Q: earliest Muslims in South Asia

[Paliath Narendran]

> Two years ago, in conversation with a Hindi writer whose works I am 
> currently translating, I was told that there was evidence on the Malabar 
> coast of a mosque that dates to the seventh century. 

He may have been referring to the mosque in Kodungalloor in
Kerala, which is supposed to have been built by the Chera king
`Cheramaan PerumaaL.' Indeed the mosque is called `cheramaan
jumaa masjid' even now. 

The mosque was formerly in a traditional Keralite looking
building until it was remodelled several years ago.  (My home
town, Chendamangalam, is very close to Kodungalloor.)

Narendran

P.S. The legend among Malayali Muslims is that the last king of
the Chera line (referred to as `paLLivaaNa perumaaL') converted
to Islam and went on the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca and
Medina.