The Hanafi school, also called Madhhab Hanifah, which was built upon the teaching of the theologian Imam Abu Hanifa (699-767) is one the four major schools (madhabs) of Fiqh or Sunni Islamic legal reasoning and repositories of positive law. It is distinguished from the other orthodox schools through its placing less reliance on mass oral tradition as a source of legal knowledge most open to modern ideas. It is the largest of the four religious Sunni Islamic schools of law with over 30% Muslim adherents worldwide, however there are no official figures for the number of adherents of this school of law. It has no distinctive symbol system and has no headquarters as such, but the Hanafis who are based mostly in the Indian subcontinent. Iraq, Turkey, and the western world sees the Quran, the Sunnah, the ijma (consensus) and qiyas (deduction from analogy) as the sources of law. Majority of Muslims in India except a small group of Shafi followers in Malabar, Madras and Konkan region of the southern region of India followed Hanfi Fiqh in their daily practices.
Just like any other religion in the country, Muslim communities in India generally abide by the Hanafi school which is dominant in Central Asia and India and has sub sect like Deobandi, Barelvi, and Ahl Hadith etc. Though, seen in most part of our country, we could understand the strong prominence on the Hanafi Muslim, south Indian states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu where exist religious denomination or sect like Rowther, Ravuther, Lebbai, Maraikayar, Kayalar, Mappila, Keyi, Marakkar, Ossan, Pusalan, Thulukkar etc., who have their own interpretation of Islam. The Rowther, Marakkayar, Lebbai and Kayalar are the four Muslim communities in Tamil Nadu. Rowthers follow the Hanafi madhab while Kayalar, Lebbai and Marakkayar belong to the Shafi branch of Islam, which spread from the coasts of southern Yemen. Kayalar seems to be a subdivision of Marakkayar. Kayalars and Marakkayars are found primarily along the Coromandel coast. Rowthers predominate in the ASEAN. The Marakkayar, Labbai and Kayalar sects of the Hanafi School claim descent from the Arab world while the Rowther sects claim descent from the Turkish world. As we know the conversion and adaptation of Islam was caused either out of the trade or out of invasions. The word Ravutta, the angelized word of Ravuttar came from the Tamil word ‘irauttar’ which means horseman or cavalry troopers.
This prominent Muslim community of Kerala and Tamil Nadu called Ravuttar (anglicized as Rowther, Rawther, Ravuthar, Ravuta, Ravutta, Rahtore, Ravoot) are descendants of Turkic folks came to the southern region during the Chola period. They follow the five basic tenets of Islam, namely reciting the Kalima, offering namaz (prayer) five times a day, observing rosa (fasting) during the month of Ramzan, giving zakah (charity) to the poor, and going on the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina. Traditionally, they are a clan based martial population like the Maravars and set up a part of the multi-ethnic Tamil Muslim community. Rawther or Ravuther Muslims are an endogamous group who prefer to look for a suitable match of Rawther or Ravuther Muslim brides and grooms who share the same socio-economic background. Another Hanafi group that is popular in Tamil Nadu is Labbay. Labbay (Labbai, Labba, Labbabeen, Lebbay, Lebbai), is a Muslim trading community found throughout the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. Lebbai Muslim in Tamil Nadu prohibited intermarriages. The Kayalar which seems to be a subdivision of Marakkar is one of the four major subgroups of the Muslim community in Tamil Nadu. They belong to the Shafi branch of Islam that spread from the coasts of southern Yemen.
When it comes to Hanafi Muslim sects in Kerala Mappila, Keyi, Marakkar, Ossan, Pusalan, Thulukkar are the major sects of Muslims in Kerala. Mappila Muslim, often shortened to Mappila, is a member of the Muslim community found primarily in Kerala and Lakshadweep Islands, in southern India. Keyi Muslims in Kerala who are known for their immense wealth and land properties acquired via trade link with the East India Company, trace its roots in Thalassery and prefer marital alliance from their own community. They are noted for their matrilinear system of inheritance. Marakkar, who were a powerful maritime spice trading community in the medieval South Asia is also a religious sect of the Muslim community in India found in parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Sri Lanka following the Shafi school of thought. In Kerala Marakkar (also known as Marikkars) are mostly concentrated in and around Malabar who were traditionally boatmen. It is a very close-knit communal sect, and they marry among themselves to sustain the lineage. By tradition, they follow the Shafi school of thought, as most of the Arabs who did trade with these regions followed that madhab. The Ossan Muslims in Kerala, still a financially backward group was formerly considered as a low status group among the Muslims in India and ranked the lowest in Kerala Muslim community hierarchy. Another popular group of Tamil speaking Muslim populations in south and central Kerala is Thulukkar who are supposed to have migrated from Tamil Nadu to various parts of Kerala through the Western Ghats.
Though most of these Muslim sects in India follow alike customs, we can say that most of this Hanafi Muslims proceed with Hanafi Muslim matrimony. The main reason for the religious sects to uphold this practice is to continue the lineage.
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