An Abode of Islam under a Hindu King: Circuitous Imagination of Kingdoms among Muslims of Sixteenth-Century Malabar

Abstract

When Vasco da Gama asked the Zamorin (ruler) of Calicut to expel from his domains all Muslims hailing from Cairo and the Red Sea, the Zamorin rejected it, saying that they were living in his kingdom “as natives, not foreigners.” This was a marker of reciprocal understanding between Muslims and Zamorins. When war broke out with the Portuguese, Muslim
intellectuals in the region wrote treatises and delivered sermons in order to mobilize their community in support of the Zamorins. Such treatises, which had very strong jihadi content, are very interesting to analyze. Most authors of these works extensively invoked classical Islamic texts, such as the Quran and Hadīths, and the theocratic-geographical units of dār al-Islam (“abode of Islam”) in contrast to the dār al-ḥarb (“abode of war”) in order to incite jihad against the Portuguese. Some of them highlighted the Hindu Zamorin as possessing the requisite moral, cultural and political qualities to rule a region, as opposed to corrupt Muslim kings who forged alliances with the “cross-orshipping” Portuguese. This article explores, within the context of “jihad” in Hindu-ruled territories, the background to these writings and the varied socio-cultural activities and preferences of their Muslim authors.