Tarim
Dar al-Mustafa is a seminary of traditional Islamic learning in Tarim, in Wadi Hadramawt, founded by Habib Umar ibn Hafiz in 1414 AH (1994). In the three…
Dar al-Mustafa is a seminary of traditional Islamic learning in Tarim, in Wadi Hadramawt, founded by Habib Umar ibn Hafiz in 1414 AH (1994). In the three decades since, it has become one of the best-known places of Islamic study in the world, drawing students from South-East Asia, Africa, the Arab world, Europe and the Americas to learn in the tradition of the scholars of Tarim. 1 The founder Habib Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Salim ibn Hafiz was born in Tarim on 4 Muharram 1383 AH (27 May 1963), into one of the Ba Alawi families, the descendants of the Prophet ﷺ who have taught in Hadramawt for many centuries. His father, Habib Muhammad ibn Salim ibn Hafiz, was a scholar of Tarim, and his elder brother Habib Ali al-Mashhur later served as the town's mufti. 2 He studied the Qur'an and the religious sciences with his father and with the scholars of Tarim, among them Habib Muhammad ibn Alawi ibn Shihab, Habib Abdullah ibn Hasan Balfaqih, Habib Umar ibn Alawi al-Kaf and Habib Hasan ibn Abdullah al-Shatiri. In Safar 1402 AH (1981), at the age of seventeen, he went to study at the seminary of al-Bayda under its founder Habib Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Haddar and its principal teacher Habib Zayn ibn Ibrahim ibn Sumayt. From there he travelled often to Makkah and Madinah, where he studied with Habib Abd al-Qadir al-Saqqaf, Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad and Habib Abu Bakr al-Attas al-Habashi. 3 Founding and early years After his years in al-Bayda and a period in al-Shihr on the Hadramawt coast, Habib Umar returned to Tarim, where his teaching grew into Dar al-Mustafa in 1414 AH (1994). 2 Lessons were first held in his house beside the mosque of Mawla Aydid, and the first students came from Tarim, other parts of Yemen and South-East Asia. 3 The first part of the purpose-built campus opened on 29 Dhu al-Hijja 1417 AH (May 1997), and the Dar still marks its anniversary each year on that date. 4 5 Its first students graduated in 1419 AH. 4 Teaching and aims Dar al-Mustafa is built on three foundations: knowledge of the sacred law, learned from qualified teachers with connected chains of transmission; the purification of the soul and refinement of character; and calling people to God. Memorisation of the Qur'an and its sciences is treated as a fourth aim. 3 4 The main course lasts four years, and students are expected to arrive able to read and write and with a grounding in Arabic and the basics of the religion. 4 Teaching is in Arabic and covers Shafi'i jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, theology, hadith, Qur'anic exegesis, memorisation of the Qur'an and the sciences of the heart. 1 Alongside the main course, Dar al-Mustafa runs a forty-day summer course known as the Dawra, first held in the summer of 1416 AH, which brings visiting students to Tarim each year, with room and board provided for a nominal fee. 4 It also runs Arabic courses for students from abroad together with the Badr Institute in Tarim, courses for mosque imams, and short courses timed to suit working people. 4 Dar al-Zahra and the wider network Dar al-Zahra, the sister institute for women, opened in 1422 AH (2001) so that women could study in the same tradition. 3 Over the years branches and affiliated schools have been founded elsewhere in Hadramawt, in Sana'a and in South-East Asia, and older seminaries in Mukalla, Aynat and al-Shihr have been revived, while graduates of Dar al-Mustafa now teach in many parts of the Muslim world. 3 The site and visiting Dar al-Mustafa stands on the western side of Tarim, below the cliffs of Wadi Hadramawt. The large white complex has a mosque with a tall white minaret, teaching halls and a great courtyard hall with a raised platform beneath green arches, where lessons and gatherings are held, often attended by large numbers of visitors. Dar al-Zahra is a short distance away, and the old town of Tarim, with its Great Mosque, the Ba-Alawi Mosque and Zanbal Cemetery, lies about two kilometres to the east. References "Dar al-Mustafa", Wikipedia "Habib Umar bin Hafiz", Muwasala "Habib 'Umar bin Hafiz: A Biography", Imam Ghazali Institute "Dar al-Mustafa li-l-Dirasat al-Islamiyya", areq.net (Arabic) "Commemorating the 16th Anniversary of Dar al-Mustafa", SeekersGuidance