Tuhfat Ul Mujahideen

Tuhfat al-Mujahidin fi ba‘d Akhbar al-Burtughaliyin (Arabic:تحفة المجاهدين في بعض اخبار البرتغاليين, often shortened as Tuhfat al-Mujahidin) is a historical work by

Malabar coast. Along with chronological events of the era, the book also provides an analysis of the events, as well as the lifestyle, customs and family structure of the people of the time.^[1]^[2]

Summary

Mappila community in modern-day Kerala^[3] and has been reviewed as "a study in liberation theology of Islam".^[1] The work was translated into many European languages, notable among which are História dos Portugueses no Malabar, by David Lopes in 1898 and the English translation by S. Muhammad Husayn Nainar, titled Tuhfat al-Mujāhidīn: A Historical Epic of the Sixteenth Century published in 1942 by the University of Madras. Another translation into Malayalam was written by C. Hamza, in 1995.^[3]

This is called by many as a source book of struggle against European colonial history. It also is the oldest historical book on Kerala. It details the history of Kerala, on the arrival of Islam in Kerala through Malik ibn Dinar and the accompanying merchant caravan and the establishment of local Muslim communities headed by the jurists (qaadi) in various settlements from Tuticorin in the south to expounds the extent of good relations between the Zamorins of Calicut and between the Muslims. It traces the socio-cultural decay of the Muslim community and the consequential Portuguese piracy and occupation in Malabar. It prays for the prosperity of the Zamorins and exhorts for the struggle (jihad) of Muslims under the banner of the Zamorins of Calicut, against the Portuguese.[4]

Hindu population of the Malabar at the time, and the final fourteen chapters narrate the history of the Portuguese in Malabar and the rise of the naval forces led by the Kunjali Marakkars, from the arrival of the former towards the end of the fifteenth century till the Siege of Chaliyam of 1571.^[3]

Reception

P. Govinda Pillai, a leading Marxian critic and journalist in Kerala, has called it "an important event not only in the historical studies of Kerala but in the history of Kerala historiography. This is the first work based on the history of Kerala authored by a Keralite, albeit in Arabic. Moreover, like Thucydides’ Peloponnese War, Tuhfath is credited with extraordinary historicity, since the author narrates events in which he took part in many ways and which he witnessed".^[1]