The Ba`alawi Order
As-Sayyid Muhammad `Alawi Maliki and the Ba`Alawi Silsila (Chain of Succession)
As-Sayyid Muhammad `Alawi Maliki, the foremost scholar of Mecca, relates that his father, one of the greatest scholars of Mecca, desperately wanted a son to succeed him in the family's tradition of scholarship. At the Holy Mosque of Mecca one day he came across one of the Ba-`Alawi shaykhs, visiting from Hadramaut, Yemen. As-Sayyid's father requested the shaykh to pray for him to be granted a son who would succeed him, one to whom he could transfer all his knowledge of religion.
The shaykh replied, "I have prayed thus and your request has been granted, on condition that you adhere to this way." Accepting baya` in the Ba-`Alawi order, a short time later As-Sayyid's mother became pregnant with the son who is today considered one of the most highly acclaimed scholars of al-Hijaz. As-Sayyid Muhammad is a descendent of the prophet Muhammad (s) through Imam Hasan.
A contemporary Saudi scholar of tafseer (Qur`anic exegesis), hadith (Prophetic Traditions), fiqh (Islamic law), `aqeedah (tenets of faith) and seerah (Prophetic biography), he was born to a family of traditional Maliki scholars of ancestral residence in the Holy City.
His grandfather was Chief Judge (qadi) of Mecca and an Imam of the Holy Mosque, the site of the Ka’bah (al-Haram ash-Shareef). His father Sayyid `Alawi taught and lectured in the precincts of the Holy Mosque for 30 years until he passed away in 1971, his funeral being the largest ever held in the area in the present era.
Sayyid Muhammad was educated by his eminent father from childhood and was authorized to teach every book he studied with him. He also learnt at the feet of prominent scholars of Mecca such as Shaykh Sayyid Ameen Qutbi, Shaykh Hassan Masshat, Shaykh Muhammad Nur Sayf, Shaykh Saeed Yamani and many others.
At the age of 25 he received his PhD from Al-Azhar, the esteemed Islamic university of Egypt. During his never-ending quest for knowledge he has traveled extensively to north Africa, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Yemen and the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent to gather hadith, collect manuscripts, visit scholars, saints and benefit from their wisdom.
Apart from the ‘ulama of the Hijaz he has received sanad or 'ijazah (lineage of authority to teach and guide) in the theological and spiritual sciences from eminent savants from around the Islamic world. The great da’ee and Imam of Yemen, Shaykh Habib Ahmad Mashur al- Haddad, calipha of al-Habib Umar, Shaykh Hasnayn Makhluf the great Mufti of Egypt, Shaykh al Ghimari of Morrocco, Shaykh Diauddin Qadiri of Madinah and numerous others have given him their ‘ijazah.
In 1970, he was appointed professor of Islamic studies at the Umm-ul-Qurra University in Mecca. In 1971, after his father’s death, the scholars of Mecca asked him to accept his father’s position as a teacher in the Holy Mosque, which he did.
Hundreds of students have learnt at his feet and have become savants of Islamic knowledge and spirituality in their countries, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, South Africa, Yemen and Dubai. Since 1983 he has concentrated on research and teaching .
He also gives classes at his home and mosque on al-Maliki Street in the Rusayfa district of Mecca. He is highly respected by the Saudi government and was nominated head judge at the international Qur’anic reading competition in Mecca three times. He is also the author of close to one hundred books.
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