A day to spread the message of communal harmony in the time of Ramzan

It was on that day more than five centuries ago that a Portuguese army led by Alfonso de Albuquerque torched the prestigious Mishkal Mosque in Kozhikode.

If the 17 th day of Ramzan is so special to the entire Muslim world because of the Battle of Badr, the 22 nd day of Ramzan is very special to the people of Kozhikode. It was on that day more than five centuries ago that a Portuguese army led by Alfonso de Albuquerque torched the prestigious Mishkal Mosque in Kozhikode.

The city will observe ‘black day’ on Thursday remembering the attack on Mishkal Mosque and the way the Zamorin of Kozhikode responded to it. Although the burning of the mosque left a deep wound among Muslims of Malabar, the Zamorin’s response to the Portuguese action was written in golden letters in the history of communal harmony in the region.

In an apparent retaliation to the torching of the mosque, the Zamorin’s army of 500 men comprising Nairs and Muslims attacked the Portuguese fort at Chaliyam and defeated the European settlers. According to Zainuddin Makhdoom’s Thuhfathul Mujahideen, the Zamorin made it a point to reconstruct the torched Mishkal Mosque with the wooden planks secured from the destroyed Chaliyam fort.

The minbar or pulpit of the mosque had been gutted, while the other parts of the five-storey structure were partially burnt. According to Makhdoom, it took several years to reconstruct the mosque in four floors. The first floor still has burn marks bearing testimony to the Portuguese attack in 1510.

The descendants of the Zamorin used to visit the house of the Kozhikode Kazi on the day in commemoration of the torching of the Mishkal Mosque. But this time around, the Kazi’s descendants will visit the ageing Zamorin in commemoration.

Representing the Kazi Nalakath Mohammed Koya Foundation, acting Kazi Shafeer Saqafi, traditional Kazi family scion M.V. Ramsy Ismail, foundation chairman M.V. Mohammedali, and Mishkal Mosque secretary N. Ummer will lead a delegation to the Zamorin’s house at Thiruvannur on Thursday afternoon.

“We will honour the Zamorin on the occasion. It’s a matter of great pride and privilege for us,” said Mr. Ramsy Ismail, the youngest member of the traditional Kazi family of Kozhikode.