Malayalam Intellectual Monthly
Thelicham
തെളിച്ചം — The First Campus Journal From Kerala
28+
Years
300+
Issues
∞
Articles & Interviews
Our Story
Thelicham was launched on 1 October 1998 under the academic auspices of Darul Huda Islamic University, Chemmad, Kerala. Founded to serve an intellectual need that few Malayalam publications had addressed, it gave voice to Islamic scholarly discourse in a language and form accessible to the broader reading public.
Over nearly three decades, Thelicham has published research on Islamic jurisprudence, theology, philosophy, history, literature, politics, and contemporary social questions. Its pages have carried the voices of scholars, researchers, poets, and public intellectuals — forming a continuous record of serious Muslim thought in Kerala.
In its evolution into a webzine, Thelicham carries the same editorial discipline and depth into the digital age. The archive is now accessible to readers worldwide. The platform is open. The standard remains unchanged.
Purpose
Vision
To establish Malayalam as a serious language of Islamic intellectual discourse — engaging philosophy, science, literature, and social thought with scholarly rigour and cultural authenticity. To produce a publication that scholars read and students aspire to contribute to.
Mission
To publish research articles, in-depth interviews, and literary works that cultivate a culture of careful reading and critical thinking. To serve students, scholars, and the broader Malayalam-speaking public — in print and now digitally, without compromise.
Legacy
"For more than twenty-eight years, Thelicham has published without interruption — through print and now digital — sustaining a standard that many publications aspired to but few maintained. It is not merely a journal. It is an institution."
Thelicham has been shaped by generations of editors, contributors, and readers who believed that ideas carry weight — that the written word, handled with care, endures beyond its moment. Its back issues form a documentary record of how Muslim intellectuals in Kerala engaged with modernity, tradition, and the questions that define our era.
That archive, now being made digitally accessible, is not just a repository. It is a responsibility — one Thelicham carries forward with the same seriousness that has defined it since its founding.
Institutional Profile
Darul Huda Islamic University
Darul Huda Islamic University, established in Chemmad, Tirur, Kerala, is one of the foremost institutions of Islamic learning in India. It integrates traditional Islamic sciences with modern academic disciplines, producing scholars who are equally at home in fiqh and philosophy, in Arabic and Malayalam.
Thelicham was conceived within this institutional environment — shaped by its emphasis on rigour, its respect for the Arabic and Malayalam literary traditions, and its commitment to producing scholarship that is both grounded and forward-looking.
The University's editorial oversight has ensured that Thelicham maintained consistent quality across its decades of publication. The webzine continues that relationship, drawing on the institution's scholarly community as authors, editors, and advisors.