KOZHIKODE: A long-cherished dream of Hanafi Muslims, whose mother tongue is Urdu or Hindustani, has been fulfilled by the state government with the declaration of setting up an Urdu academy at Uppala in Kasargod.
There are around 35,000 Hanafi Muslims in Manjeshwaram taluk whose lineage can be traced to the Thurkan sect among the Muslims of Maharashtra. (In Malayalam, Hanafis are called Thurkanmaar). These sects are different from others for their moderate ways and culture. Their women usually wear nose ring.
“It has been our long-pending demand to set up an academy to preserve and promote Urdu. Ghazals and Qawwalis, the cultural contribution of Urdu, should be explored deeper,” said Mr Syed Hanafi, a resident of Uppala. Dhaknis, another Muslim sect, too have Urdu as their mother tongue.
The government has earmarked Rs 25 lakh for the academy in the first phase. “Promotion of Urdu language, its relation to other languages, facilitating the public to learn Urdu, publication of Urdu books and periodicals and research on the cultural aspects of the language are being envisioned as a part of the academy,” said Mr N. Moideenkutty, former Urdu research officer at SCERT who prepared the draft proposal of the academy.
The academy will strive to promote the language by including it in school and university syllabuses. Uppala also has the only school in Kerala where Urdu is taught from the first standard itself—the Government Hindustani UP school at Kurchipalla.
