By Irena Knehtl in the Yemen
3 February 2003
Knehtl is an economist and writer. She has been involved in
the Indian Ocean dialogue for economic cooperation and exploring
economic cooperation among the Red Sea countries.
about Irena Knehtl
Having laid down their arms and given up political struggle, the
Alawiyun became the carriers of a Sufi tariqa. The Second
stage was that of the development and consolidation of alTariqa
alAlawiya, the Alawi Sufi order, which lasted from the seventh
century to the eleventh century A.H. (13-17th century
A.D). The tariqa was a simple one which did not have khalw
(seclusion) for purposes of spiritual exercises, and did not
denounce worldly activities. The third stage lasted from eleventh
to the fourteen century A.H, later 17th to 20th
century AD During this period the Alawi ulama and awlia
(saints), came to be known by the title of habib. This was
the period of emigration to India and Southeast Asia.
Hadrami Arab and Indian Muslim traders have been engaging in trade
and missionary activities in the region for centuries and constituted
an integral part of the Muslim trade diaspora which stretched from
Egypt to the Malay world. Today the whole of the Hadrami hierarchical
segment is still represented in Africa. At the top of the social
hierarchy, the sharifs that are best known are AlSaqqaf,
BaAlawi and AlAydarus. By playing on their prestige and by
means of marriages contracted with ruling families, the sharifs
were able to establish political bases or take possession of power
structures wherever they settled. There are numerous and often significant
examples of their influence in the political domain. For example
that BaAlawi sultans were secured in the Comoros, Kilwa, Zanzibar,
Tumbatu and at Vumbaktu.
reception of BaAlawi in Rangoon, Burma
Members of the BaAlawi lineage continue to exercise various degrees
of religious, social and political influence in late 20th
century Kerala. Further south in the then Italian port of Mogadishu
in 1891 one of the major chiefs was Sayyid Ahmed BaAlawi whose ancestor
had come from Tarim seven generations earlier.
Imam Abdalla ibn Alawi AlHadad published The Book of Assistance
for Moslems, born in Tarim in the hills of Hadramaut. His ancestors,
the Alawi Sadda had for centuries produced generation after
generation of great scholars, and Gnostics and summoners to the
King of Siak Sri Indrapura
in what is now the Province of Riau in Indonesia
A BaAlawi King
as-Sayyid el-Sharif Ali Abdul Jalil Saifuddin BaAlawi who
reigned from 1784 until 1810 was the first king of Arab descent
of the Malay kingdom of Siak Sri Indrapura. During his reign,
the Siak Kingdom reached its golden age. His posthumous title
is Marhum Kota Tinggi
Certainly no aristocracy so widely disseminated over Asia and Africa
playing century upon century an important and consistent role in
the Islamic community nor can any branch of the numerous Sharif
and Sayyid families founded over 14 centuries ago claim a
more varied sphere of activity of achievement than the Alawi Sayyids
The first focus of Sayyid emigrants eastwards from the Middle Ages
was India. They settled in important commercial, cultural and political
centre, like Bijapur, and Surat, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Gujerat,
Delhi, Calicut, Malabar; but the greatest emigrations of all were
to Java, Sumatra, Aceh and Malaya.
The Alawi Sayyids arrived there sometime before the Dutch. An Alawi
from Johore settled in Maindanao, marrying the sultan's daughter.
Yemen Times Article by Irena Knehtl
Min Thaniyyaati'l Wadaa'i
Maa da'a Lillahi Daa'i
full moon rises on us
From Thaniyyatil Wadaa'
And it is compulsory on us to express thanks
Whenever called upon by a summoner for the sake of God
term BaAlawi refers to the descendents of Alawi son of Ubaidullah
son of Ahmad son of Isa who was also known as Al-Imam Al-Muhajir.
He left Basra in what is now Iraq for Hadhramaut in what is
now Yemen with his family and followers. Alawi, the grandson
of Ahmad son of Isa was the first to be born in Hadhramaut,
and those of his descendents adopted the name of BaAlawi,
which is a shortened form of "Bani Alawi" meaning the Children
BaAlawi diaspora took the clan far and wide in the Indian
ocean periphery and beyond. Today long-established BaAlawis
can be traced in India, Burma, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Brunei, the Philipines, East Africa and the Maldives.
more details refer Jaafar bin Abu Bakr Al-Aydaroos. History
and Origin of BaAlawi.
Tombstone of Al-Imam Al-Muhajir in Al-Husaysah. He died there
in AD 956