Panakkad Sayyid Hyderali Shihab Thangal, who passed away on Sunday, was among the very few personalities who had the good fortune to be a spiritual as well as a political leader.
Over the years, the Kodappanakkal family at Panakkad in Malappuram district of Kerala, to which Hyderali Thangal belonged, was able to enjoy a high spiritual status among Muslims in Kerala thanks to its accessibility.
In fact, the Kodappanakkal house has always been open to common people belonging to all communities in distress and nobody ever returned without receiving solace from there. Hyderali Thangal spoke in a calm voice and had a constant smile, which in itself was soothing. The public interactions hosted by Thangal every Tuesday were all the time crowded and the people who thronged Kodappanakkal house on the day were neither party leaders eyeing plum posts nor those seeking various recommendations, but ordinary folk. This public contact programme of Thangal started early in the day and lasted till midnight. The new generation of politicians and youngsters can learn several lessons from Thangal.
Moreover, whenever strains emerged in society and the community, Thangal intervened with an approach that was soft as well as firm. While being vocal over issues affecting the Muslim community, Thangal also highlighted problems faced by other sections of the society, especially the backward communities.
Malayala Manorama and Kodappanakkal family have enjoyed a warm relationship that extends to several decades, starting from the times of Panakkad Pookoya Thangal. The ties became stronger after Panakkad Syed Muhammedali Shihab Thangal took over the reins of the family on the demise of his father, Pookoya Thangal. When Shihab Thangal passed away and his brother Hyderali Thangal became the head of the family, Manorama and Kodappanakkal house maintained their closeness.
Shihab Thangal had often pointed out that only Malayala Manorama gave due importance to Muslim League in its columns while the other newspapers either downplayed news regarding the party or ignored it altogether. This fact was stressed by Shihab Thangal in an article he penned in the supplement published by Malayala Manorama in 1991 as part of the silver jubilee of the newspaper’s Kozhikode edition, which had been launched in 1966.
One can never forget Kodappanakkal house’s support to the Manorama family. Meanwhile, Shihab Thangal himself has publicly acknowledged on several occasions the numerous initiatives of Manorama for the development of the area that later became the Malappuram district.
During the inauguration of the ninth unit of Manorama in Malappuram, Shihab Thangal was away in Malaysia. As soon as he returned to Malappuram, Shihab Thangal visited the new Manorama unit.
When Manorama launched its highly successful programme for the development of the Malappuram District Hospital, it was Shihab Thangal who issued the call to the public to cooperate with the initiative. Shihab Thangal also made the first contribution to the hospital development fund.
Similarly, Manorama initially presented the idea of tapping the tourism potential of picturesque Kottakkunnu, which was in an abandoned state at that time, before Shihab Thangal. After learning about the beauty of the place, Shihab Thangal extended his support for the tourism project and also visited the area along with Muslim League leader M K Muneer.
The Panakkad family also backed Manorama’s initiative seeking upgradation of the Kottakkal Ayurveda Hospital into a university.
Hyderali Thangal continued the Panakkad family’s affection towards Manorama. On his demise, Malayala Manorama offers deepest condolences while also expressing gratitude for his support.
