Cheraman Perumal Bhaskara Ravi Varma

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Cheraman Perumal Bhaskara Ravi Varma (also known as Cheraman Perumal) was a Keralite king from Kodungalloor who is believed to be the first convert to Islam in India in the 7th century AD

[edit] Oral Traditions in Malabar Muslims

A Chera king, Cheramanperumal of Kodungalloor, left for Makkah, embraced Islam, and accepted the name Thajudeen. He married the sister of then King of Jeddah. On his return trip, accompanied by many Islamic religious leaders, led by Malik-ibn-Dinar (RA), he fell sick and passed away. But he had given introductory letters for the team to proceed to ‘Musiris’ (Kodungallur, the Chera capital. The visitors came to Musiris and handed over the latter to the reigning king, who treated the guests with all respect and extended facilities to establish their faith in the land. The king also organised help for the artisans to build the first Mosque at Kodungallur, by converting Arathali temple into a Juma-Masjid. It was built in 612 A.D., and the area around it had been ear-marked for the team’s settlement.

He is also connected with the Tabi‘in Malik Ibn Dinar with this tradition:from kerala.com

Malik bin Deenar and 12 of his trade associates landed in Kerala, a state at the southern tip of India and continued the trade between India and Arabia. Their way of trading however was distinctly different from that of earlier Arab traders and the populace was wooed to Islam.

The King of the time, Cheraman Perumal, came to know of the surprising trade practices of these Arabs and had them brought to his palace. On enquiry, Malik Bin Deenar and his comrades related the reason for their honest trade practices to be their recent conversion to Islam.

Cheraman Perumal asked them what is this Islam which can so radically change the conduct of Arab thugs (who were so feared in Kerala that when an Arab ship downed anchor in port, people hid their women and buried their treasure) to so decent a nature that the populace was attracted to their trade and religion. The Arabs then described the tenets of Islam and talked about their Prophet. The king then wanted to know if there was any proof that this person is indeed a Prophet. The traders described the Mujizaat (supernatural deeds) of the Prophet, including the Shaqq Al Qamar or the Splitting of the moon into two.

Cheraman Perumal then summoned his Hindu Astrologers who consulted their almanacs and reported a similar phenomenon recorded by them. The King forthwith abdicated his throne and left with Malik Bin Deenar for Arabia where it is chronicled that he met the Prophet Muhammad, accepted Islam and performed the famous Last Hajj with him. On his journey back, he was drowned in a tempest which destroyed his ship and his body came ashore at Salalah, Oman where his grave is a famous landmark today.

[edit] Skepticism

A mention of the Cheraman Perumal legend appeared in the 16th century book Tuhafat Ul Mujahideen by Shaikh Zainuddin Makhdoom a noted Kerala historian, but he apparently did not believe in its historical authenticity. But later it is alleged that some historians seem to have forgotten to add his disclaimer.

Sreedhara Menon, a historian, states that Kerala never had a king called Cheraman Perumal and quotes Dr. Herman Gundert, the German who composed the first Malayalam-English dictionary (and the grandfather of Herman Hesse) for this. But there seems to have been a Cheraman Perumal, whose history is overlaid by legend. According to Saiva tradition, he had an association with a Sundaramurti, the last of the three hymnists of Devaram. This was a different Cheraman Perumal who is conjectured to have demised in 825 A.D. ^[1]

There is also an account by a Kookel keloo Nair in an interesting paper written in the 19th century Madras Quarterly Journal of Literature and Science. Referring to this subject the writer observes that the Jain or Buddhists, “as a people were settled in Arabia and many visited Malabar; the original name was Mahajain and became in time corrupted to Magains or Magans. The Hindus through mistake (ignorance) call the Musselman (muslims) also Buddhists, and from this arose the idea, that the last of the Perumals became a Mohemmedan”. As stated in "The Land of the Permauls. Cochin, Its Past and Its Present." 1863. Chapter 2. Page 44, The Last "Permaul." Dr. Francis Day.