The shocking incident of a family keeping vigil over a man’s body for about three months with the hope of resurrecting him at Kolathur, near Perinthalmanna, in the district has posed questions about the depth of superstition in some parts of Malabar.
Very few Muslim leaders have come forward to denounce the incident. The incident has exposed how religious superstition rules the roost in parts of Malabar.
The wife and children of Sayeed, 51, had kept on praying beside him for his return to life even after his rotten corpse turned into mere skeletal remains. “It’s nothing but a shocking shame on the community,” said P.N. Abdul Latheef Madani, chairman of the Wisdom Islamic Global Mission. He was among the few leaders who reacted sharply to the incident.
Mr. Madani called upon the authorities to investigate whether any orthodox spiritual guru was behind the incident. He aired doubts about the possibility of the involvement of some spiritual healers in the incident.
“The fact that the family kept vigil over the corpse for three months with the hope that he would come back to life shows the depth of degradation in the religious faith followed by some sections,” said Mr. Madani.
Police shocked
The police officers investigating the case too expressed shock at the incident. However, they were too cautious in commenting about the superstitious faith that made the woman and children sit for three months beside a putrefying corpse. “They must be mad,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.
Most community leaders in the State have chosen to turn a Nelson’s eye on the incident. It was not long ago that a spiritual healer near Mukkam was booked by the police for misguiding a man to force his wife not to breastfeed his newborn for days on end.
Many incidents of religious superstitions are going unreported in Malabar largely under the guise of “saving the community from shame”. Both progressive and orthodox sections of the community are apparently busy strengthening their respective factions and their organisations.
No longer cohesive
The Kolathur incident has also shaken the claim of the community in Malabar about its cohesiveness and mutual care. No one had bothered to inquire about Sayeed, who had worked as a madrasa teacher at many places. And no neighbour had inquired about the family, which was part of the “progressive society” in spite of their unique faiths.
According to Mr. Madani, it is time that community leaders reached out to the people, rather than wait for the people to come to them, and salvage them from superstition.
