Qissat Shakarwati Farmad

Qissat Shakarwati Farmad (alternatively Qissat Shakruti Firmad, literally "Tale of the Great Chera Ruler") is an Arabic manuscript of anonymous authorship. It is argued that the qissat is the oldest, most detailed, and comprehensive recorded version of the Cheraman Perumal legend (of south India).

The Cheraman Perumal legend traces the introduction of Islam on the Malabar Coast. All muslim sources from 1500 CE tell the story of a traditional Hindu spice trader from Kerala, called the Cheraman Perumal divided his spice trade among his family and business partners and sailed for Jeddah for the annual pilgrimage to the Syrian city of Petra and to the Kaaba in Mecca, the shrine of the Quraysh, in a pre-islamic predecessor to the Islamic hajj. He may have died on his return trade journey from Syria to Malabar Coast.

Shakarwati Farmad is an Arabic version of the medieval Indian royal title "Chakravarti Cheraman Perumal". The Chera (Spice Merchant) king is also referred in the text as "al-Sultan Shakrawati". The qissat is currently preserved in British Library (India Office Records, MS. Islamic 2807d, fols. 81a-104a).