It seems necessary to give briefly the developments which led to the formation of the VMFT. Before doing that, it is pertinent to ask: Is there a need for a memorial for Vakkom Maulavi ? What is his greatness? What did he contribute? Is he relevant today ?

Vakkom Maulavi has a claim to greatness on various grounds. He was a socio-religious reformer,an educationist, a prolific writer, a pioneering and fearless journalist, a noted scholar, a linguist in many languages--Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam and English, and above all a patriot.

Vakkom Moulavi' s contributions and greatness have to be assessed against the background of the educational, intellectual, socio-economic and political conditions of his time. The assessment should cover the conditions of Muslims and other communities of the native State of Travancore as well as British India.

Vakkom Moulavi was born, on 23rd December1873, only Sixteen years after the Sepoy Mutiny as the British call it or the First War of Independence, as we wish to call it which finally ended up with the consolidation of British power in India and the impoverishment of the Indian people. The report of the 1872 Census of Travancore shows that the people who could just read and write were only 5.74% of the population, with female literacy rate only 0.46%. The Muslim literacy was lower than State average but surprisingly higher than that of Eazhavas. We have to realise that Vakkom Maulavi became a scholar and linguist under such conditions. His writings bear testimony to his command of Malayalam language.

Vakkom Maulavi was a product of Indian renaissance which produced many great people in all fields. He was also influenced by the awakening in the Islamic world. The Islamic renaissance in Kerala began with Vakkom Moulavi.

It is essential to remember today that Vakkom Moulavi was a patriot and there were not many in Kerala of that time to equal him. The first journal which he started in 1905 was named "Swadesabhimani''. There was not a single Malayalam journal at that time with such a provocative name and nationalistic ideology. The first issue (19 January 1905) of the Swadesabhimani proclaimed as its policy that ''our objective is the welfare of the people and that we will always bring to light the grievances of the people what ever may be the consequences.''

Remember that Ramakrishna Pillai was not the editor of the paper when the above policy was proclaimed. Ramakrishna Pillai became the editor after one year of the policy declaration. This is not to detract, in anyway, the greatness of Ramakrishna Pillai. It is only to point out that Vakkom Maulavi should be called "Swadesabhimani Vakkom Moulavi' along with Swadesabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai. Vakkom Maulavi and Ramakrishna Pillai symbolised the nationalist aspirations of the common man. Through their sacrifice and devotion they laid the foundation of the nationalist movement. Vakkom Maulavi should find an eternal place in the pantheon of the great men of this country. Yet justice was not done to Vakkom Maulavi either by the people as a whole or even by his community which owes so much to him.

Six years ago, realising the need for a memorial to Vakkom Moulavi a group of professionals and academics formed the Vakkom Moulavi Foundation. The organising committee of the Foundation approached the Kerala Government to provide a site for constructing an office building for the Foundation. A memorandum requesting the Government to allot a piece of land was signed by many leading legislators and eminent persons and a delegation under the leadership of Sri M. K. Kumaran, president of today's function, met the then Chief Minister. He promised to give a plot of land for the Foundation. Later, Sri. M. M. Hassan raised the matter in the Assembly. The promise was reconfirmed, but to our great regret no land was given.

The experience of the last six years, through the working of the organisation revealed a number of weaknesses. Last year, the organising committee passed a resolution to wind up the organisation and in its place, Vakkom Maulavi FoundationTrust was registered. The Trust has purchased the present site and constructed a modest office building. It is our hope to build a bigger office building with a conference hall, committee rooms, training rooms, library facilities etc.

We have given considerable thought on the objectives and aims of the VMFT. The primary objective is that Vakkom Moulavi Foundation should be a lasting memorial to Vakkom Moulavi and thereby correcting a historic injustice.

The Foundation is dedicated to promoting all-round progress of the people and not to limit to religious aspects alone. It should provide a forum to discuss and debate on social, economic, intellectual, scientific, cultural, educational and spiritual matters of concern. A major aim of the Foundation is to achieve understanding between religions and faiths: Communal harmony which is an essential precondition for our socio -economic development should come from understanding among the followers of various faiths.

The VMFT wants to involve actively in the economic development process and in particularin the programs of creation of productive employment and eradication of poverty. More specifically we wish to undertake training programmes of different types which should lead to maximum social benefit.

The VMFT will co-operate with organisations which work for social justice.

Our ambition is very great. We also know that our capabilities are extremely limited. What we can say is that we will do our best. We need the help and co-operation of all.