The Tombs in the City
Assad Hariz
It has been quite a few times that I have travelled to Salalah off-work as well as on work and it has alluded me to the spiritual past of this place. The Dhofar region stands at the edge of Oman and is neighboured by the country of Yemen which is known for its religious and spiritual doctrines and the scholars who have travelled across from Yemen to far off lands to propagate Islam to the world are renowned. Most prominently the south Indian states of Kerala and the south east Asian countries like Indonesia and Malaysia owe their Islamic culture to Yemen and this is seen by the fact that majority of these places have followers of the Shafee Madhab and Tareeqa of the Ba Alawiyya and Shaduliya.
Even today places like Tarim are famous for the spiritual madrassas and Sufi scholars. Salalah has a lot of historical sites that bring the spiritual and magical stories of the past that were Pre-Islamic or biblical as well as the stories of the Sahabas (comrades of the prophet) and other religious scholars who travelled to Dhofar to preach and spread Islam.
The Famous among them are the Tomb of Job ( Nabi Ayoub’s tomb) which is on a mountain top and Nabi Imran’s tomb which lies in the heart of the city. Among the scholars, the Tomb of Muhammad Bin Ali Al Alawiyya in Mirbat is quite famous for its beautiful white twin domes and Arabic inscriptions. He was a great scholar and teacher of the Alawiyya order.
One unique Mosque that caught my thought was at the 23rd july street ( The Ba Alawi Maqbara). The Mosque looked old with white domes and was surrounded by a large cemetery. There were three or more walkways to the mosque through the cemetery. As I stayed nearby I went for my prayers to the mosque and found it very prepossessing. The Mosque and the Prayers reminded me of the mosques in my town in kerala. There were loud chants and praises of the prophet Muhammad (SAWS) were sung in between the regular prayers and i felt the connection between this place and south India. The Mosque had a small room (shrine) with a beautiful dome adjacent to the mosque. This Shrine looked more intriguing and fascinating. The building had a white beautiful dome which looked incandescent at night with the dark night sky in the background. It had a dark green door and was closed most of the time. After prayers I went towards this shrine out of curiosity. As I opened the door I saw the graves of a number of the people shrouded in black and green velvet cloth. There were also graves of small children. There was Bakhour (incense) burnt and had a spiritual aura. I started visiting the place frequently and during the Friday evenings, I could smell the beautiful scent of jasmine in the room.
In my zeal to find out who this saint was I started asking people nearby and also found some details in the shrine itself. I talked with the caretaker of the mosque and found that this was a descendant of the Prophet. This graveyard was known as the Ba’Alawi Maqbara and had the graves of the Ba Alawi family who were descendants of the Prophet through Ali r.a and were sufi saints and their disciples. There still exists this sufi order of Ba Alawiyya in parts of Yemen and Kerala. Soon I found who this great saint was.
He was Imam of scholars Habeeb Ali Ba Umar, a revered scholar of his time and a great saint. His name was Syed Ali bin Umar bin Ali bin Abdullah Ba Umar and was born in the year of 1619 A.D (1030 hijri). His mother was Sharifa Saliha Alawiya binth Abdullah bin Ibrahim bin Umar Fadak and he had a brother Muhammad and several sisters. His lineage is traced back to Hussain (r.a) the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and son of Ali (r.a).
He began his studies in the Islamic science under his father Syed Umar and after that under the guidance of the great scholar and his sheikh, Habeeb Aqeel Ba Umar (sha’eer Ba Umarain) . he had intended to go to Makka and also visited and met the scholars there and among them was Syed Muhammad bin Abubakr Ashili Almakki.
He was a great teacher and a Daaee (caller to faith) and had travelled extensively to India and the south east Asian countries for missionary works as well as a teacher in the Madrasas there. He also taught at Rabat for a living and travelled to Mecca and met the great scholar Alshilli Almakki there. His knowledge spread through his students to other parts of the world and among them were his sons and followers, Ahmed Mulaqab Ba Qashkash, Mohammed and Umar.
He was a saint, scholar and a social worker who was known in the Arabian Peninsula for his contribution to the society. Syed Muhammad Abubakr Alshilli talks of him as a noble person who was close to God and followed the path of the haneef. He taught religion, propagated his faith, educated the masses and fought against all types of innovation and called people to the straight path, the path of the guided. He is known to have the face of the full moon enlightened with knowledge. He was a sanctuary for the oppressed, refugees, orphans and the like.
This great saint has left several traces of his works and among them the most notable is the Islamic library that he built. This library contained a lot of Islamic and scientific books as well as references for research. This includes one of his important piece of work which deals with the explanation of the creed of Ahlu Sunna wa Aljamaa under the systems of his sheikh/teacher Sheikh Habib Aqeel bin Umran named “الفيض المقسوم شرح الدرالمنضوم “. It also included a collection of Prose and Poetry.
Sheikh Habeeb Ba Umar was from the lineage of the prophet and he propagated the way of the prophet through his works and knowledge thus giving himself a great status among the people of salalah and other countries that he travelled to. He was a staunch critic of innovations in religion and tread the straight path, the path of the Prophet and his family. He passed away in the year 1685 A.D (1095 hijri).
May he be granted Jannah in the hereafter.
