A Hindu king for whom Muslims lay down their lives fighting a foreign invader; a Hindu king who insists that his numerically weaker Muslim subjects enjoy more privileges than Hindus and even encourages conversion in return for their loyalty; Muslim scholars and poets who praise his courage and compassion and condemn Muslim rulers who acquiesce before the invader; a Hindu king who appoints Muslims as military commanders, diplomats, trading chiefs and heads of ports, and grants them permission, land and money to build mosques and practise their faith; Muslims who absorb indigenous Hindu customs, rituals, architecture, festivals, food, dress and even names, indigenising their Islam while remaining committed to their faith.

This may look like a secular utopia, unimaginable in our religiously polarised times. This is the incredible story of Malabar of almost five centuries ago under the rule of the Samoothiris (Zamorin).

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This extraordinary model of “vernacular modernity” comes through in a recent book, Hindu Amir of Muslims: Indigenised Islam of the Indian Ocean Littoral of Malabar (Bloomsbury, 2025), by Dr Abbas Panakkal, a historian from Kozhikode attached to the School of History at the University of St Andrews.

I can see the rising eyebrows. Yes, an obvious question arises. How much of this golden era can stand rigorous historical scrutiny? Panakkal himself is realistic. “I am aware that depicting the notion of a homogeneous 'golden age' in some misty past runs the risk of papering over significant political disunity and hierarchical tensions”, he admits. Yet Panakkal affirms that the fact remains: Muslims in Malabar have always lived in communities defined by cross-confessional activities and affairs, shared economic and environmental interests, where social mixing was so normal that it was seldom considered unusual.

Even when exaggerations can't be ruled out, Kerala's history of religious harmony has been undeniable. Christianity, Islam and Judaism took root here through maritime trade, royal patronage and local integration rather than military conquest. The strongest proof of Kerala’s past is its present. Despite its many warts, the state still remains an oasis of religious harmony and pluralism in an increasingly polarised India. Minorities are better off here in every respect than their counterparts in most of the country.

Panakkal's book reinforces Malabar's history of Hindu-Muslim coexistence and the development of an indigenised Islam attuned to the regional ethos. Covering the 15th to 17th centuries, it draws on archival, literary, sociological, religious, and personal evidence, particularly manuscripts preserved in mosques and private libraries, as well as indigenous histories.

Much of India's history has been understood through categories inherited from colonial scholarship: Hindu kingdoms, Muslim........

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