Tarim
This maqam in al-Hawi, on the eastern edge of Tarim, honours Sayyiduna Imam Abdullah ibn Alawi al-Haddad (1044–1132 AH), one of the most widely read scholars…
This maqam in al-Hawi, on the eastern edge of Tarim, honours Sayyiduna Imam Abdullah ibn Alawi al-Haddad (1044–1132 AH), one of the most widely read scholars of Hadramawt. His Ratib al-Haddad is recited every day in homes and mosques from Yemen to East Africa and South-East Asia, and his short books of counsel are still taught across the Muslim world. He settled in al-Hawi for the last decades of his life, and his house and mosque stand close by. He is buried in Zanbal Cemetery in Tarim. Lineage and early life Imam al-Haddad was born on 5 Safar 1044 AH (1634) in al-Subayr, on the outskirts of Tarim. 1 2 He belonged to the Ba Alawi, the descendants of the Prophet ﷺ through al-Husayn who settled in Hadramawt. His father was Alawi ibn Muhammad al-Haddad and his mother Salma bint Aydarus ibn Ahmad al-Habashi. 3 The family name goes back to an ancestor, Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr, who used to sit in a blacksmith's shop in Tarim and so became known as al-Haddad, the smith. 4 When he was about four years old, smallpox took his sight, and he remained blind for the rest of his life. 1 2 It did not hold back his learning. Guided by his father, he memorised the Qur'an and the basic texts of the religious sciences while still a boy, and after his morning lessons he would pray as many as two hundred units of prayer. 4 Teachers and pilgrimage He studied with more than a hundred and forty teachers. 2 5 Among the best known were Habib Umar ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Attas, Habib Aqil ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf, Habib Abd al-Rahman ibn Shaykh Mawla Aydid and the qadi Sahl ibn Ahmad Bahasan al-Hudayli, with whom he studied jurisprudence. 1 5 He also corresponded with Habib Muhammad ibn Alawi al-Saqqaf in Makkah, through whom, his biographers say, his spiritual path opened. 4 In 1079 AH he travelled to Makkah and Madinah for the pilgrimage, 1 5 and on 1 Muharram 1080 AH he led the dawn prayer in the Sacred Mosque in Makkah. 2 The Ratib On the twenty-seventh night of Ramadan 1071 AH (1661) he composed the Ratib al-Haddad, a short litany of remembrance and supplication meant to be recited together each day. It spread from Hadramawt to Makkah and Madinah, East Africa and South-East Asia, and it is now recited in Muslim communities in Europe and North America as well. 6 Al-Hawi In 1083 AH he built a house at al-Hawi, east of Tarim, and in 1099 AH he settled there, building his mosque beside the house. Al-Hawi became a home of its own for him, his children, his household and his followers. 5 From here he taught and received the many people who came to him for counsel. He advised rulers, helped to settle disputes between tribes and took orphans into his household. 4 Writings His books are written in a plain style for a wide readership. The best known are al-Nasa'ih al-Diniyya wa-l-Wasaya al-Imaniyya, which draws together the essence of al-Ghazali's Ihya' Ulum al-Din, 4 Risalat al-Mu'awana (The Book of Assistance), al-Da'wa al-Tamma wa-l-Tadhkira al-Amma, Sabil al-Iddikar (The Lives of Man), al-Fusul al-Ilmiyya wa-l-Usul al-Hikamiyya (Knowledge and Wisdom), Risalat Adab Suluk al-Murid (Good Manners) and Ithaf al-Sa'il bi-Jawab al-Masa'il. His poetry is collected in the diwan al-Durr al-Manzum, his sayings were gathered in Tathbit al-Fu'ad, and his daily litanies include al-Wird al-Latif alongside the Ratib. 2 5 Several of his books have been translated into English by Mostafa al-Badawi. 4 Students and legacy Among his students were his son Hasan, his spiritual heir, Habib Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Habashi, Habib Muhammad ibn Zayn ibn Sumayt, Habib Umar ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Barr and Habib Abd al-Rahman ibn Abdullah Balfaqih, through whom his teaching passed to later generations of the scholars of Hadramawt. 4 5 Later scholars gave him the title Qutb al-Da'wa wa-l-Irshad, the pole of calling and guidance, and many regard him as the renewer of the twelfth Islamic century. 3 4 Karamat His biographers record a number of karamat, the marvels by which God honours His friends. They say that when he lost his eyesight he was given the light of inner sight in its place, 4 and he himself said that as a child he was never treated like someone who could not see, whether walking or playing. 3 On one occasion he began the prayer with "Allahu akbar" so forcefully that the wall of the mihrab in front of him split, and the crack remained until the mosque was refurbished in recent times. 4 Another account tells of one of the sultans of India, who wished to honour him by sending a ship laden with gold. Knowing that so much wealth would harm Hadramawt and its people, he asked God to sink the ship and to save everyone on board, and it happened as he asked. 4 His passing Imam al-Haddad passed away at his home in al-Hawi on the night of 7 Dhu al-Qa'da 1132 AH (September 1720) and was buried in Zanbal Cemetery in Tarim, among the Ba Alawi scholars who came before him. 1 5 He left six sons, Hasan, Alawi, Muhammad, Salim, Husayn and Zayn, and four daughters. 4 5 The maqam The maqam lies in al-Hawi close to the Imam al-Haddad Mosque and his house, where he spent the last three decades of his life. Zanbal Cemetery, where he is buried, is about 1.5 km to the west in the old town of Tarim. References al-Muradi, Silk al-Durar fi A'yan al-Qarn al-Thani Ashar, and al-Zirikli, al-A'lam, entries for Abdullah ibn Alawi al-Haddad, tarajm.com (Arabic) "Abd Allah ibn Alawi al-Haddad", Wikipedia (Arabic) "'Abdullah ibn 'Alawi al-Haddad", Wikipedia "Imam 'Abdullah bin 'Alawi al-Haddad", Muwasala "Abd Allah ibn Alawi al-Haddad", areq.net (Arabic) Siddiq Osman Noormuhammad, "Ratib al-Haddad", iqra.net