Nearly four decades ago, in a small village in north Kerala’s Muslim-dominated Malappuram district, a coconut tree became an unlikely symbol of communal anxiety and tension.

The tree stood inside the compound of a Hindu household. Its fronds leaned towards the neighbouring mosque. Every few weeks, ripe coconuts would fall onto its clay-tiled roof. Tiles cracked. Rainwater seeped in. The mosque committee complained. The Hindu family refused to cut the tree as the coconuts contributed to their meagre monthly income.

With each falling coconut, grievances quietly accumulated. The son of the Hindu household, now in his political youth, had begun leaning towards Hindutva. For him, the mosque was no longer just a neighbour. The tree no longer just a tree.

As tension mounted, elders from both communities decided to take the matter to the most respected Muslim leader in Malabar, Panakkad Syed Mohammedali Shihab Thangal (1936–2009), the supremo of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) whose moral authority extended far beyond religion and party.

The Thangal listened patiently to both sides. Then, he reached into his pocket, took out some money, handed it to the president of the mosque committee, and declared, “The masjid has to be demolished. The clay roof-tiles should be replaced with concrete.”

Among believers in Malabar, there is a popular conviction, call it superstition if you will, that if the first donation comes from the Thangal, his blessings will take the project to successful completion. That night, both parties returned to their village.

When the Hindu household’s old matriarch heard what had happened, she chided her son for the curse he had brought upon the family and rushed to Panakkad that very night. The wise old man received her with grace and, in his famously gentle manner, dismissed her promises to cut down the guilty tree and her apologies for her indiscreet son.

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“The coconut tree is the elixir of our life,” the Thangal said. “It........

© National Herald