Some Famous Mappilla Personalities

Justice M. Fatima Beevi – The First Woman Judge of Independent India

Fatima Beevi, a Mappilla Muslim, was born in 1927 in Pathanamthitta, in Southern Kerala to Meera Sahib and Khadeeja Bibi. She was awarded her Law degree by the Government Law College, Trivandrum and was enrolled as an advocate in 1950. Later she rose to the level of the District and Sessions Judge in Kerala in 1974. In 1989, she was the first woman judge appointed to the Supreme Court of India following the controversy over the Muslim Women's (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act. She was not only the first Muslim woman to be appointed to any higher judiciary but also the first woman Judge of a Supreme Court of a nation in India and Asia. She has also served as the Chairman of Kerala Commission for Backward Classes (1993), member of National Human Rights Commission (1993) and the Governor of Tamilnadu (1997). She is a recipient of several awards such as the Honorary D. Litt Degree, the Mahila Shiromani Award and the Bharat Jyoti Award. She now resides at her ancestral home in Pathanamthitta.

Vaikkom Mohammad Basheer: A Freedom-Fighter and a Famous Writer

Vaikkom Mohammad Basheer was born in Travancore to a poor Muslim family. He was educated in an English-medium school in Vaikkom. While at school, he was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and participated in the Vaikkom Satyagraha (1924). He joined the Indian National Congress, moved to Kozhikode and took part in the Salt Satyagraha in 1930.