Ba 'Alawi

Ba 'Alawi (more precisely Al Ba 'Alawi, the nisba 'Alawi, not to be confused with the usual nisba of 'Ali's descendants) is a large and influential clan of South Arabian sayyids and Sufis, living mostly in Hadramawt, in or near the town of Tarim, and buried in the Zanbal cemetery there. Their noble descent was said to have been checked in the sixth century AH by the traditionist 'Ali b. Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Didid (d. 620 AH, 1223), by trustworthy witnesses. The main genealogical and biographical source is Muhammad b. Abi Bakr al-Shilli (d. 1093 AH, 1682), whose al-Mashra' al-rawi collects more than 280 biographies. ²

The eponymous ancestor is 'Alawi b. 'Ubayd Allah b. Ahmad b. 'Isa al-Muhajir, a descendant of 'Ali b. Abi Talib through al-Husayn. 'Ali b. 'Alawi, known as Khali' Qasam, first of the house to settle in Tarim (521 AH, 1127), died there in 527 AH (1133). His grandson Muhammad b. 'Ali, known as Sahib Mirbat, settled at the port of Mirbat and died there after 550 AH. Muhammad b. 'Ali b. Muhammad, al-Ustadh al-a'zam, "the great master", was a central figure of South Arabian mysticism and the founder of the special 'Alawi tariqa; he was impressed by the doctrines of Abu Madyan Shu'ayb and introduced Sufi discipline into Hadramawt. ³

'Alawi b. Muhammad (d. 669 AH, 1270) and his son 'Abd Allah Ba 'Alawi (638-737 AH, 1240-1330) were renowned Sufis from whom the line Ba 'Alawi strictly speaking descends. Muhammad b. 'Ali b. 'Alawi, called Mawla al-Dawila, settled at Yabar and died in 765 AH (1364); 'Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf (739-819 AH) was the ancestor of the Saqqaf and 'Aydarus branches. The clan produced historians and writers: 'Umar b. Muhammad Ba Shayban (881-944 AH, 1476-1537), who wrote the Tiryaq al-qulub, a book on the biographies of the Ba 'Alawi sayyids; Muhammad b. 'Ali Khurid (d. 960 AH, 1553), author of the Ghurar al-Bahiyya; Salim b. Ahmad Ba 'Abbad (995-1046 AH, 1587-1636) of Mecca, who wrote numerous works on Sufism; and Abu'l-Mawahib 'Aqil b. 'Umar (d. 1062 AH, 1652). The entry lists later members, among them 'Abd Allah b. Husayn Ba 'Alawi al-Jawi (d. 1272 AH, 1855), author of Sullam al-tawfiq, and 'Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad al-Mufti of Hadramawt (ca. 1250 AH, 1835). ⁴

Among the main studies are R. B. Serjeant, The Saiyids of Hadramawt (London 1957) and Wustenfeld's Die Cufiten in Sud-Arabien (1883), which is based on al-Muhibbi's Khulasat al-athar and gives genealogical tables of the branches. ⁵