Veteran Islamic scholar P.T. Kunhammu Musliar, popularly known as Kottur Ustad, was felicitated at a function held to mark the 60th year of his dars or teaching career at Kottur near Kottakkal on Monday.
His disciples from across the State, many of them veterans including leading fiqh (jurisprudence) scholar Ponmala Abdul Khadir Musliar, attended the function and prayed for their teacher whom they endearingly called Tajul Muhaqqiqin.
Sunni leader and Grand Mufti Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliar led a special prayer for Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama vice president Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal, who died on Sunday.
Delivering the keynote address, Mr. Kanthapuram announced that an educational institution named Masalik Attariqa Al Muhammadiyya would be set up at Kottur to mark the 60th year of Kottur Ustad’s dars.
Kanthapuram A.P. Mohammed Musliar, head of the Department of Fiqh at Markaz Sharia College, inaugurated the function. Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama (AP group) president E. Sulaiman Musliar presided over the function. Fiqh scholar Ponmala Abdul Khadir Musliar, Haj Committee chairman C. Mohammed Faizi, and Kerala State Sunni Students Federation general secretary Nizamuddin Faizi spoke.
E. Sulaiman Musliar and Markaz president Syed Ali Bafaqi were also felicitated at the function.
Kottur Ustad, who has been a member of the Samastha Mushawara, the highest body of Islamic scholars, since 1989, led the opening prayer. He is estimated to have more than 20,000 students spread across the country.
He won the Imam Bukhari Award given by the Bukhari Institutions, Kondotty, in 2019. In 2018, he won Madin Academy’s Syed Ahmed Al Bukhari Award for his contributions to the Arabic language. He was the winner of the Imam Gazzali Award instituted by the Darul Ma’arif, Kodampuzha, in 2010.
