Kozhikode: The Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama -- an influential organisation of Sunni clerics -- has severed its ties with the Coordination of Islamic Colleges (CIC), a collective of 81 religious colleges, headed by Muslim League state president Sadik Ali Thangal.
Samastha Kerala president Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal resigned from CIC's three-member advisory committee after Sadik Ali refused to hand over the control of the CIC to the clerics of Samastha.
Though the IUML and Samastha Kerala (EK faction) are considered allies with several leaders holding key positions in both organisations, there has been a cold war between them since 2007 over the management of CIC, which works like a university and has empowered thousands of Muslim students by introducing secular courses in affiliated residential colleges. These colleges offer eight-year integrated PG courses called 'Wafy' for boys, and five-year integrated undergraduate courses called 'Wafiyya' for girls.
On May 1, Sadik Ali Thangal, as president of CIC, fired the killshot when he appointed Habibulla Faizy as the general secretary and coordinator of the CIC. Habibulla Faizy or Habeeb Alungal on social media is perceived to be a Samastha baiter.
A day after Sadik Ali announced the appointment, Samastha Kerala president Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal resigned from the advisory committee of CIC, and Samastha Kerala general secretary Prof K Ali Kutty Musliyar resigned as the chairman of the CIC's Board of Examination and from other committees.
The relationship between Samastha Kerala and the CIC is tenuous. The Central Mushawara, the highest consultation body of Samastha Kerala, will decide whether to formally sever the ties, said a Samastha leader.
Efforts to bring CIC back into Samastha fail
The appointment of Habibulla Faizy, who is the son-in-law of Prof Ali Kutty Musliyar, is not the only bone of contention, said Abdul Hameed Faizy Ambalakkadav, the working secretary of Samastha's youth wing - the Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS). The CIC under Sadik Ali Thangal has gone back on at least five promises to bring CIC back under Samastha, he said.
The CIC was formed with the objective to function under the guidance of Samastha Kerala. But Abdul Hakeem Faizy Adrisseri -- a reformist Samastha leader and the brain behind the CIC -- spearheaded the amendment of CIC's constitution which was detrimental to the interests of Samastha, said Ambalakkadav.
In February, the Central Mushawara, the highest consultation body of Samastha Kerala, sacked Hakeem Faizy Adrisseri from the Malappuram district Mushawara, and asked CIC president Sadik Ali Thangal to fire him from the posts of general secretary and coordinator of CIC.
After two weeks, Adrisseri put in his papers under the direction of Sadik Ali. "Our condition was that the next CIC general secretary should be a nominee of Samastha and he will work from the inside to align CIC with Samastha's ideals and ideology," said the SYS leader.
But Sadik Ali Thangal appointed Habibulla Faizy as the general secretary who is the "right-hand man of Hakeem Faizy Adrisseri but more dangerous than him", said Ambalakkadav. "He attacks Samastha on social media and in classrooms," he said.
Sadik Ali told reporters on May 1 that Habibulla was appointed in consultation with Samatha Kerala. "That's not true," Ambalakkadav.
To be sure, Sadik Ali is also the president of SYS and Ambalakkadav is the organisation's working secretary.
When contacted, Samastha Kerala president Jifri Thangal said he was teaching in a class. Habibulla Faizy refused to comment on this report.
Why Samastha was peeved
The CIC's three-member advisory committee was composed of the president of Samastha Kerala, the president of Jami'a Nooriyya, an Arabic College at Pattikkad near Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district, and the third member was an education expert elected from CIC's general body.
The general body amended the constitution to drop the president of Samastha and the president of Jami'a Nooriyya from the advisory committee. The amended constitution says any one member of Samastha's Central Mushawara may be nominated to the advisory committee. The other two seats are to be filled by members elected from the General Body.
Samastha Kerala opposed the amendment but nominated its president Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal to the committee.
The CIC then nominated retired high court B Kemal Pasha to the committee as an academic. "We opposed the appointment because Justice Pasha's ideology conflicted with Samastha's," Ambalakkadav said. Justice Pasha rooted for gender equality in Muslim inheritance law and spoke against polygamy in Islam, he said.
Despite Samastha's opposition, the judge continued on the advisory committee for one year till he spoke against IUML, Ambalakkadav alleged.
Samastha Kerala wanted the composition of the advisory committee restored to its original form.
Secondly, CIC was formed with the objective to function under the guidance and policies of Samastha Kerala. "The objective was changed. CIC will function now as an Islamic school. So it need not be affiliated to Samastha," he said.
Thirdly, when things came to a head between Samastha and CIC in February, a three-member committee was formed to thrash out a solution.
IUML leaders Sadik Ali Thangal, P K Kunhalikutty, and MLA K K Abid Hussain Thangal were members of the committee. "They prepared a draft document. I also took part in the process," said Ambalakkadav.
The committee decided that Hakeem Faizy Adrisseri would be removed from the post of CIC general secretary in 10 days, and a person nominated by Samastha Kerala would be appointed. "It was not publicly declared so as not to inconvenience them (CIC leadership)," said the Samastha youth leader.
But two weeks later, Sadik Ali backed off from the "package deal". Abid Hussain was sent to the house of Prof Ali Kutty Musliyar as Sadik Ali's messenger, he said.
And without consultation, the CIC president announced the name of Habibulla Faizy as the general secretary. "They tried to break the unity of Samastha Kerala by appointing Prof Ali Kutty's son-in-law to the post. But the professor resigned along with Jifri Thangal," he said.
The inevitable break-up
In March, when CIC was getting ready to roll out the admission process for the next academic year, Samastha Kerala Jem-Iyyathul Ulama leaders gave a call to boycott the Wafy-Wafiyya courses offered by those challenging the organisation.
In a Facebook post, Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS) state working secretary Abdul Hameed Ambalakkadav said "the first lessons imparted in these institutions are anti-Samastha in nature".
But the Panakkad family, led by Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal, hit back by bringing out several short videos supporting the courses and urging students and parents to send in applications for the entrance examination. "The response has been good so far," said an official of CIC.
He said the last date for receiving applications for Wafy and Wafiyya courses has been extended to May 26 from May 6 because of the delay in the declaration of Class 10 results. The entrance test will be held on May 26.
This year, three new streams are being introduced for boys and girls. "Around 1,700 seats in 81 colleges are available this year," he said.
