Islam is supposed to have infiltrated the present state of Kerala through the commercial trade between Kerala and the Middle East in the 7th century AD. The state has a prestigious reputation among other states of India for being one of the most religiously diverse and cosmopolitan states. The majority of Malayalee Muslims adhere to Sunni Islam, as demarcated by the Shāfiʿī school of religious law while a sizable minority holds to modern Sunni Islami movements. The latter section consists of majority Salafists (the Mujahids) and the minority Islamists. The traditional Sunnis and Mujahids, both again have been divided into several sub-identities. Salafists (the Mujahids)—with diverse fragments (with varying degrees of puritanism). Salafi Muslims in Kerala are the strongest supporters of the Salafi movement, also known as the Salafist movement, Salafiya, and Salafism, which is a Sunni Islam reform movement that developed across several provinces of the Islamic world in the late 19th century as a retort to Western European imperialism. The name Salafi emanates from a call for a return to the traditions of the ancestors (salaf), the first three generations of Muslims said to know the unadulterated, pure form of Islam. Salafi Muslim, also known as ahle hadith arose as a distinct sect and a minority in the Indian subcontinent during the British supremacy and have individual mosques and institutions than that of Sunnis. They have faith in the Quran and the hadith or Sunnah of the prophet recited by his companions.
There are hundreds of Salafi groups of Muslims who are striving to create radical changes in the social, political, religious, cultural, and educational landscapes of Muslim communities of Kerala. Salafi Mujahideen Muslims (those engaged in jihad), are those who fight for faith or the Muslim community (Ummah). Until the 18th century in India, when it became associated with Islamic revivalism, the phrase was not widely used as a collective or plural noun referring to holy warriors. In the 19th century the term became increasingly identified with the militant revivalist movement of Sayyid Aḥmad Baralawī (Brelvi), who’s self-proclaimed mujāhidīn fought both Sikh expansion and British ascendance in India and continued to be used throughout India for Muslim resistance to colonialism and the British raj. Later in the 20th century the term was much used as it was an alliance of guerrilla groups in Islamic State of Afghanistan that resisted the conquering Soviet forces and finally toppled the Afghan communist government during the Afghan War (1978–92). The organization that follows the tenets of Salafism, Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) was founded in 1952. It is the largest Mujahid organisation in Kerala established on account of the Renaissance activities among Keralite Muslims led by intellectuals and clerics such as Sheikh Hamadani Thangal, K.M. Moulavi and Vakkom Moulavi and Ummer Moulavi. Similarly, there are other groups like the Ittihadul Subbanil Mujahideen (ISM), Islahi, MGM, Mujahid Students Movement (MSM) etc. The Wisdom Salafi Muslim is also a new endeavour in the Jinnu Mujahid Muslims in Kerala spreading the message of Islam to the world.
The Muslim followers in Kerala are very keen to uphold a harmonious coexistence of diverse caste, creed, and religion. The families of Salafi Muslims in Kerala strictly adore to live according to the Islamic principles. The parents of all Muslim communities in Kerala ensure their Salafi Muslim girl and boy receive necessary Islamic education through Madrasas. They give strong emphasis to religious notions and instruct their children to become a responsible member of the society. When it comes to Salafi Nikah, the Muslim matrimonial procedures are carried by retaining the whole essence of the traditional marriage ceremony. Salafi marriages nowadays are arranged through a well intricate approach. Muslim brides and grooms as well as their parents and close-knit circles nowadays needn’t run behind marriage bureaus. Instead, we can give way for the best religious wedding planners or the most popular Muslim matrimonial apps in the locale to get start the matrimonial hunt. The main advantage of these Kerala Matrimonials or wedding planners is that we can cut short any kind of personal intrusions and look for the most eligible matches of Muslim matrimonial prospects solely based on our likes and preferences.
