Kamala Surayya: A Decision Announced After Years of Thought
Indian readers knew the writer as Madhavikutty in Malayalam and Kamala Das in English. On 11 December 1999, at an event of Kerala’s State Library Council in Ernakulam, she publicly announced her decision to enter Islam and take the name Kamala Surayya. The declaration was unmistakable, but she said the choice had not arisen in a few hurried days: the idea had been with her for a long time before she spoke of it in public.
In interviews that December, she connected the journey with years spent among Muslim families in Calcutta, visits to mosques, and meetings with Muslim scholars and women. She had learned portions of the Quran and begun to pray and study Arabic. She also spoke of forgiveness and mercy, companionship and safety after a long experience of loneliness. These factors appear together in her own accounts; none should be made the single explanation for the whole journey.
The first report announced a ceremony at Palayam Mosque for 23 December. Rediff’s report of 16 December then said the venue had moved to her home in Kochi. Writing in The Milli Gazette’s second issue, Kallada Hamza reported that the ceremony had taken place at home on 16 December, conducted by Imam V. M. Sulaiman Moulavi. The later account thus differed from the original plan; she had already made her choice public before then. [4.1] [4.2]
Seven months later, Surayya spoke to Rediff as a Muslim. Prayer, she said, had given her strength and faith, and her conviction was growing. She acknowledged that prejudice could be found within religious communities too, while describing her choice as one made from conviction. Forgiveness and the presence of teachers willing to explain religion remained important in her account. At that point, faith was a path still deepening, not merely an identity she had announced once.
A 2007 interview offered another frame. She said she had loved a Muslim man and changed religion for love, calling love her only religion, while still describing herself as Muslim and speaking of Allah’s mercy. That later statement cannot be erased, but neither does it erase what she said in 1999 and 2000 about prayer, forgiveness, learning and companionship. The honest account is of a person who interpreted her own decision differently at different times, not of one tidy motive she never stated consistently.
The announcement had consequences. On 13 December, her son M. D. Nalapat said the family had received threatening calls and that he had come to stay with her. He affirmed the family’s support for her choice and its continuing closeness. In the same report, she spoke of the affection and support reaching her. While her son said he would remain beside her after the threats, the report noted that she had declined the protection offered by police. [5]
Sources
- The Milli Gazette — Noted author embraces Islam, 2000-01-01
- Rediff — When the temptress dons the purdah, 1999-12-14
- Rediff — Kamala Das, nee Surayya, is VHP’s new hate object, 1999-12-13
- Rediff — The Rediff Interview: Kamala Suraiya, 2000-07-19
- Impressions — Love is My Only Religion: An Interview with Kamala Das, 2007-07
- The Guardian — Kamala Das obituary, 2009-06-18
- Rediff — D Jose, Surayya caught in the eye of a storm, 1999-12-16
- The Milli Gazette — Kallada Hamza, Uproar over the embracing of Islam by a celebrated writer, Vol. 1 No. 2