Hello twitter fam, in the spirit of #Ramadan , I would like to introduce to you to Umar Pulavar, a Tamil muslim poet. He was born in Tamil Nadu, India. He is best known for writing the Seerapuranam, a tamil biography chronicling the life of the Prophet Mohammad.

The Seerapuranam is considered to be one of the best works in Tamil litereature. It consists of 5027 poems split into 3 parts. The word "Seerapuranam" derives from the Islamic seerahs, the traditional biography of the Prophet and The Hindu Puranams, Purana meaning ancient.

This is a translated poem written in english, and it derives from the chapters about the wedding of the Prophet's daughter Fatimah to Ali. Its written beautifully with tamil prose and Islamic themes. One of many such poems!!

In fact his work was celebrated so much so that the Indian governement granted him and His descendants the right to use "Pulavar, (Poet in tamil) as their last name. A great honour since our last name depicted caste/social status.

In singapore, we have a place named after him, Its called the Umar Pulavar tamil language centre aimed to promote education amongst Tamil students. We are one of the few places to do so!

In a social movement, storytellers are vital because they bind the past and present, gleaning wisdom from our ancestors to guide us into the future. As such, Umar pulavar's work (created in the late 1600s fyi) stands in bold contrast to the notion that tamil/indian muslims ...

Arent muslim enough due to their race/ethnicity. Which then leads to their marginalisation in the malay muslim communities,both here and across the causeway. Like Karl marx, he was commissioned to write those poems, by a rich guy named seethakaathi. (Wealth redistribution King!)

All in all, Umar Pulavar remains one of the greatest Tamil Muslim literary poets and I hope that his story brings forth understanding, and deepens the connections between Tamil, Indians and Muslims. Wishing All muslims a blessed ramadan and a great month ahead,