Cracks in Muslim consensus to keep ‘wakf’ out of Munambam land dispute

A fortnight after Muslim organisations came together under the leadership of the Indian Union Muslim League resolved to suppress the 'wakf' claim and urged the LDF government to find an immediate and harmonious solution, Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama (EK faction), the most influential body of Sunni scholars in Kerala, has insisted that the disputed Munambam land is indeed 'wakf' property.

Ironically, Samastha was among the 10 Muslim bodies that took part in the November 1 meeting held in Kozhikode that expressed solidarity with the agitating families in Munambam near Cherai beach in Ernakulam. Though an independent body, and now seen as drifting close to the CPM, the EK faction of the Samastha is also considered the spiritual and scholarly wing of the Muslim League.

Wakf and Wahabis
It was Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama secretary Umar Faizy Mukkam who first openly rebelled against the combined decision to desist from using the provocative 'wakf' qualification for the disputed land. "Political parties will have their views on the issue (Munambam). Samastha, too, has its views, and it is that this is wakf land," Mukkam said at a public meeting held in Kozhikode on November 14.

Mukkam also blamed Farook College and the "Wahabi management that runs the college". Wahabis are Muslims who have espoused an alternative, some say 'reformist', stream of thought. The Sunnis accuse Wahabis of attempting to uproot Muslims from their Quranic roots. "The Farook College is with the Wahabis and they have sold the land," Mukkam said. "Wakf land is Allah's land and is not to be sold," he said.

Wakf vs secularism
The very next day, on November 15, EK Samastha's mouthpiece 'Suprabhatham' carried an editorial piece by its CEO Musthafa Mundupara titled 'Wakf Land Not Meant for Making Adjustments'. "On what basis do certain political parties declare that Munambam is not wakf land? This is an irresponsible approach and is unacceptable," Mundupara wrote.

His target was Opposition leader VD Satheesan. After the meeting of Muslim organisations, it was Satheesan who, on behalf of the UDF, said that Munambam land was not wakf land. His major contention was that the land was already inhabited when it was handed over to Farook College. "A land already occupied cannot be made wakf land," he said. Satheesan had further claimed that Muslim organisations, too, had said it was not wakf land.

Satheesan was trying to convey that there was no Muslim-Christian divide, but Mundupara saw it as a strictly religious issue. "Just because certain sections are trying to use the Munambam issue to spread communal propaganda, it does not mean that wakf land should be sacrificed to buy peace," he said.

Religious solution
Mundupara termed as "a matter of concern" the consensus of Muslim organisations to leave the solution to the government. "A solution for wakf lands cannot be arrived on the basis of interests and adjustments," he said, suggesting that political parties were looking at the Munambam issue in terms of political gains. Instead of leaving the issue to the government, Mundupara called for a "religious resolution".

He, too, was critical of Farook College. "It is unfortunate that the Farook College committee, like the resort mafia, was trying to spread the falsehood that Munambam land is not wakf but a gift," he wrote in the article. He said various court verdicts had established that Munambam land was wakf property. "In 1971, Paravur Sub Court had ruled that this was a wakf deed.

A petition filed against this verdict was dismissed by the High Court in 1975. The reports submitted by Ernakulam district collectors before the High Court in 2008 and 2009 also stated that the land is wakf property. The Nissar Commission, appointed in 2008, had also said that the entire 404.76 acres of land was wakf property," he said.

Samastha vs League
Interestingly, it was Bahauddeen Muhammed Nadwi, the chief editor and publisher of 'Suprabhatham' of which Mundupara is CEO, who had represented EK Samastha at the meeting of Muslim organisations on November 1. Nadwi, like Mukkam, is also a member of the Mushawara, Samastha's highest decision-making body. The critics of the consensus have a common trait: Both belong to the faction within EK Samastha that has ideological differences with the Muslim League and advocates closer ties with the CPM.

Mukkam had recently questioned the spiritual standing of the League president Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal. In May, Mundupara rebuffed his chief editor Nadwi when he said that 'Suprabhatham' was deviating from its original policy, a subtle hint that it was becoming pro-Left. Nadwi, along with League leaders, had boycotted the inauguration of the daily's Gulf edition.

Fate of Munambam residents
Nonetheless, both Mukkam and Mundupara said the fisherfolk living in Munambam should not get a raw deal. "There are many poor people there, who had purchased land. We are also not saying that they should be evicted. They just cannot be pushed out into the road," Mukkam said.

Mundupara, too, was generous to the tenants. "They had purchased the land by taking loans at exorbitant rates of interest and even selling their wedding chains. Justice should be served to them," he said. And both accused the "resort mafia" of instigating the current agitation.

Yet, both want the tenants to be shifted from Munambam. Here's Mukkam's solution: "They should be rehabilitated in a suitable place and should be compensated for their losses by extracting money from Farook College."