labbais assert that they are the descen77

dants of trading Arabs by Hindus. The Navyats believe that the Labbais are the offspring of the Abyssinian slaves whom their ancestors brought from Arabia about a thousand years ago.

Vgl. auch Mines 1972: 333. Fanselow bemerkt jedoch, da die Betonung von Egalitt und Orthodoxie unter den tamilsprachigen Muslimen das Produkt eines historischen Prozesses in der Kolonialzeit ist. Das Konzept der Kaste sei in dem Mae von Muslimen abgelehnt worden, wie es mit dem Hinduismus verbunden wurde. Der reine Islam mute folgerichtig ohne Kastenstruktur sein, Kaste wurde zu einem gate-keeping concept of Hindu civilisation, (Fanselow 1996: 224). Bei der Frage nach sozialer Stratifikation unter indischen Muslimen mu diese historische Dimension von Kaste als ethnic boundary marker bercksichtigt werden (ebd.: 222-5). Nach Fanselows Meinung war die Zugehrigkeit zu einer der Subgruppen frher bedeutender als heutzutage. Die Beziehungen zwischen den Gruppen liefen analog zur Hierarchisierung des Kastensystems (ebd.: 213). Fanselows Informanten aus den Subgruppen der Ravuttar und Tarakanar, die laut ihm zu den niedrigergestellten Gruppen gehren, stimmten dem zu (ebd.: 216). Bayly dagegen schreibt: For all its distinctions of rank and ethnicity, however, the Muslim population of Tamilnad has never been truly fragmented, (Bayly 1989: 90) aber sie erwhnt auch (ebd.: 80), da die
Tamil maraikkayar have long stigmatised all these other Muslims as being mere converts to Islam, and therefore of
78

lower social standing .

More betont, da nichts in der frhen Literatur die Marakkayar, die Fanselow als eine der hhergestellte Gruppe nennt, als berlegene Gruppe kennzeichnet. Er geht sogar soweit zu sagen: Among Tamil Muslims notions of caste hierarchies are absent (More 1997: 24). Es knnte sein, da Fanselows Ergebnisse zumindest zum Teil durch seine Forschungsregion beeinflut sind. Die Marakkayars von Kayalpatnam gelten als (und halten sich fr) besonders orthodoxe Muslime. Laut Bayly existiert in Kayalpatnam keine egalitre Gesellschaftsordnung. Pate schreibt, da die upper circles der muslimischen Gesellschaft eine eigene Klasse darstellen, die keine Ehen mit den anderen muslimischen Gruppen eingeht (Pate 1917: 98 und 500; Bayly 1986: 40; vgl. auch Fanselow 204ff.). Von Seiten der Ravuttar und Tarakanar wurden die Marakkayar als would-be Muslim Brahmans bezeichnet. Diese Formulierung erinnert stark an die Vorwrfe, die muslimischen Mullahs von Vertretern der Selfrespect-Bewegung gemacht wurden. Die muslimische (traditionelle) Orthodoxie wurde auch von puristischen Strmungen aus den eigenen Reihen angegriffen, und zwischen den Vertretern der Self-respect-Bewegung und diesen puristischen muslimischen Gruppen gab es enge Beziehungen (More 1993: 90ff.). Laut Fanselow untersttzen viele der Ravuttar und Tarakanar in dem von ihm untersuchten Ort Kalakkadu die DMK oder AIADMK (Fanselow 1996: 210). Vor allem von dieser Seite wird Kritik an den Marakkayar wahrscheinlich damit begrndet, da sie Vertreter eines Quasi79

Kastensystems (gewesen) seien. Denn wie Fanselow selber gezeigt hat, wird das Kastensystem seit der Kolonialzeit als hinduistisch empfunden. Ein Angriff auf die religisen berlegenheitsansprche der Marakkayar von Kayalpatnam wre natrlich dann am wirksamsten, wenn ihr Verhalten als unislamisch identifiziert wrde.2 Die District Gazetteers machen ebenfalls keine klaren Angaben zur Frage der sozialen Stratifizierung. Zwar schreibt Francis: The Musalmans of pure descent hold themselves to be socially superior to the Marakkyars and the Marakkyars consider themselves better than the Labbais (1906b: 87). Wie sich dies in der Praxis niederschlug, kann aber aus dieser uerung nicht entnommen werden. Da die unterschiedlichen Gruppen versuchten, sich z.B. durch die Manipulation von Abstammung Prestige zu sichern, wurde bereits erwhnt. Auch wird aus diesem Zitat klar, wen die Briten fr die reinen Muslime hielten, nmlich die urdusprachigen (vgl. More 1997: 23). Aus dem Blickwinkel der Marakkayar oder Labbai htte sich die Situation vielleicht anders dargestellt. Eine interessante Aussage findet sich bei Venkasami Row:
2

Die Bezeichnung muslimische Brahmanen scheint in bestimmten Segmenten der muslimischen Gesellschaft in Tamilnadu weit verbreitet zu sein. Ein mit mir befreundeter Collegelehrer aus Tiruchirapalli (selbst Hindu und Brahmane) berichtete von einer muslimischen Schlerin, sie wrde die Marakkayar als muslimische Brahmanen bezeichnen, wohingegen die Ravuttar ihrer Meinung nach gar keine richtigen Muslime seien. Das Mdchen identifizierte sich selbst als Labbai.

80

Caste rules, in respect of intermarriage, are now observed more or less by all classes of Mahomedans (the Labbs not excepted); but the custom is recent (1883: 155). Er erwhnt auch hufige Ehen und Konkubinatsverhltnisse zwischen Muslimen und women of the lowest classes (ebd.: 153f.). Ob das Befolgen von Kastenregeln zu dieser Zeit tatschlich ein rezentes Phnomen darstellte oder ob es Venkasami Rows muslimische Informanten unter dem Einflu puristischer Strmungen des 19. Jahrhunderts nur so darstellten, lt sich nicht bestimmen. Es mag durchaus sein, da in frheren Zeiten mehr Wert auf die Unterschiede der einzelnen Gruppen gelegt wurde.3 Wenn es auch sicherlich Unterschiede in Rang und Status zwischen den einzelnen Subgruppen gab (und gibt), kann nur eine detaillierte Untersuchung klren, ob muslimische soziale Stratifizierung in vorkolonialer Zeit tatschlich eine dem Kastensystem analoge Struktur aufwies. 2.2. Ehen zwischen Subgruppen Mines charakterisiert die einzelnen Subgruppen als essentially endogamous (1986: 582). Ehen zwischen den einzelnen Subgruppen sind laut Mines zwar nicht hufig, aber sie existieren. Die von ihm beobachteten Inter-Gruppen-Ehen
3

Beispielsweise tragen viele der von More erwhnten wichtigen Hndler und Philanthropen des spten 19. Jahrhunderts die Bezeichnungen Marakkayar und Ravuttar in ihren Namen (1997: 37f. und 43).
81

waren mit keinerlei Statusverlust verbunden (1972: 340). Die Hauptmotivation, Ehen innerhalb einer Gruppe zu arrangieren, ist nach ihm der Wunsch nach einem Ehepartner mit demselben wirtschaftlichen, kulturellen und religisen Hintergrund (Mines 1978: 161f.). Nach Fanselow ist die Zahl der Ehen zwischen Ravuttar und Tarakanar seit dem Beginn unseres Jahrhunderts stark gestiegen und hat zu der langsamen Auflsung der unterschiedlichen Identitten beider Gruppen beigetragen (Fanselow 1996: 215). Auch Naidu erwhnt die verstrkten Tendenzen, Gruppenzugehrigkeit beiseite zu lassen. Trotzdem gibt es auch noch Gruppen, wie die Labbai, die er als endogam charakterisiert (1994a: 233; 1994b: 264). Laut Fanselow waren in frheren Zeiten alle vorkommenden Inter-Gruppen-Ehen hypergam, d.h. die Braut kam immer aus einer sozial niedrigerstehenden Gruppe als der Brutigam (1996: 213). Inwieweit es in vorkolonialer Zeit zu Ehen zwischen den Subgruppen kam, lt sich nicht sagen (vgl. Bayly 1989: 101). Da es jedoch wahrscheinlich ist, da es zu Ehen zwischen (alteingesessenen) Muslimen und konvertierten Hindus kam (s.u.), darf man wohl annehmen, da auch Ehen zwischen den Subgruppen vorkamen. Fr South Arcot in kolonialer Zeit schreibt Francis (1906b: 87):
There is of course no religious bar to intermarriages between these different sub-divisions, but such unions are rare and are usually only brought about by the offer of strong financial inducements to the socially superior party.

Die Ravuttar des Madurai-Distrikts sollen hingegen in weitere Subgruppen aufgeteilt gewesen sein, die endogam waren (Francis 1906a: 80). Fr Kayalpatnam erwhnt Pate, da kei82

ne Ehen zwischen den Muslimen, die fr sich arabische Abstammung beanspruchten, und Konvertiten, d.h. den Mitgliedern anderer Subgruppen, erlaubt waren (Pate 1917: 500). Auch bei Thurston findet sich der Hinweis, da die Marakkayar zwar Konvertiten akzeptierten, mit diesen jedoch keine Ehen eingingen, bevor nicht mehrere Generationen vergangen waren oder they have become prosperous (1909: vol. V 4). Sowohl die District Gazetteers wie auch die neuere Literatur konstatieren fr die Frhzeit Ehen zwischen muslimischen Hndlern und Einwanderern, vorwiegend Arabern, und tamilischen Frauen (vgl. Venkasami Row 1883: 153f.; Francis 1906b: 86; Pate 1917: 98; Bayly 1989: 74; Fanselow 1996: 205). More erwhnt den Fall der im 19. Jahrhundert in Karaikal zum Islam konvertierten Mukkuwa, die seitdem vollkommen in den Marakkayar aufgegangen seien (More 1997: 24f.). Und auch unter den dreizehn von Mines genannten InterGruppen-Ehen, die ihm bei seiner Feldforschung von 1967-69 in Pallavaram bekannt wurden, findet sich eine zwischen einem Muslim und einer konvertierten Hindu-Frau (Mines 1972: 340, Tabelle 1). 3. Die Subgruppen Im Folgenden sollen die in der benutzten Literatur erwhnten tamilsprachigen Subgruppen dargestellt werden. Leider gibt es bei den meisten Gruppen eine Reihe von Varianten in der Orthographie. Bei den Gruppen, die von More erwhnt werden, habe ich seine Schreibweise gewhlt, bei den anderen
83

handelt es sich zumeist um Gruppen, die nur von einem oder zwei Autoren erwhnt werden. In diesem Fall habe ich dann deren Schreibweise verwendet. Die alternierenden Schreibweisen sowie die Tamil-Transkription4 und deren bersetzung werden danach gegeben. Fr die verschiedenen Sprachen habe ich folgende Wrterbcher verwendet: Fr Tamil das Tamil Lexicon der University of Madras, fr Urdu Platts Urdu-Englisch-Wrterbuch, fr Sanskrit das Sanskrit-Englisch-Wrterbuch von M. Monier-Williams und fr Arabisch das Arabisch-Deutsch-Wrterbuch von H. Wehr (siehe Literaturverzeichnis 1). 3.1. Kayalar (kyalr): Diese Subgruppe wird von Thurston, Mines und McPherson genannt. Die Angaben der Autoren entsprechen sich zum grten Teil (Thurston 1909: vol. III, 267; Mines 1984: 431; McPherson 1995: 469). Ihr Name leitet sich von der Stadt Kayalpatnam her. Nach Thurston werden die Kayalar teilweise auch als rumsaththukadankrar (|umcattukkaazkrar), six months debt people bezeichnet. Mines und Thurston erwhnen enge Beziehungen zu den Marakkayar. Die Gruppe soll der __fitischen Rechtsschule angehren. Die meish sten von Mines Informanten bezeichneten die Kayalar sogar als Subgruppe der Marakkayar (Mines 1978: 161). GleichzeiIch habe durchgngig die Pluralendungen -ar, -r statt -az, -z verwendet. Einzige Ausnahme sind die nur von Naidu erwhnten Vethalaikaran, da sie von Naidu in dieser Form erwhnt werden.
84
4

tig werten sowohl Mines als auch McPherson (der darin allerdings Mines zu folgen scheint) sie als eigene Subgruppe auf derselben Ebene wie Labbai, Marakkayar und Ravuttar (ebd. 1986: 582; McPherson 1995: 469). Ob mit diesem Begriff alle sh __fitischen Muslims aus Kayalpatnam bezeichnet werden, ist fraglich. Weder Pate noch Fanselow, dessen Angaben sich direkt auf Kayalpatnam beziehen, erwhnen die Kayalar (vgl. Pate 1917: 98; Fanselow 1996: 204-7). Die Angaben von Mines, da den Kayalar wegen ihrer Spezialisierung auf den Handel mit Huten und Alteisen ein niedrigerer Status eingerumt wird als den anderen Subgruppen (1978: 162), kontrastiert mit dem Bild, das normalerweise von den Marakkayar Kayalpatnams gezeichnet wird (s.o. 2.1 Es wre auch selt2.1). sam, wenn die Bezeichnung Kayalar innerhalb Kayalpatnams nur fr eine Subgruppe der Marakkayar gebraucht wrde, denn schlielich knnten sich alle Einwohner Kayalpatnams als Kayalar bezeichnen. Interessant ist Thurstons Bemerkung, da viele Kayalars in der Gegend von Madras siedeln wrden. Da auch Mines Angaben sich auf diese Region beziehen, ist es mglich, da die Kayalar auf die Region von Madras beschrnkt sind und hier auf Grund ihrer Herkunft als Kayalar bezeichnet werden, diese Gruppe in Kayalpatnam selbst hingegen unbekannt ist oder anders bezeichnet wird. Allerdings erwhnt Thurston, da die Kayalar auch in Kayalpatnam leben, und Mines lokalisiert sie an der sdlichen Kste (Mines 1986: 582). Laut Thurston wird vom Ehemann erwartet, da er nach der Hochzeit in das Haus seines Schwiegervaters zieht (Uxo85

rilokalitt). 3.2. Labbai (Labb, Lebbai; lappai, leppai, ilappai, ileppai): Dieser Terminus gehrt zu den miverstndlichsten unter den hier errterten Bezeichnungen, denn er wird mit zwei (eigentlich drei) Grundbedeutungen verwendet. Zum einen ist Labbai eine Bezeichnung fr tamilsprachige Muslime im allgemeinen (Mines 1984: 431; Fanselow 1996: 215). So wurde die Bezeichnung Labbai in den Volkszhlungen whrend der Kolonialzeit fr tamilsprachige Muslime verwendet und in die Liste der Backward Classes eingereiht (Fanselow 1996: 215). Venkasami Row schreibt dementsprechend (1883: 154):
The Labbs who inhabit the coast have the honorific title Marakkayar, and those who have settled in the interior that of Ravuttar.

In derselben Weise verwendet Bayly den Begriff (1986: 3740). Laut einiger Autoren sind die Begriffe Labbai und Sonagar identisch (Venkasami Row 1883: 153; Thurston 1909: vol. IV 199f.). Neben diesem Gebrauch von Labbai als generelle Bezeichnung tamilsprachiger Muslime gibt es aber auch Labbai als Subgruppe. So sind die Labbai laut Francis in South Arcot vor allem im Betelanbau und dem Handel mit Huten ttig, die Marakkayar dagegen seien big traders, die als den Labbai sozial berlegen gelten wrden (1906b: 86f.). In der Beschreibung des Madurai-Distrikts erwhnt Francis den Begriff dagegen nicht einmal (vgl. 1906a: 79f.). Auch Thurston besttigt, da die Labbai sich von den Marakkayar zu unterscheiden scheinen, auch wenn er die Angaben Venkasa86

mi Rows wiederholt (1909: vol. IV 198). An anderer Stelle erwhnt er die Zugehrigkeit zur anaftischen Rechtsschule als zentrales Merkmal (1909: vol. V 4). In den meisten neueren Texten sind die Labbai eindeutig eine eigene Subgruppe (vgl. Mines 1972: 340 und 1984: 432; Bayly 1989: 80; Naidu 1994a: 232-5). Ihre Charakteristika sind Zugehrigkeit zur anaftischen Rechtsschule5 und der strkere Bezug zum inneren Tamilnadu, im Gegensatz zu den Marakkayars der Kste. Nach Naidu sind sie endogam und vererben patrilinear. Des weiteren sollen sie einen eigenen Friedhof (separate graveyard) benutzen, wohingegen Marakkayar und Ravuttar den Muslim- bzw. communal graveyard verwenden (Bayly 1989: 80; Mines 1978: 161; Naidu 1994a: 232ff., 1994b: 263 und 1994c: 373). Laut Mines beanspruchen sie keine arabische Abstammung (ebd.), was im Gegensatz zu den Angaben Naidus steht, welche allerdings wahrscheinlich von Thurston bernommen sind (1994a: 232). Interessant ist die Bemerkung von Mines, da die Labbai als Subgruppe im allgemeinen mit den nrdlichen Distrikten, die Ravuttar dagegen mit den sdlichen Distrikten in Verbindung gebracht werden (1978: 161). Diese Angaben decken sich mit denen der District Gazetteers. Die Labbai als Gruppe werden nur in nrdlichen Distrikten erwhnt (z.B. Cox 1895: 206f.; Francis 1906b: 86f.), whrend sie in den sdlichen DiMcPherson beschreibt sie und die Ravuttar als Shfis (1995: __ 469), was offensichtlich falsch, aber wohl eher ein Flchtigkeitsfehler ist. Trotzdem sind solche Fehler dazu angetan, Verwirrung zu stiften.
87
5

strikten nicht vorkommen bzw. der Terminus eine andere Bedeutung hat (Francis 1906a: 79f.; Pate 1917: 97). Ursprnglich scheint der Begriff Labbai einen Ehrentitel oder ein religses Amt, speziell das des Imams, bezeichnet zu haben (vgl. Pate 1917: 97; Shu'ayb 1993: 76f.; Fanselow 1996: 214; More 1997: 23).6 Erst in der Kolonialzeit ist er als generelle Bezeichnung fr tamilsprachige Muslime eingefhrt worden. Dies entspricht auch der Angabe Thurstons, wonach der Begriff in den frhen Tamil-Lexika nicht in dieser Bedeutung vorkommt (Thurston 1909: vol IV 199f.).7
Dies steht in Einklang mit der Etymologie, die im allgemeinen fr Labbai gegeben wird (vgl. z.B. Francis 1906b: 86; Mines 1986: 582). Danach stnde Labbai in Beziehung mit arabisch labbaika hier bin ich! zu deinen Diensten!. Dies wurde von einigen frheren Autoren als Beleg fr die untergeordnete Stellung der Labbai gesehen (z.B. Cox 1895: 207). Dabei wurde jedoch die Beziehung dieses Ausrufs mit der talbiya (Folgeleistung, Befolgung, Willfahrung) bersehen. Diese Formel, in der der Ruf labbaika eine wichtige Rolle spielt, wird zu verschiedenen Anlssen gesprochen, insbesondere whrend des ajj, der Pilgerfahrt nach Mekka (Wensinck 1995: 571). More verweist auch auf mgliche hlichkeiten mit dem hebrischen Begriff Levi (1997: 23).
7 6

Bayly benutzt den Begriff Labbai allerdings bereits fr die anaftischen Gruppen des tamilischen Hinterlands in vorkolonialer Zeit (1989: 80 und 1993: 455). More erwhnt jedoch zu Recht, da im 18. Jahrhundert Marakkayar den Terminus Labbai in ihren Namen benutzten (1997: 23). Ein Beispiel wre Labbai Nayna Maraikayar (1693-1772), den er als Autor des Epos Cizza c| nennt (ebd.: 25),

88

Mines schreibt sogar, da die Labbai (hier offensichtlich in der Bedeutung als Subgruppe, nicht als genereller Terminus) are said to be the descendents of Kurnic scholars (1986: 582). Leider gibt Mines nicht an, wer diese Behauptung aufstellt. Als Ursprungsmythos der Labbai wre sie denkbar, kann aber kaum in dieser Absolutheit der historischen Wirklichkeit entsprechen. Denn zum einen benutzen andere Subgruppen bis heute Labbai als Begriff fr Imam (vgl. Anmerkung 7), zum anderen mu man die oben erwhnte geographische Verteilung der Labbai in Betracht ziehen. Es ist wohl kaum denkbar, da so viele Muslime im nrdlichen Inland Tamilnadus alle von religisen Gelehrten abstammen sollen. Aus allen diesen Angaben lt sich vielleicht die Entwicklung der unterschiedlichen Bedeutungen des Begriffs Labbai rekonstruieren (eine solche Rekonstruktion bleibt natrlich ohne genaue Untersuchungen weitgehend spekulativ). Labbai wurde demnach zunchst als religiser Titel, vor allem zur Bezeichnung des Imams, gebraucht. Dieser Begriff wurde von den anderen Muslimen in der Weise mit den tamilder aber wohl nur der Sponsor dieses Werks war (vgl. Uwise 1990: 59; Shu'ayb 1993: 484f. und 516ff.). Auch im 19. Jahrhundert findet sich der Terminus noch hufig in dieser Bedeutung. So trgt einer der bedeutendsten muslimischen Gelehrten des 19. Jahrhunderts, Sayyid Muammad, den arabischen Titel Imm al-Ars oder dessen tamilische Entsprechung Mppiai Leppai (vgl. Shu'ayb 1993: 586f.). Aber auch im 20. Jahrhundert wird der Terminus noch in diesem Sinn gebraucht (vgl. ebd.: 76f.; Mines 1986: 582).
89

sprachigen Muslimen in Verbindung gebracht, da er bald synonym mit diesen wurde. So ging er in die britischen Zensusberichte ein. Die tamilsprachigen Muslime in den nrdlichen Distrikten, die unter den Nawabs von Arcot und Tipu Sultan zum Islam konvertiert waren und keine einheitliche Gruppenbezeichnung besaen (anders als die ebenfalls anaftischen Ravuttar im Sden), bernahmen ihn und wurden im Laufe der Zeit ebenfalls mit ihm identifiziert, so da der Begriff Bedeutungen auf zwei Ebenen der Gruppenbezeichnung erhielt. Da der Begriff zunchst auf alle tamilsprachigen Muslime und dann erst auf eine spezielle Gruppe angewendet wurde, scheint mir logischer. Es existierte kein Grund, nur eine bestimmte Subgruppe als Labbai zu bezeichnen, da der Begriff ja auch von anderen Subgruppen wie den Marakkayar verwendet wurde. Auch ist nicht klar, warum der Begriff dann auf andere Gruppen bertragen worden sein sollte. 3.3. Marakkayar (Marakayar, Maraikayar, Maraikkayar, Maraicar; marakkyar, maraikkyar): Die Marakkayar sind wahrscheinlich die bekannteste Subgruppe. Alle neueren Autoren erwhnen sie. Auch in Hinblick auf die Merkmale, die diese Subgruppe von anderen unterscheidet, gibt es weitgehende bereinstimmungen. Sie gehren der __fitischen Rechtsschule an, siedeln primr in sh den Kstengebieten8 und beanspruchen arabische Abstam8

Bayly fhrt die wichtigsten Orte an (1993: 454 und 457).

90

mung (Thurston 1909: vol. V 4; Mines 1978: 161; Bayly 1989: 80; Fanselow 1996: 202 und 204f.; More 1997: 23). Lediglich Naidu schreibt, da die Marakkayar in Pondicherry keine Geschichten ber ihre Abstammung htten und sich im allgemeinen fr Nachfahren konvertierter Hindus hielten (1994b: 261). Dies mutet besonders seltsam an im Kontrast zu den ausfhrlichen Legenden der Marakkayar in Kayalpatnam, die Bezge zur Mutazila und der Stadt Kairo behaupten (vgl. Fanselow 1996: 204f.). Auch sonst wird die Beanspruchung einer arabischen Abstammung so oft erwhnt, da sie ohne Zweifel fr die meisten Marakkayar eine zentrale Rolle spielt. Die Marakkayar werden oft mit internationalem Handel in Verbindung gebracht, vor allem mit Ceylon und Indonesien (Francis 1906b: 86; Thurston 1909: vol. V 4; Pate 1917: 97; Bayly 1989: 79-83 und 1993: 454 und 461 Anm. 16; Fanselow 1996: 204). Die besondere Architektur der von Marakkayar bewohnten Viertel in ihren Hauptsiedlungsgebieten sowie ihre Frderung islamischer Einrichtungen werden ebenfalls erwhnt (Mines 1984: 432; Bayly 1989: 84f.; Fanselow 1996: 205f.). Sowohl Pate als auch Bayly geben an, da die Marakkayar endogam waren und sind. Bayly erwhnt weiterhin, da Ehen mit Shfis von der Malabarkste oder aus Sdostasien __ solchen mit Angehrigen der anaftischen Rechtsschule vorgezogen wrden, was in gewisser Hinsicht ihre Aussagen ber Endogamie relativiert. Naidu zufolge bevorzugen die Marakkayar Pondicherrys heute Inter-Gruppen-Ehen (Pate
91

1917: 500; Bayly 1989: 79f.; Naidu 1994b: 264). Diese Angaben ber Endogamie kontrastieren mit den Ausfhrungen Mores, der von der Vermischung konvertierter Gruppen mit den Marakkayar whrend des 19. Jahrhunderts berichtet (More 1997: 24f.). Diesen Widerspruch kann man vielleicht durch eine Angabe Thurstons aufheben. Er berichtet, da Konvertiten unter den Marakkayar eine eigene Subgruppe, Pulukkai genannt, bilden. Diese drften erst nach mehreren Generationen oder nach der Erlangung eines gewissen Wohlstandes mit echten Marakkayar Ehen eingehen (Thurston 1909: vol. V 4; ber das Ideal von harter Arbeit und Erfolg siehe Mines 1972: 343f.). Die Angaben ber weitere Unterteilungen der Marakkayar sind sprlich. Neben den eben erwhnten Pulukkais (wobei nicht klar ist, ob der Terminus Pulukkai heute noch in Gebrauch ist) und eventuell den Kayalar (siehe 3.1 gibt Naidu noch die Namen zweier Subgruppen 3.1) unter den Marakkayar Pondicherrys, Malaimar und Nahuda, an (Naidu 1994b: 261).9 Ein weiteres oft erwhntes Merkmal der Marakkayar sind uxorilokale Residenzmuster, die vielleicht mit der langen Abwesenheit der Mnner auf Handelsreisen zusammenhngen
9

Aufgrund der ungengenden Transkription kann ber die Bedeutung der Namen der von Thurston und Naidu genannten Marakkayar-Subgruppen nur spekuliert werden. Fr Pulukkai knnte man an eine Ableitung von der Verbwurzel pullu- to embrace; to cling to, to join denken (vgl. aber auch pu{ukkai slave, menial servant). Nahuda knnte nakut captain of a ship sein.

92

(vgl. Bayly 1989: 81 Anm. 15; Introduction 1994: 20; Fanselow 1996: 204). Fanselow hebt in diesem Zusammenhang die Vererbung von Wohnhusern in der Matrilinie in Kayalpatnam hervor. Der Begriff Marakkayar wird im allgemeinen mit marakkalam ship, vessel, boat in Verbindung gebracht (Bayly 1989: 79; More 1997: 22f.). Mores Informanten vermuteten eine Ableitung von marakkalaryar (ungefhr Schiffsknig). Die von Francis gegebene Etymologie von arabisch markab Schiff ist uerst unwahrscheinlich (1906b: 86f.).10 3.4. Ravuttar (Rowthar, Rowther, Rawther, Rauther, Ravutar; rvuttar horseman, irvuttar cavalier, horseman,
Im 17. Jahrhundert wurde dem Oberhaupt Kayalpatnams von den Nayaka-Herrschern der Titel Mudali(yar) Pillai Marakkayar (mutaliyr piai marakkyar) verliehen (Pate 1917: 499f.; Bayly 1989: 80; More 1997: 22). More bezweifelt, da die Bezeichnung schon wesentlich frher verwendet wurde. Im Bericht Duarte Barbosas aus dem 16. Jahrhundert wird die Macht des fhrenden Mitglieds der muslimischen Gemeinde in Cael (Palayakayal oder Alt-Kayal) erwhnt. Die Muslime hatten ihre eigene Gerichtsbarkeit und auch andere Vorrechte. Besonders erwhnenswert ist, da die Perlenfischer jeden Freitag ausschlielich fr die Bootsbesitzer nach Perlen fischen muten. Laut More waren die Bootsbesitzer zumeist Muslime. Eine Beziehung zum Terminus Marakkayar lehnt More aber ab, da diese Bezeichnung seiner Meinung nach zu dieser Zeit noch nicht verwendet wurde (Duarte Barbosa 1989: 123f.; Bayly 1989: 78; More 1997: 15).
93
10

trooper < urdu rt, rut a land-bailiff, a person employed to collect rent from a village, an agent; a trooper cavalier < sanskrit rjadta royal messenger): Die Ravuttar sind anaften, die primr in den sdlichen Distrikten leben. Sie beanspruchen weder arabische noch iranische oder trkische Abstammung (Mines 1978: 161; Fanselow 1996: 209ff.). Eine Reihe von Autoren betont, da standardisierte Legenden ber ihre Herkunft fehlen und die Ravuttar im allgemeinen dazu tendieren, der Vergangenheit nicht allzuviel Bedeutung beizumessen (ebd.; Francis 1906a: 79; Naidu 1994c: 371). Die Ravuttar htten, so Fanselow, frher in Abhngigkeitsverhltnissen zu sozial hhergestellten Muslimen (in diesem Fall zumeist urdusprachigen) gestanden. Mit der Kolonialzeit seien diese Beziehungen schwcher geworden, und so diene die historische Amnesie der Ravuttar dem Zweck, eine im Sinne der in derselben Zeit erstarkten puristischen Tendenzen islamische Identitt zu schaffen, hnlich wie dies bei den anderen Gruppen durch Beanspruchung arabischer oder trkischer Abstammung geschieht. In diesem Zusammenhang steht eine Betonung des islamischen Egalittsanspruchs. Ansprche anderer Gruppen auf eine fremde Abstammung werden als Versto gegen den Gleichheitsgrundsatz und somit als unislamisches Verhalten gewertet, um so die eigene islamische Identitt zu erhhen. Seit dem 19. Jahrhundert ist die Wahhbiyya unter den Ravuttar aktiv (Fanselow 1996: 212-7; McPherson 1995: 469). Die Ravuttar werden im allgemeinen in bezug zu den Soldaten muslimischer Herrscher gesehen. Zumeist werden hier
94

die Nawabs von Arcot genannt. More behauptet allerdings, da der Begriff Ravuttar seit dem 8. Jahrhundert in der Tamilliteratur erwhnt wrde und da manche Ravuttar behaupten, sie seien von frhen Sufis zum Islam bekehrt worden (1997: 21f.). Was die frhe Literatur angeht, so ist es uerst unwahrscheinlich, da der Begriff Ravuttar hier im Sinne von Muslim, oder noch genauer anaftischer Muslim, gebraucht wurde. Neben der hier behandelten muslimischen Subgruppe fhren auch verschiedene kannada- und telugusprachige Gruppen den Titel Ravuttar (vgl. Thurston 1909: vol. VI 247; Richards 1918: 178). Auf jeden Fall mu, wenn sich der Gebrauch des Begriffes seit dem 8. Jahrhundert besttigen sollte (More gibt leider keine Angaben, in welchen Werken Ravuttar erwhnt werden), die Etymologie aus dem Urdu berprft werden. Im allgemeinen werden die Ravuttar vor allem mit den Nawabs von Arcot und den Poligars des 18. Jahrhunderts genannt. Bayly betont, da eine Reihe der muslimischen Soldaten in den Diensten von Hinduherrschern, wie dem Raja von Travancore, standen. Solche Truppen galten nach ihren Aussagen als prestigesteigernd, auerdem wurden die Fhigkeiten der muslimischen rzte geschtzt. Der relativ hohe Status der Soldaten, so behauptet Bayly, htte dazu gefhrt, da mit der Zeit auch andere Gruppen fr sich Ravuttar-Status reklamierten (1989: 98f.; vgl. auch More 1997: 23; McPherson 1995: 469). Ihre Aussagen stehen damit in einem gewissen Gegensatz zu den Aussagen Fanselows, der im allgemeinen von einem Klientelverhltnis von Ravuttar zu muslimischen
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Herrschern ausgeht, bei denen erstere eine sozial untergeordnete Stellung einnahmen. Was der genaue Grund fr diesen Widerspruch ist, bleibt noch zu klren. Zum einen erwhnt Bayly, da urdusprachige Muslime anscheinend besonders bevorzugt wurden. Es knnte sein, da man als tamilsprachiger Ravuttar zwar eine Reihe von Vorteilen gegenber anderen Tamilen hatte, aber immer noch den urdusprachigen Muslimen unterlegen blieb. Man sollte aber auch nicht auer acht lassen, da die Informationen Fanselows durch den Filter der competitive Islamisation gelaufen sein knnten, denn fr die Ravuttar wre es sicher von Vorteil, wenn das inegalitre und somit ihrer Meinung nach unislamische Verhalten der anderen Subgruppen nicht nur eine gegenwrtige, sondern auch historische Ebene htte. Die unsichere Situation in den nur kurzfristig von Arcot eroberten Gebieten im sdlichen Tamilnadu wie auch die von Bayly angefhrte Rekrutierung von muslimischen Truppen durch Poligars mgen zwei Grnde sein, warum die Ravuttar vornehmlich im Sden Tamilnadus anzutreffen sind. Fanselow erwhnt auch Beziehungen zu den Marava (1996: 216). Es sollte aber nicht auer acht gelassen werden, da der Ursprung der Bezeichnung Ravuttar wohl lter ist. Neben den bereits erwhnten Angaben Mores darf man nicht bersehen, da einige Kultheilige mit den Feldzgen des Sultanats von Delhi im 14. Jahrhundert und vor allem dem Sultanat von Mabar in Verbindung gebracht werden. Es ist uerst unwahrscheinlich, da die fast 50 Jahre whrende Herrschaft der Sultane in Madurai nur archologische Spuren hinterlas96

sen haben soll, es aber nicht auch zu Konversionen kam. Es existieren noch Mausoleen, Moscheen und Schreine aus dieser Zeit in Madurai und Umgebung (vgl. Bayly 1993: 486; Shokoohy 1993: 307-19). Ehen zwischen Ravuttar und als sozial hherstehend angesehenen Gruppen waren whrend der Kolonialzeit wohl selten, in Kayalpatnam sollen sie berhaupt nicht stattgefunden haben. Die Ravuttar lebten in eigenen Straen und sollen nach den Angaben von Francis in weitere endogame Subgruppen aufgeteilt gewesen sein, deren Bezeichnungen sich auf Wohnort oder Beruf bezogen (1906a: 79f.; Pate 1917: 500; McPherson 1995; 469). Wie bereits erwhnt, betonen die Ravuttar nach den Angaben Fanselows ihre islamische Identitt, indem sie Feste und Rituale von unislamischen Elementen reinigen und die Gleichheit aller Muslime hervorheben. Die Identitt als Ravuttar tritt mehr und mehr in den Hintergrund, unter anderem auch durch zunehmende Ehen mit den Tarakanar (siehe 3.6 3.6; Fanselow 1996: 211-6). Im Siedlungsgebiet der Ravuttar kommt es wohl hufiger zu Konversionen von Unberhrbaren zum Islam, weil, wie ein Konvertit es ausdrckte, it [d.h. der Islam, T.T.] has guaranteed us dignity and we are proud of being a human being (zitiert nach Ilangovan 2001). 3.5. Sonagar (Sonakar, Jonagar; czakar foreigner, especially Greek, Arab or Moor, jzakar Muhammadan; vgl. sanskrit yavana an Ionian, Greek also a Muhammadan or European, mittelindisch yona und joa, urdu jawan an
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Ionian, a Greek; a Mohammadan): Ursprnglich auf das Ethnonym Ionier zurckgehend, wurde dieser Begriff spter in ganz Indien auf (vor allem aus dem Westen) kommende Fremde bertragen. Laut More ist Sonagar die lteste Bezeichnung fr Muslims im Tamil, die spter zu Gunsten anderer Bezeichnungen an Bedeutung verloren hat (More 1997: 21f.). Der Begriff scheint keine spezielle Subgruppe zu bezeichnen, sondern ganz allgemein von Hindus in Tamilnadu fr (wie es scheint vor allem) tamilsprachige Muslime verwendet worden zu sein. Auch die Mappilla in Kerala sollen mit diesem Begriff bezeichnet worden sein (Thurston 1909: vol. II 501). Francis notiert (1906b: 87):
The term Jnagan or Snagan, meaning a native of Snagam or Arabia, is applied by Hindus to both Labbai and Marakkyars, but it is usually held to have a contemptuous flavour about it.

Lediglich Thurston will in dem Begriff eine spezielle Bezeichnung fr Fischer und kleine Bootsbesitzer sehen (1909: vol. II 501). Ob es regionale oder inhaltliche Unterschiede zwischen Sonagar und Tulukar (siehe 3.7 gab oder gibt, 3.7) 11 bliebe genauer zu untersuchen.
Interessant ist in diesem Zusammenhang ein Vermerk in Winslows Wrterbuch. Unter dem Eintrag tulukkar (sub voce tulukku) findet sich neben der allgemeinen Bedeutung Muslims oder Trken folgende Bedeutung: 2. A class of Moors, the other being czakar (1989: 608).
98
11

3.6. Tarakanar (Taragan; tarakaz(r) broker): Die Angaben zu dieser anscheinend ausschlielich im Tirunelveli-Distrikt siedelnden Subgruppe sind sprlich. Pate erwhnt sie zusammen mit den Ravuttar als Personen, die sich nicht durch Gelehrsamkeit oder Frmmigkeit auszeichnen und wohl die Nachkommen von tamilischen Konvertiten darstellen (1917: 97f.). Lediglich Fanselow geht nher auf sie ein. Sie gehren der __fitischen Rechtsschule an (1996: sh 202) und waren in frheren Zeiten primr als Mittelsmnner fr Grokaufleute im Textilgeschft ttig. Fanselow betont wie bei den Ravuttar ein fehlendes Interesse an ihrer Abstammung und Geschichte und das Abstreiten von Unterschieden zu Muslimen in anderen Lndern. Fanselow hlt es wie Pate fr sicher, da die Tarakanar Nachkommen konvertierter Hindus sind, wenn auch die Grnde fr die Konversion nicht mehr nachzuvollziehen sind (und sicher auch nicht einheitlich waren) (ebd.: 209-12). In bezug auf die Konversion schreibt Fanselow (ebd.: 216):
there is some circumstantial evidence in historical sources that the Rowther are in part related to Maravar converts, the Tarakanar to Iluvan converts, .

Die Zugehrigkeit zur __fitischen Rechtsschule wie ihre sh Position als Mittelsmnner im Handel machen es wahrscheinlich, da ihre Konversion eng mit der Ausbreitung der Aktivitten muslimischer Hndler, insbesondere der Marakkayar, zusammenhing. Laut Fanselow waren die Tarakanar zunchst eine client community der Marakkayar (ebd.: 212). Heutzutage betonen die Tarakanar ihre Zugehrigkeit zum
99

Islam durch die Reinigung synkretistischer Feste und Rituale, Betonung der Gleichheit aller Muslime und damit verbunden des Mitrauens gegenber den Abstammungslegenden der Marakkayar, sowie hufigen Ehebeziehungen mit den Ravuttar, durch die die Grenzen zwischen diesen Gruppen zunehmend verwischen (ebd.: 210f. und 215; siehe 3.4). 3.4 3.7. Tulukar (tulukkar Mussalman, Turk): hnlich wie bei dem Begriff Sonagar wurde hier ein Ethnonym zu einer Bezeichnung fr Muslim. Dieser Begriff scheint mit der Ausbreitung des trkisch geprgten Sultanats von Delhi und der Grndung des Sultanats von Madurai in Gebrauch gekommen zu sein (More 1997: 22). Bayly nennt einen Dorfzensus, in dem Pathanen den Beinamen Tulukar tragen (Bayly 1989: 88 Anm. 28). 3.8. Vethalaikaran (ve||ilaikkraz < ve||ilai Betel pepper; Betel leaf): Diese Subgruppe wird nur von Naidu erwhnt. Nach seinen Angaben sollen sie eine Subgruppe der Labbai darstellen, die vom Anbau und Verkauf von Betel lebt, ohne da er aber angibt, ob es sich lediglich um eine Berufsbezeichnung handelt oder ob es strkere Abgrenzungen zu anderen Labbai gibt. So erwhnt Naidu fr beide Gruppen, da sie endogam seien und ihre Toten auf separaten Friedhfen beerdigen wrden. Es geht aus den Angaben aber nicht hervor, ob es sich dabei um Gebruche der Labbai handelt, die die Vetha100

laikaran als Labbai-Subgruppe mit diesen gemein haben, oder ob sich die Vethalaikaran mit diesen von den Labbai abgrenzen (1994a: 232ff. und 1994d: 436 und 438). Bereits Francis erwhnt, da viele Labbai im Betelanbau ttig sind (1906b: 86). 4. Zusammenfassung und Ausblick Die verschiedenen Bezeichnungen lassen sich ihrer Bedeutung nach in drei Gruppen unterteilen: 1) Generelle Termini: Hierzu gehren die Begriffe Sonagar und Tulukar sowie Labbai in der Bedeutung tamilsprachiger Muslim. Hierbei handelt es sich nicht um Subgruppen, sondern um Bezeichnungen fr Muslime im allgemeinen. Die Begriffe Sonagar und Tulukar hngen sicherlich mit den zwei Ausbreitungsprozessen des Islam in Tamilnadu zusammen. Inwiefern die Begriffe aber nur fr bestimmte Gruppen (Sonagar z.B. fr Shfis, Tulukar fr aus dem Norden __ eingewanderte Muslime) benutzt wurden, ist fraglich (siehe jedoch Anmerkung 11). Lediglich der Begriff Labbai, wie er von den Briten als Zensuskategorie eingefhrt wurde, ist etwas klarer definiert. In allen Fllen handelt es sich wohl um Auenbezeichnungen: Sonagar und Tulukar wurden wohl primr von Hindus, Labbai primr von den Briten und vielleicht urdusprachigen Muslimen verwendet. 2) Subgruppen: Dies sind die Labbai im engeren Sinne, die Marakkayar und die Ravuttar (vielleicht auch die Kayalar, vgl. Mines 1986: 582). Sie bilden die oberste Ebene der Subgruppen. Diese Gruppen werden zwar mit bestimmten Groregionen in Verbindung gebracht (die Marakkayar mit der
101

Kste, die Labbai und Ravuttar mit dem nrdlichen bzw. sdlichen Inland), sind aber nicht durch ihre Bezeichnung mit einem bestimmten Ort verbunden (mit Ausnahme der Kayalar). Auch umfassen diese Gruppen Individuen verschiedener Berufe. Ihre Identitt wird vornehmlich durch Zugehrigkeit zur Rechtsschule und geteilte Vorstellungen ber die eigene Geschichte bestimmt. Auch die Gruppen, die keine Abstammungslegenden formulieren, nutzen dies als Merkmal zur Identittsbildung, denn es kontrastiert mit der starken Betonung von Abstammung anderer Gruppen auf dieser Ebene, und Identitt basiert zu einem groen Teil auf solchen Abgrenzungen; keine Geschichte zu haben ist auch eine Vorstellung der eigenen Geschichte. 3) Lokale oder berufliche Sub-subgruppen: Hierzu zhlen (mit Einschrnkung, s.o.) Kayalar, Tarakanar und Vethalaikaran. Sie bilden innerhalb oder im engen Verbund mit Gruppen aus 2) weitere Unterteilungen auf der Basis von Beruf oder Herkunftsort. Dazu gehren auch die von Francis erwhnten Subgruppen der Ravuttar (siehe 3.4 Solche Grup3.4). pen brauchen nicht einfach nur Teilmengen der Gruppen aus 2) zu sein. Gerade bei den Tarakanar scheint es starke Tendenzen zu einem kompletten Bruch mit den Marakkayar zu geben, und frher oder spter mgen sie in den Ravuttar aufgehen. Es ist gerade aus diesem Grund wichtig, noch einmal den Charakter solcher Gruppen zu betonen. Es handelt sich nicht um statische Gebilde, sondern um Menschen, die in einem bestimmten Kontext zu einem bestimmten Zweck eine eige102

ne Identitt formulieren. Wenn sich der Kontext ndert, ndert sich auch die Formulierung der Identitt, auch wenn der Name bestehen bleibt. Zwar bercksichtigen die meisten Autoren die Kontextgebundenheit der Gruppen, die sie selbst erforscht haben, beziehen dann aber ihre Ergebnisse auf andere Regionen oder Perioden mit anderem Kontext. Hierzu gehrt Baylys Kontrastierung von Labbai und Marakkayar in der vorkolonialen Zeit, obwohl zu diesem Zeitpunkt Labbai wohl mehr ein religises Amt denn eine Subgruppe bezeichnete (vgl. 1989: 80; siehe 3.2). Auch die Behauptung Fanselows, 3.2 Labbai sei eine durch den Zensus geschaffene Kategorie, die tamil- von urdusprachigen Muslimen trennt, bercksichtigt nicht, da die Labbai in Pallavaram, wo Mines forschte, eindeutig eine eigene Subgruppe bildeten (vgl. 1996: 215). Eine der wichtigen Aufgaben der Erforschung des Islams in Tamilnadu bleibt, den semantischen Inhalt von Termini wie Labbai oder Ravuttar in ihrem jeweiligen historischen und/ oder regionalem Kontext zu erarbeiten, soweit dies bei der Fluktuation der Bedeutung solcher Identittstermini mglich ist. Dabei darf aber auf keinen Fall der Fehler gemacht werden, etwa Ravuttar im 18. Jahrhundert als vollkommen getrennt von Ravuttar im 20. Jahrhundert zu sehen, denn die Identittsbildung geschieht ja nicht aus dem leeren Raum heraus, sondern auf der Basis des vorher Geschehenen. Auch die Legenden, mit denen einige Gruppen ihre Identitt betonen, sollten nicht ausschlielich als Instrumentalisierungen zur Identittsbildung betrachtet werden. Wenn auch im Lau103

fe der Geschichte viele Gruppen von Konvertiten in der als Marakkayar bezeichneten Gruppe aufgegangen sind, wird wohl niemand die Historizitt der Vermischung arabischer Einwanderer mit den Einheimischen bestreiten. Eine diese Faktoren bercksichtigende Erforschung der einzelnen Gruppen kann im Zusammenspiel mit der Forschung auf anderen Gebieten wie der Archologie oder Literaturwissenschaft neue Erkenntnisse zu Geschichte wie Gegenwart der Muslime in Tamilnadu und damit zu Tamilnadu selbst liefern. Literaturverzeichnis
(Eine Jahreszahl in Klammern bezeichnet das Jahr der Erstpublikation) 1. Wrterbcher Madras, University of. 1924-39. Tamil Lexicon (Six volumes and a supplement). Madras: University of Madras. Monier-Williams, Monier. 1994 (1899). Sanskit-English Dictionary. Etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. Platts, John T. 1997 (1884). A Dictionary of Urd, Classical Hind and English. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. Wehr, Hans. 1958. Arabisches Wrterbuch fr die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. Winslow, M. 1989 (1862). A Comprehensive Tamil and English Dictionary. Tami{ kila akarti. Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
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2. District Gazetteers und Manuals; ltere Literatur Cox, Arthur F. 1895. Madras District Manuals. North Arcot. Volume I. Madras: Government Press. Duarte Barbosa. 1989 (1921). The Book of Duarte Barbosa. An Account of the Countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants, written by Duarte Barbosa and completed about the Year 1518 A.D. Volume II. Translated, edited and annotated by Mansel Longworth Dames. Delhi: Asian Educational Services. Francis, W. 1906a. Madras District Gazetteers. Madura. Madras: Government Press. Francis, W. 1906b. Madras District Gazetteers. South Arcot. Madras: Government Press. Pate, H.R. 1917. Madras District Gazetteers. Tinnevelly. Volume I. Madras: Government Press. Richards, F.J. 1918. Madras District Gazetteers. Salem. Volume I. Part I. Madras: Government Press. Thurston, Edgar. 1909, Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Volumes II, III, IV, V, VI. Madras: Government Press. Venkasami Row, T. 1883. A Manual of the District of Tanjore in the Madras Presidency. Madras: Lawrence Asylum Press. 3. Neuere Literatur Assayag, Jackie und Gilles Tarabout. 1997. Prsentation, in: Jackie Assayag und Gilles Tarabout (Hrsg.). Altrit et identit. Islam et Christianisme en Inde. Collection Pururtha 19. Paris: cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales: 9-22. Bayly, Susan. 1986, Islam in Southern India: Purist or Syncretic?, in: C.A. Bayly und D.H.A. Kolff (Hrsg.). Two colonial empires. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: 35-73.
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Bayly, Susan. 1989. Saints, Goddesses and Kings. Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society 1700-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bayly, Susan. 1993. The Limits of Islamic Expansion in South India, in: Anna Libera Dallapiccola und Stephanie Zingel-Av Lallemant (Hrsg.). Islam and Indian Regions. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag: 453-90 Fanselow, Frank S. 1996. The Disinvention of Caste among Tamil Muslims, in: C.J. Fuller (Hrsg.). Caste Today. Delhi: Oxford University Press: 202-26. Ilangovan, R. 2001. Persecuted Dalits Embracing Islam, in: The Hindu, January 19. [Der Artikel entstammt der Internetausgabe von The Hindu, und ist im Archiv zu finden unter: www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/2001/01/19/ stories/04192233.htm.] Introduction, in: M. Ramadass, T.S. Naidu und D. Xaviour (Hrsg.). Pondicherry. People of India 36. Madras: Affiliated East-West Press: 1-69. _h McPherson, Kenneth. 1995. Rawt_er, in: C.E. Bosworth et al. (Hrsg.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Volume VIII. NED-SAM. Leiden: E.J. Brill: 469. Mines, Mattison. 1972. Muslim Social Stratification in India: the Basis for Variation, in: Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 28: 331-49. Mines, Mattison. 1975. Islamisation and Muslim Ethnicity in South India, in: Man 10,3: S. 404-19. Mines, Mattison. 1978. Social Stratification among Muslim Tamils in Tamilnadu, South India in: Imtiaz Ahmad (Hrsg.). Caste and Social Stratification among Muslims in India. Delhi: Manohar: 159-69.
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Mines, Mattison. 1984. Labbai, in: Richard V. Weekes (Hrsg.). Muslim Peoples. A World Ethnographic Survey. 2. berarbeitete Auflage. London: Aldwych Press: 431-6. Mines, Mattison. 1986. Labbai, in: C.E. Bosworth et al. (Hrsg.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Volume V. KHEMAHI. Leiden: E.J. Brill: 582-3. More, J.B.P. 1993. Tamil Muslims and Non-Brahmin Atheists, 1925-1940 in: Contributions to Indian Sociology 27.1: 83-104. More. J.B.P. 1997. The Political Evolution of Muslims in Tamilnadu and Madras 1930-1947. Hyderabad: Orient Longman. Naidu, T.S. 1994a. Labbai, in: M. Ramadass, T.S. Naidu und D. Xaviour (Hrsg.). Pondicherry. People of India 36. Madras: Affiliated East-West Press: 232-5. Naidu, T.S. 1994b. Maraikayar, in: M. Ramadass, T.S. Naidu und D. Xaviour (Hrsg.). Pondicherry. People of India 36. Madras: Affiliated East-West Press: 261-4. Naidu, T.S. 1994c. Rauther, in: M. Ramadass, T.S. Naidu und D. Xaviour (Hrsg.). Pondicherry. People of India 36. Madras: Affiliated East-West Press: 371-4. Naidu, T.S. 1994d. Vethalaikaran, in: M. Ramadass, T.S. Naidu und D. Xaviour (Hrsg.). Pondicherry. People of India 36. Madras: Affiliated East-West Press: 436-9. Shokoohy, Mehrdad. 1993. Architecture of the Muslim Trading Communities in India in: Anna Libera Dallapiccola und Stephanie Zingel-Av Lallemant (Hrsg.). Islam and Indian Regions. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag: 291-319. Shu'ayb lim, Tayka. 1993. Arabic, Arwi and Persian in Sarandib and Tamil Nadu. A Study of the Contributions of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu to Arabic, Arwi, Persian and Urdu Languages, Literature and Education. Madras: Immul Ars
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Trust. Uwise, M.M. 1990 (1953). Muslim Contribution to Tamil Literature. Kilakarai: Fifth International Islamic Tamil Literary Conference. Wensinck, A.J. 1995 (1953). Talbiya, in: H.A.R. Gibb und J.H. Kramers (Hrsg.). Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: E.J. Brill: 571. Wink, Andr. 1991. Al-Hind. The making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume I. Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7th-11th centuries. 2. berarbeitete Auflage. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

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