Kanthapuram A. P. Abubacker Musliyar, General Secretary of the All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama (The Indian Muslim Scholars Association), and also the elected Indian Grand Mufti, is in the midst of a controversy owing to his statement of August 28 that Prophet Mohammed’s hair, kept in a mosque in Markaz Knowledge City, Calicut, has grown by half a centimetre since it was placed there. He made the remarks at the Grand Mawlid held at Markaz Knowledge City.
Kanthapuram also said that the water given from the mosque was laced with the Prophet’s saliva, as well as dust from Roula Shareef (the place where the Prophet passed away and was buried), and the water that emerged where the Prophet’s fingers touched the earth. Kanthapuram told the gathering: “This is the water you are receiving. Do not lose it.” He urged them to handle the water with respect and not to keep it in unclean places. He added that hadith mention incidents where the Prophet’s saliva cured illness and injuries.
In the meantime, the state committee of Ithihadu Shubhani Mujahideen (ISM), the youth wing of Kerala Nadavath Mujahideen, strongly criticised Kanthapuram’s remarks. The ISM said that the claim that the Prophet’s hair is growing is false and deceptive, describing it as part of a spiritual trade in the name of religion. It added that such statements lack historical or scriptural support and exploit the believers’ deep respect for the Prophet: “The Muslim community loves the Prophet more than their own life. Efforts to cheat the community by taking advantage of that love can never be permitted.”
Kanthapuram’s statement in 2012, that he possessed the Prophet’s hair and would build a mosque to preserve and display it, had also led to controversy. EK Sunni, a rival faction, questioned its authenticity. Later, it was kept in the mosque at Markaz Knowledge City.
The latest controversy has once again brought Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s old statement into discussion. In 2012, close on the heels of Kanthapuram’s claim, Pinarayi, then the state secretary of the CPM, had said that hair is a body waste. He remarked that whether hair or fingernails, they are body wastes. Now, the people of Kerala are interested to know whether Pinarayi still holds that view. He had reportedly repeated the same view in 2020, after taking over as Chief Minister. But today, the CPM’s very existence rests on Muslim appeasement, and the Kanthapuram faction forms a large vote bank in the Malabar region of the state.
Now, will Pinarayi stick to his guns? Prominent observers believe it will not happen in the wake of the Local Self-Government elections in two months and the Assembly polls in April 2026.
