The religious conversion of famous Malayalam writer Kamala Das was a part of a wider global conspiracy to convert eminent personalities to Islam, says a social activist AP Mohammad, as per a Janam TV report.
Madhavikutty, popularly known as Kamala Das, converted to Islam when she was 65 years old. In 2009, she died, often expressing remorse over her decision to convert.
A prolific writer, Madhavikutty was a prominent Malayali personality, known for the brute honesty in her writings. She was admired for her openness and often criticised by the critiques for that very quality.
According to a report in Janam TV, social activist AP Mohammad, Madhavikutty’s close friend and confidante, Merrily Weisbord mentions in her book ‘The Love Queen of Malabar’ about the international conspiracy to convert her to Islam. Mohammad alleges that people were scared to speak about it in open. In addition to this, Mohammad states that the man behind Madhavikutty’s conversion was a prominent Muslim League leader orator and writer Abdussamad Samadhani, who purportedly received $10 lakh for converting Madhavikutty to Islam.
Merrily Weisbord claims in her book that Samadhani received the money from an organization based in Saudi Arabia for his service to convert the famous writer. Mohammad added that foreign money is being pumped into the state of Kerala for the singular purpose of converting people to Islam. Prominent personalities are being pursued for conversions because it provides credence to the conversion and more number of ordinary folks are motivated to embrace conversion, he says.
A writer par excellence, Madhavikutty wrote remarkable poems in English under the name Kamala Das. Her autobiographical work ‘Ente Katha’ was translated into English called ‘My Story’. She won many awards, testimonials during her lifetime such as Kendra Sahitya Academy Award, Kerala Sahitya Academy Award, Ezhuthachan Award, etc. She even made it to the shortlist for the Nobel Prize for Literature in the year 1984.
Kamala Das had converted into Islam at the age of 65. In an interview to Outlook India, she had stated that she no longer seeks freedom and sees Islam as a ‘rigid husband’. She had also added that the converted ‘Kamala Sorayya’ feels like ‘Allah’s handmaiden’ and like a ‘harem girl before her master.’
She had also added that the converted Kamala Sorayya would never write ‘nonsense’ like My Story and religion should not permit a woman to write something like that.