Uefa Juniors

Kayalpatnam is an ancient historical city of India. It lies in the southeast part of Indian peninsula, on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. It is a Muslim dominant town situated in Thoottukudi district and formally it was in Tirunelveli district. It is about 400 miles from Madras and 100 miles from Thiruvananthapuram and Madurai.

Kayalpatnam was chief trade emporium even before the advent of Islam and it was chief port of Mabar to which Arabs and Greeks were frequent visitors. During the lifetime of our beloved holy prophet Muhammad (Sal.) Islamic missionaries were sent to Mabar to preach the peace mission of Islam. The first settlement in Kayalpatnam occurred in 633 A.D. (Hijiri 12). The first settlers were from Mecca and Medina and landed here during the reign of the first caliph, the successor of our prophet Muhammad (Sal), Ameerul momeneen Hazarat seyedna Abubakar Siddeeq (Rali).

Kayal was the name of the place till the advent of Muhammad Khalji. After his arrival, the southern part of kayal is named as Kahirfathan after the name of his own town "Kahira" in Egypt. Kahirfathan in Arabic is slowly changed into Kayalpatnam in Tamil. The northern part of Kayal is called palaiya Kayal and Punna Kayal.

Indian historians and many famous foreign travelers and historians of the west perfectly made known that Kayalpatnam is situated near the Tamira Parani river about a mile from its mouth in Tirunelvelli district presently Tuticorin district and Kayalpatnam is also distinctly identified with Islam from 8th century. Kail, was long a famous port on the coast of what is now the Tirunelveli district of the Madras presidency. It is mentioned as part of Mabar by Polo's contemporary Rashiduddin. Kail is definitely the one situated on the Tamraparani River about 1 & half miles from its mouth. (Travels of Marco polo translated by Sir Henry Yule).
Famous travelers and historians like Abdullah Wasaf, Rasheeduddin, Ibn Batuta and Marco Polo gave some information about Kayalpatnam in their books. The works of Dr. Rev. Bishop Caldwell, Sir Elliot, Col-Henry Yule, Sir John Emerson Tennant, Sir Simon Casio Chitty and Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, incidentally, the latter mentioned six writers, substantiate, the view that the Arabs had settled first at Kayalpatnam and there from spread to the other parts of eastern coast of India and Ceylon.

A historical Atlas of South Asia edited by J.E. Schwartzberg, University of Chicago press, Chicago, printed in 1928, shows that famous Korkai and Kayal were situated on the delta of the Tamira Parani. Bishop R. Caldwell writes in his book "History of Tirunelvelli" that both places are situated on the delta of Tamira Parani. Korkai within five, Kayal within two miles on the sea but each was originally on the seacoast.

According to Abdullah Wassaf, a Persian historian, a contemporary of Marco polo Kayal was the port of Mabar. During the reign of Mabar king Sultan Shaik Mabar, his administrative office was at Kayalpatnam. He died on Hijiri 628 (1231 A.D) and buried here. His tomb is near panchayat board very close to the house of Sahib Thambi Alim, former principal of Mahalara Arabic College on the way to Koman Street. Descriptions were given in Arabic on the tomb.