Forgotten Matriarchal Islam in India

By Grace Mubashir, New Age Islam 15 May 2023 Matriarchy was widely practiced till mid twentieth century by Muslims in parts of North Malabar and in Travancore princely State. According to matriarchal system, a local accretion to Islam from Hindu ruling class, Islam was practiced giving prominence to women, in variation with patriarchal understanding of Islam across the Islamic world, matriarchal practices have wane, except in some pockets of African coastal regions and Indonesia and Lakshadweep, significantly denting women-oriented Islamic reading of scriptures. While the tradition has been extinct in Malabar, some practices are still followed. For example, after marriage husband lives at wife’s house. And the familial expenses are the concern of matriarchal heads of family members too. The colonial changes in Islamic law and shift to nuclear family were the prime movers behind this shift. But when the issue of Muslim women’s rights in Islam is hotly contested, understanding of matriarchal understanding of Islam is contemporaneous. According to anthropologists, in Kerala matriarchy was practiced by people of Sangham Age (BC 5 – AD 5), which continued till twentieth century with occasional modifications. Sambamdham Practice (this practice stipulated marriage of only elder son while other siblings condemned to practice akin to today’s living-in relationship, where women in the relation had sexual freedom and children were known to be children of women in the relationship) among Hindus endured the tradition. Matriarchal lineage is considered to be one essential pillar of caste system in South India. According to this tradition, joint family will be headed by uncles of female members. The family wealth will be enjoyed through the lineage of women members. More preference used to be accorded to siblings of sisters while male members lived off the free allowances without any claim on property. Property will not be divided, but owned commonly with free claim to shared daily allowance. The self-made properties of male members will be given to his sisters’ children, while his own children will not have claim over this. This tradition became popular in Kerala by tenth century. Zamorins, Chrirakkal ruling families adopted this tradition. Anthropologists equates this practice to pre-Islamic ‘Muta’ (temporary marriage) of Arabia. In this pre-fixed marriage contract, women had right to maintenance and freedom to leave the relationship unilaterally. With Arabs crisscrossing the world for mercantile purposes, they practiced this kind of marriage wherever they went. In Kerala, local rulers promoted such marriage. Arabs who followed monsoon stayed at Kerala for months. ‘Mappila’ community grew out of these inter-racial marriages. Zamorin supported such short-term alliances and hence it became popular among Muslims of North Malabar. Besides, close cultural bonhomie between Hindu Nairs and Muslims during united fight against Portuguese naturally gave the matriarchal practices more acceptance. The united spirit faltered the efforts of Portuguese to subjugate people of Kerala. Matriarchal tradition among Mappila Muslims is a good example of ‘localization of Islam’. at Kozhikode and Ponnani, partial practices of matriarchy were followed. While inheritance division was given according to Quranic instructions, in other practices it deviated from popular Islamic forms. Rights of wife, maintenance of family, identity and local rituals were innovative and women enjoyed singular agency and independence. The only Muslim ruling kingdom of Kerala, Arakkal Kudumbam, followed this tradition. In the family, rulership passed over through matriarchal lineage. After the death of a ruler, children of sister claimed the right to throne. Historians are dissenters about the origin of the practice. The practice became Islamic either after matriarchal Hindu families accepted Islam and continued local customs or Arab merchants employed this marital alliance. By the time colonialism came, matriarchal Islam was practiced in many places including Memons of Gujarat, Labbas of Tamil Nadu and Mappilas of Malabar. Colonialism and New Ethics Law Colonial modernity was totally alien to Indian traditions and rooted in western Biblical foundations. Liberty to women and sexual independence to female were anathema in colonial legal mooring. The Islamic reform movement motivated by colonial ideas, revolted against this tradition. Muslim reformers hollered against this practice unfound in Islamic scriptures. They were following colonial idea of Islam being monolithic and Arabian-centred. The severe casualty in colonial Islamic modernization was the sheening off local practices (urf) from legal recognition. Sayyid Sanaullah Makti Thangal (1847-1912) crusaded against this practice in Kerala and later took up by eminent reformers. In British Legislative Assemblies, discussions were held about the issue. By 1937 Shariat Act, matriarchal traditions were invalidated across India. But 1937 law was not applicable to agricultural land. So, K.M Seethi Sahib brought amendment to the law by including agricultural land in Shariat domain. In Cochin principality, law was brought banning the practice in 1933. In Madras Assembly Mappila Inheritance Law was enacted in 1918. As per the new law, the practice of using Waqf instruments to give property for women in the family was forfeited. By 1939 Madras Act, property division was channelized through paternal lineage, thus ending the institution of matriarchal Islam in Malabar. By 1976, the practice was outlawed among Hindus too. The practice crumbled entirely by 1960s and only vestiges of the former tradition is found now, with ritual skeletons littered here and there. The practice has to be renegotiated within the broader perspective of changing debates of Muslim women’s rights in Islam. Once denounced, this Islamic local practice is notable for its gender sensitive approach. It gives immense agency to women in matters of marriage and sexual choices. Women are empowered through financial securities and gives better position in family set-up. The system abolished under reformation spirit needs retrospection to accommodate emerging women concern within religious framework. ----- A regular columnist for NewAgeIslam.com, Mubashir V.P is a PhD scholar in Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia and freelance journalist. 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