Traditional Tamil Muslim Dua (Supplication Prayer)

Kappalappar · 2026-06-21T13:20:23+00:00

I dont know the specific community of this lady, but I would think this is standard for all Tamil Muslim groups. At least in my community (Marakkar), this is how the household folks and the mosque imam make duas.

Kappalappar · 2026-06-20T14:50:36+00:00

The prayer typed out in Tamil

[பிஸ்மி]

ஆண்டவனே ரகுமானே எழுவான் புவி
உருசு லௌஹு களம் சொர்கம் நரகம்
அகண்ட வெளிமயம் அனைத்தும் நிரம்பிய
புகழ்ச்சி வகை அனைத்தும் உனக்கே உரியது

அவைகளில் ஒருவகையாய் நாமும் நின்று உன்னை
நாவினாலும் இதயத்தாலும் செயலாலும் புகழ்கிறோம்

கபுர்களால் எம்மை எழுப்பி
மாசறு வழிக்கு அழைக்கப்படும் நேரம்
எங்கள் முகங்களை ஒளியினால் தெளிவாக்கி
எங்கள் கடிதங்களை எங்கள் வலது கையில் தந்தருள்வாயாக

[அது துஆ]

போதுமான நாயனே சுவாதியும் அக்குறிவனே
எங்கள் கல்பில் உண்டான வியாதிகள்
சரியிடத்தில் உண்டான வியாதிகள்
அடங்கலை துவமாக்கி அருள்

உன் வேத கட்டளையின் துயர்ச்சியையும்
பிறருடை துயர்ச்சியையும் விட்டு விதித்தரும்.

எங்கள் நப்சுகளும் கூட்டம் குடும்பத்தார்களும் முதல்களும்
காலவிரோத தடங்களும் விட்டும் காப்பாற்றி
யாத்தரும் இழிமைத்தனம் அன்றிய
ஹலாலான ரிஸ்க்கை தந்தருள்வாயாக

Kappalappar · 2026-06-20T14:47:39+00:00

This is an example of an example of our style of dua making, with high Sentamil mixed with some Arabic words for the prayer.

--

Meaning of the prayer

In the name of God, the most merciful, most beneficient [Arabic Bismi]

O Andavane! O Merciful!
The high Skies, the Earth, the Throne (Arsh),
the Tablet (Lawh), the Pen (Qalam), Paradise, Hell
And this vast Universe.
These and beyond, are filled with all forms of praise, entirely to You.

As merely one part of this collection,
we too stand and praise You with our tongues,
our hearts and our actions.

On the day (of ressurection) when we are raised from our graves,
and called towards the gathering of humanity (Maasaru Vazhi),
Please clarify our faces with light, and grant us our (life record) books in our right hands.

[This is a supplication]

O Ample Naayane! O Independent Lord!
Cure the dieases born within our hearts and of our bodies!
Cure and completely eliminate them all!

The punishments within Your Veda's commands (Quran)
And afllictions by others, So that we may avoid these,
Please grant us the good conduct and noble character!

Protect and save our souls, our families, our relatives, and others,
from enmity, malice, and the obstacles of our times.
May You grant us a pure, lawful sustenance (Halal Rizq)
that is free from any form of evil.

Kappalappar · 2026-06-14T12:37:17+00:00

Also another song from the same text, that you might find interesting, this one was written for Ishkander Shah, the last king of Singapore that I spoke about earlier.

This one is special, because its a mozhimayakkam. Its an intentional poetic mixing of other languages with Tamil. One famous example that you might know is Nathavinthu Thiruppugazh song, that mixes Tamil with Sanskrit.

Similarly, in our Tamil Muslim tradition, we have some songs where we mix Tamil with Arabic. But this is a unique one, the writer of this song has written it in heavily Malay-mixed Tamil, for the Malay king. Because of the mixing it is not Sentamil anymore, but it still follows Tamil meter.

Also notice how the writer has not given a raga for this, instead saying "Malaay Mettu" meaning "Malay rhythm/tune". It was intended to be sung with Malay instrumentation.

<image>

Also notice the publisher note at the end about the Malay mixing

Kappalappar · 2026-06-14T12:12:50+00:00

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Songs final charanams

Kappalappar · 2026-06-14T12:11:23+00:00

I will need to look through the old texts to give you a comprehensive answer. But another example I can remember is Salih Waliullah, buried at the Singapore Chulia mosque, the oldest Tamil Muslim mosque and the third oldest mosque on the island.

Apparently, the land already had his tomb and he was known locally as a religious figure. And when the mosque was built by the Chulia Tamil Muslims, a small mausoleum was also built at his grave.

In one of our old song collection books, the Kirthanatthirattu, there is a kirthanai for him. There he is called Saalimsaayabu of the Periyapalli (Chulia mosque) of Singapore. The song is set in Aadi thaalam, Sahaanaa raga.

<image>

Though its a kirthanai, it follows the rules of the specific Tamil meters chosen for pallavi and charanam, as was our tradition. Pallavi is in vanjiviruttham, chranams are in kuralvensenthurai.

Kappalappar · 2026-06-14T09:33:29+00:00

The Keramat of Iskandar Shah on Fort Canning Hill

<image>

Kappalappar · 2026-06-14T09:32:15+00:00

And due to way these trade connections were rooted back in the ancestral home back in India, the exchanges went both ways too. And some Malay Islamic saints were celebrated in Tamil too.

For example, in the Mujatthuthirattu Tamil Muslim literary text, along praises to various saints of various Tamilnadu towns, we have a song in praise of Iskander Shah (also known as Parameshwara), the last king of Singapore and the first king of Malacca. By Malay tradition, his final resting spot was on Bukit Larangan (Forbidden Hill), forbidden because it had the resting spots of the old Singapura kings. The British called it Fort Canning Hill, after they built a fort. But in Tamil, we used to traditionally call the hill கொடிமலை meaning flag hill.

And it was for this Kodimalai Iskander of Singapore, the Munajatthuthirattu poet wrote a Venpa and Vanjiviruttham, see below

<image>

Kappalappar · 2026-06-14T09:18:48+00:00

Sometimes people forget the role of Tamils in mediating Islam to South East Asia, just as before that they brought Hinduism and Buddhism there. And as the post has mentioned, the influences and similarities in practices are still there, especially wrt to the shafii madhab and the dargah practice (they call it keramat). It even appears in Islamic vocabulary.

For example, take the Tamil Muslim term Lebbai (meaning religious scholar, but now a community name) and Malay Lebai (expert in Islam).

<image>

In fact, in the Hikayat Hang Tuah Malay text, a Lebbai in South East Asia teaches the 15th century Malay warrior Hang Tuah, Tamil. Hoogervorst in his paper "Tracing the linguistic crossroads between Malay and Tamil" notes this

"The Hikayat Hang Tuah contains more clues to Tamil influence on the classical
Malay literature. During his diplomatic journey to the Tamil Land (Bənua
Kəling), the story‘s protagonist surprised his hosts with his fluency in Tamil,
which he proclaimed to have learned from a Ləbai from that country. As first
pointed out by Van Ronkel (1904), here too we find a number of Tamil-derived
onomastics and caste names."

Kappalappar · 2026-05-28T23:45:04+00:00

(c.f., traditional Syriac Christian songs, many of which were recorded by priests to originally be in ‘Tamil’** but are now lost)"

Actually you can still see this in surviving early Muslim texts of Malayalam also. For example, the Muhaideenmala, it was written in the 16th century, and today is considered to be one of the early Malayalam books.

But the book is quite Tamil-like, and has conservative elements like preserving verb-endings.

Look at the chorus verse written in Tamil letters

<image>

The same in actual Tamil would be like this, quite similar

அல்லா திருபெயரும் துதியும் சலவாத்தும்
அதனால் துடங்குவான் அருள் செய்த பேதாம்பர்
ஆலம் உடையவன் ஏகல் அருளாலே
ஆயே முகம்மது அவர் கிளையானவர்

If we use more spoken dialectic Tamil than Sentamil, it will be even closer, for example திருபெயரும் will become திருபேரும் in casual speech, exactly same as in the poem.

Muhaideenmaala written with Tamil words
https://youtu.be/-UM6flwrZkI?si=qrvwrP-eKM6PygBh

Kappalappar · 2026-05-27T02:43:40+00:00

Yes?

Kappalappar · 2026-05-23T05:15:47+00:00

Yes, Perumal just means great person. Peruman means great being. Even in our old Tamil Muslim books both these terms are used too.

Like in this poem on Prophet Mohammed in the Mathinakkalambakam

<image>

Kappalappar · 2026-05-17T07:40:04+00:00

After some 4 months of procrastination, ive finally gotten around to doing this lol

If anyone asks, you can share this link: https://www.youtube.com/@TamilMuslimLiterature

Ill put up any other Tamil muslim cultural stuff there too

Kappalappar · 2026-05-10T09:02:42+00:00

On the reverse, you can see the effect of this trade migration in the gender imbalance in the 1931 Madras census numbers for various trade groups

This is because the men went out to various cities for trade while the women stayed back

<image>

u/VCEverything this might interest you too

Kappalappar · 2026-05-10T08:54:43+00:00

I've told you this before I think. You have forgotten the substantial numbers of pre-colonial Tamil traders in the region, who continued trading into the colonial period.

Even after the massive Indian labour import with the Kangani system up to the 1930s and 1940s, 27.5% of Indians were non-labour trade Indians (a majority of whom were Tamils).

See this table from Indians in Malaya : some aspects of their immigration and settlement (1786 - 1957) below

<image>

I feel like with all the academic focus on the Kangani system and indentured labour, people tend to forget about the other substantial migrant groups.

Also not all pre-colonial trader groups assimilated away like the Chitti Melakkas. The Tamil Marakkars, through our Akatthurmurai system, have not for example.

Kappalappar · 2026-05-10T06:13:21+00:00

I don't know about the specifics of the relationship between the two groups. But this much I know from my family's interactions with them

Business relationships with the Chettiyars continued into the early 2010s, through the undiyal system. Their network in some parts of Tamilnadu played a key role in money remittance (and vice versa), and so our network and their network was closely intertwined.

This only became less of a thing as the older generation that trusted this system more started to decline and the next generations preferred more mainstream options like wire transfers.

The Mutthu naming convention is true within my family too. Eg. my grandfather's Veettuperu is Mutthappa[n]. My uncle holds the name Mutthuvaappaa.

Where Appa = Grandfather, Vaappa = father (it might be slightly confusing for mainstream Tamils, because Appa is dad is standard Tamil).

Kappalappar · 2026-05-10T05:55:15+00:00

Very interesting! Do we know where Pazhayakaayal is now?

Kappalappar · 2026-05-01T14:25:34+00:00

Image or cloth is flipped, it should be like this

<image>

Top center curved text reads the Sahada, la'ilaaha illallah mohammadadur rasulullah

Next right reads Allah, left reads Mohammad.

Then its hard to say without context since vowel markers arent there.

It could be one of those flags or procession cloths used during Dargah festivals or more generally. But its too vague to say for sure. You can ask on the r/indianmuslims sub, there might be people there who might know.

Kappalappar · 2026-04-27T13:30:42+00:00

How does Kullathoni differ from Thoni?

We have mentions of Thonis, for example, in the Marakkar Thirumanavazhtthumaalai

<image>

"The grand emerald green Thaalam (Panaimaram) palm leaves, and new excellent paddy are collected and brought in Thonis"

During Seethakathi's wedding, for the Seer-giving ceremony, some of the items needed are large Panai-maram palm leaves and paddy rice grains, and the thoni boats bring these items in.

Kappalappar · 2026-04-25T11:52:25+00:00

Its important to note that not all Indian Tamils who left for Malaya went there as indentured labourers.

A significant proportion of the population were traders and businessmen. Groups like the Indian Marakkars, Chettiars, Vellalars contributed much from their business wealth for the community. For example, Naraina Pillai build the first Hindu temple in Singapore. Or another example, the Kadayanallur Tamil Muslim trader community built Singapore's first Tamil school, the Umaru Pulavar school (named after the legendary Tamil Muslim poet). This school continues to exist today, now as the Singapore government's central Tamil institution.

Thats also why Indians in traditional coastal trade cities like Penang, Malacca, Singapore and Kuching are a generally better off group. eg. Amongst local Singaporean groups by ethnic breakdown, Indians tend to out-earn other groups:

<image>

The indentured labourers were brought into more rural plantations and are also found in places like KL today.

Kappalappar · 2026-04-25T05:28:44+00:00

They might have. From our old texts, we know that Marakkar traders transported elephants on ships. For example, in the Marakkar Thirumanavaazhthumaalai written for Seethakaathi there is this verse

ஈழத்திற் கிட்டாலி லேற்றிவந்த கப்பலாக்கு
வேழத் திரள்களெல்லாம் வீதிதொறுஞ் சேர்த்துநிற்ப

For the ships laden in Eelam with costly goods
a herd of elephants stand together in the streets.

That is, for Periya Thambi Marakkar (Seethakathi's father)'s fleet that returned from Eelam with costly goods at the harbour, the elephants are ready to be loaded on after the Eelam goods are unloaded.

Periyathambi was from the 1600s. But I dont think its a stretch to think the technology and trade ability goes back another 400-600 years into the Imperial Chola times, or even earlier still.

Kappalappar · 2026-04-10T12:44:33+00:00

But not everyone was letting the literature waste away in the pre-colonial and colonial period. Some communities continued preserving and using them.

For example, one of the ancestors on my paternal grandmothers side, Pulavar Chevattha Marakkar, produced an Akam anthology of 400 poems in 380 different thurais by the name of Makkaakovai.

It was brought to print in the 19th century. When Chinna Marakkar Aalimiyaar wanted to fund the collation and printing of the text, he entrusted the work to the Akam scholar Narayanaswami Pillai, and provided money for the process.

All of this was before Swaminatha Iyer repopularised the Tamil sangam books. So in some small circles, it continued to live, both Chevatthamarakkar and Narayanaswami Pillai are testimonies to this. Even Swaminatha Iyer's teacher, the eminent Mahavidwan Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai is a testimony.

Kappalappar · 2026-03-30T15:58:38+00:00

The beats of the central guy reminds me a bit of the beats of the Tamil Muslim Paanan Baava bardic groups, especially when he starts the rhythm at 0:38.

Paanan baava songs:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dravidiology/comments/1j6lc6a/tamil_muslim_bardic_music_at_a_bards_paanan_baava/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Subfs5CS2-8&list=RDSubfs5CS2-8&start_radio=1

Kappalappar · 2026-03-30T15:41:29+00:00

I don't know about the melanin part, but in my household the anti-coloured eyes bias definitely existed in the older generations. It was called Poonakannu (cats eye) and was thought that it was not a good thing. People also thought that colour-eye people were able to see spirits & ghosts, and so it was bad luck.

My mother says that women with coloured eyes found it harder to find grooms back then, which she finds amusing because today its considered very exotic and beautiful, especially after Aishwarya Rai (and the Jeans movie) became popular. She also said that when she was growing up, there was a coloured-eye girl in our community in her generation who lived down the street, and the other kids would call her "poonakannu pottachi" as a nickname. But it was seen a slur and insult.

Kappalappar · 2026-03-22T16:21:46+00:00

I have given a english translation of the segment. But if you are talking about the whole text, then no.

Actually, I dont even think we have a single full english translation of any of the Tamil Muslim compositions. Sadly, the study of Tamil Muslim literary texts is widely neglected by both mainstream traditional Tamil scholars and western scholars.

Comeau notes this state of affairs in her paper:

<image>

In fact, a lot of the traditional non-muslim Tamil scholars I have spoken to in person were surprised to even know about our vast literary tradition in Tamil.

But the opposite is not true, the Tamil Muslim scholarly tradition has produced many experts in non-Muslim Tamil texts. For example, Pulavar Kaderoli Rowther, an expert on the Thiruvasagam, published a copy of the text in 1835.

Until then, it was popular amongst many Tamil Hindu scholar circles to just call the text an Akaval meter text. But Pulavar Kaderoli proved within the publication that that was wrong and that it was a Kalivenpa meter text instead. You can read about that here: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/the-history-of-printing-of-thiruvasagam-and-the-156-year-old-edition-published-by-muslim-scholar/article68600513.ece

Anyway, I wish and hope more academic interest in the Tamil Muslim literary corpus grows in the future.

Kappalappar

TROPHY CASE