C. N. Ahmad Moulavi

C. N. Ahmad Moulavi (1905 – 1993) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature, best known as the translator of the first complete publication of Quran in Malayalam. He was the author of a number of books on Islam and was reported to have contributed to the propagation of education among the Muslims of Malabar region. A member of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi during the period 1959–64, Moulavi was honoured by the academy with the distinguished fellowship in 1989.

Biography

C. N. Ahmad Moulavi was born in 1905 at Cheroor, a village in Eranad in Malappuram district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Nathankodan Assan Kutty and Azhuvath Khatheeja. Born in a family of poor financial means, he lost his father early and could have primary education for only three years after which he had to work in a farm for sustenance. At the age of sixteen, he went back to studies, first at Karuvarakundu Grand Dars of Kunjalam Musaliar and later under Kattukandan Kunjahmed Musaliar. This was followed by a short stints at the Madras Jamalia Arabic College and Bombay where he studied under K. T. Ibrahim Moulavi, only to proceed to Baqiyat Salihat Arabic College, Vellore in 1928 from where he passed Afsal Ul Ulama examination in 1931. On his return to Kerala, he joined the Malappuram Training School as a religious instructor but resigned from the job in 1944 to start his own clothing business.

Maulavi died on 27 April 1993, at the age of 88, at Kozhikode. He was the first to publish a complete translation of the Quran into Malayalam which he published in 1963, at a time when translation of Quran was considered a blasphemy. and his book, Mahathaya Mappila Sahitya Paramparyam (The glorious Mappila Literary Heritage) is a comprehensive work on the Muslim literature in Kerala with details about the contribution of Muslims in the development of Arabic-Malayalam literature. He served as a member of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi for five years from 1959 to 1964. In 1989, he was inducted as a distinguished fellow by the academy. His birth centenary was celebrated in Kozhikode in 2005 and an exhibition of all his writings were organized as a part of it.