The Sunni faction led by India’s Grand Mufti Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliar began celebrating the centenary of the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama with a mega function at Kasaragod on Saturday.
Kicking off the year-long celebrations, Aboobacker Musliar said schemes would be formulated with the objective of helping the nation conserve its democratic and secular values. He said special efforts would be made to preserve the traditions of the Muslim community in the country.
Aboobacker Musliar, who is the general secretary of the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama as well as the All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama that he leads, said they would strive to make a joint move with the Sunni organisations in different States.
However, Aboobacker Musliar criticised the Mujahid, Salafi and Jamat-e-Islami movements for presenting the traditional Islamic tenets in a convoluted manner. He said they would continue to oppose those movements.
Aboobacker Musliar said the socio-religious advancements made by the Muslim community in the State were a result of efforts by the Samastha. Other States had begun to emulate the Samastha, he said, adding that focus would be on the northern States in the next three years for the Samastha and its subsidiaries.
He said had they gone after the controversies over the Samastha in the last several years, the community would not have made any advancements in education. “Controversies and arguments are not our cup of tea. Rather we stand for spiritual advancement and welfare of the society,” he said.
Samastha president E. Sulaiman Musliar presided over the function. Vice president Syed Attakoya Thangal made the introductory remarks. Secretaries Syed Ibrahim Khaleel Bukhari, Ponmala Abdul Khadir Musliar, Perodu Abdurahman Saqafi, Sunni Yuvajana Sangham State general secretary Mohammed Abdul Hakeem Azhari, vice president Rahmatulla Saqafi Elamaram, and Kerala Muslim Jamat secretary Sulaiman Saqafi Maliyekkal spoke.
The Sunni faction has chalked out various projects as part of the Samastha centenary celebrations, including the creation of 10,000 model villages in four phases and 50,000 model leaders.
A group of Sunni leaders led by Aboobacker Musliar had broken away from the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama following organisational disagreement in 1989 and given shape to a Samastha of their own. Since then, the State has had two Samasthas known after their leaders. The original one headquartered at Chelari came to be known as the E.K. Samastha (after former general secretary E.K. Aboobacker Musliar) and the other one was called Kanthapuram Samastha.
