BA ALAWI SAYYIDS
BA ALAWI
SAYYIDS- A STUDY OF SUFI TRENDS IN MALABAR
Dr. Husain Randathani
It may be emphasised that the
role of sufis was an important factor in the spread of Islam in Malabar as else
where in the world. Their peaceful means of propagation, policy of sulh-i-kul
(peace with all) and simple and pious life attracted a number of people to
Islam. People were always associated with them seeking their blessings and
visiting their shrines. But quoting I.H. Quereshi and others R.E. Miller tends
to suggest that the Sufi missionary activities were very meager in Malabar.”
At the same time the indigenous sources reveal the names and activities of
several Muslim sufis and saints who propagated Islam in Malabar. The existence
of a number of sufi devotional songs called malas
about the sufi saints like Shaikh Muhyaddin ‘Adhul Qadir Jilani, Shaikh Rifa’I
Sayyid Alawi and Nafeesat-at Misri
clearly indicates the deep influence exerted by the sufis on Mappilas life. The
memorization of Muhyaddin Mala was an obligation to a Mappila girl who was
going to get married.
Malik b. Dinar, at whose efforts
Islam accelerated its growth in Malabar was said to be a disciple of Hasan al
Basari a Sufi preacher in Iraq. Malik was responsible for a systematised
missionary work after constructing mosques at different parts of Malabar
When Sufism developed in to orders (tariqat) in the twelth century their
activities reached in Malabar also. All the four important orders had their
preachers and centres at different parts of the district and among them the most
popular order was Qadiriyya. In Malabar the order was planted by the Makhdums
who came to Malabar from Yemen of South Arabia.
It was infact the
advent of the Makhdum family and their activities centering round the big
Juma Masjid, made Ponnani a centre of Muslim learning so much so that it came
to be called the ‘little Makkah’ (Kochu Makkah) of Malabar. The oldest mosque
at Ponnani is said to have been built in the twelth century two centuries
before the advent of the Makhadums at the behest of Shaikh Fariduddin b. ‘Abdul
Qadir Khurasani, a well known disciple of Shaikh Muhyaddin Abdul Qadir Jilani.
Qazi Muhammad and his successors, the hereditary qazis of Calicut were also
actively engaged in the spread of the Qadiri order. Qazi Muhammad (d. 1025/1616)
who had his education at the feet of ‘Abdul’ Aziz Makhdum (d.994/1585) composed
the famous devotional song called Muhyaddin Mala in praise of Shaikh ‘Abdul
Qadir.
The Ba-Alawi Sayyids of
Hadramauth played an important role in the social and cultural life of Mappila
Muslims of Malabar. Having laid down their arms and given up political struggle,
the Alawiyun became the carriers of a family Sufi tariqa called Ba Alawi tariqa.
The tariqa, an offshoot of Qadiriyya was a simple one which did not have khalw,
or seclusion for purposes of spiritual exercises, and did not denounce worldly
activities. From seventeenth century onwards the Alawi ulama and Sufi 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 has been engaging in trade and missionary
activities in the region for centuries and constituted an integral part of the
Muslim trade diasporas 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 their social
and political service and marriages contracted with ruling families, the Ba
Alawis were able to establish political amd social 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.
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 of Hadramaut. The first focus of Sayyid emigrants eastwards from
the Middle Ages was Malabar. They settled in important commercial, cultural and
political center, like Bijapur, and Surat, Cutch, Ahmedabad, Haiderabad, Gujerat,
Delhi, Calicut, Malabar. but the greatest emigrations of all were to Java,
Sumatra, Atcheh and Malaya
The ancestor of Ba Alawi is one
Sayyid Ahamed bin Isa who migrated to Hadramauth in 952 AD.
The genealogy of Sayyid Ahamed is as follows:
Muhammed,
Fahima,
Husain,
Zain al Abidin,
Muhammed Baqir,
Jafar sadiq,
Sayyid Ali Ariz,
Muhammed,
Ahmed Bin Isa
.
When the Umayyads came to
power in Islamic world in661 they persecuted the house of prophet Muhammed and
most of them left their home town at Hijaz in search of asylum and had to wait
till the advent of Abbasids in 750. Then most of them migrated to Baghdad. But
when Qaramatis
occupied the seat of Islamic rule they persecuted the sayyid families who left
Baghdad and settled at various places. Among them Ahmad Bin Isa reached at
Hadramauth. He settled at al Hajarail village from where he moved to Al Husail.
Being an immigrant he was known as Muhajir and after his death he was buried at
the same place where his tomb is situated on the side of a hillock.
His son Ubaidullah who had
three sons among whom the third son Sayyid Alawi founded the Ba Alawi branch.
His grand son Alawi had two sons –Salim and Ali. Ali settled at Tarim the
headquarters of Ba Alawis. Ali died in 1233 and was buried at Tarim.Imam
al Qutub Muhammed Shahir(d.1309), son of Ali was known to his piety and devotion
and his shrine at Tarim became a great center of veneration. His son Muhammed
Mauladdavila(D, 1363) had fourteen sons and the most famous among them was
Abdurahman Saqaf.All the thirteen sons of al Saqaf migrated to different parts
of the world to propagate the message of Islam through BaAlawi order. About
forty branches of Ba Alawis had migrated to Malabar and most of them settled on
the coastal areas of Arabian sea. How ever manyu of them took pains to migrate
to the interior regions and established their centers among the peasants and
downtrodden.
The important families who
settled in Malabar are the following:
Ba Faqih (Koilandy), Al
Faqih(Koilandy), Bil Faqih (Koilandy), Al haddad(Malabar), Shahabuddin (Panakkad),
Mashhur(Eranad), Idid(Tirurangadi), Jilani(Eranad), Jamalullaili(Chaliyam),
Mushayyaq(Tanur), Ahdal(Calicut), Jifri (Calicut) Musava(Ponnani),
Aydarus(Ponnani) , Saqaf(Chavakkad), Alu Junaid( Tanur),Al Manfur(Calicut), Ba
Shaiban(Chavakkad), Hamdun (North Malabar) Mauladdavila (Mamburam),
Maula Khaila(Eranad),Habshi(Kuttippuram), Alu Dahab(North Malabar), Juhum(Mahi),
Shatiri(Koilandy), Turabi(Tirurangadi) Ba Hasan (Koilandy), Al Aqil(Malabar),
Fadhaq (malabar), Ba Hashim(Malabar), Ba Hasan(Chaliyam).Banu Sahl (North
Malabar),Ba Salim (North Malabar)
Ahmad Bin Isa and his son
spread the legal school of Al Shafi and it later became the accepted
jurisprudence in the Ba Alawi circles. A few historians had pointed out the Ba
Alawis inclining towards to Shiism because many of the Shiites had followed the
order of the Sa Alawis in certain regions, but it is found that no Ba Alawi
branches are connected with the shiiite tendencies.
Arrival of Shaikh Jifri of
Hadhramaut at Calicut in 1748 brought a turning point in the history of sufism
in Kerala. He introduced the Ba ‘Alawi order in a systemic order. About the
same time Sayyid Abdul Rahman ‘Aidarus (d.1164/1751) came from Hadhramauth and
settled at Ponnani. A relative of Shaikh Jifri, Aidarus established his Khanqah
at Ponani. Both became the spiritual leaders and the people particularly the
lower castes moved in flocks to these leaders to accept Islam. The Valiya
Tangals, the successors of ‘Abdurahman Ai darus continued as the spiritual
leaders while the line of Shaikh Jifri was continued by his nephew Sayyid
‘Alawi (d.1260/1844) who established his centre at Mambram near Tirurangadi.
The popularity of Sayyid ‘Alawi became increased so much so that he came to be
regarded as the Qutb-al Zaman (the Pivot of the Age) by his contemporaries.
Renowned ‘ulama and sufis of the time became his spiritual disciples. He gave
leadership to the Mappilas in the period of troubles and paradoxically it was
during the same period the conversions increased rapidly. After his death his
son sayyid Fazl (d. 1318/ 1901) continued the work of his father and
inaugurated an era of conversion and reformation in the society along with the
Qadiri lines. The Makhdums of Ponnani, and the renowned ‘ulama of Malabar like
‘Umar Qazi of Veliyancode and Awkoya Musliyar of Parappanangadi actively
assisted the proselytizing and reforming endeavour of Sayyid ‘Alawi and his
son. A number of mosques in southern Malabar were constructed at their behest.
The saintly life and service of
the Ba Alawis brught them adherents wherever they went. The desciples used to
the kiss the hands (taqbil) of the Sayyids and thi was an exclusive privilege of
the Ba Alawis. This practice was called shamma in Hadramauth. The surname Habib
(friend) was added along with their name and their presence was a great relief
to the common people particularly the peasants who sought their blessings
inorder to increase the crops or to get the rains. The people approached this
sayyids to cure the diseases, to fulfill the desires and to relieve frm the
miseries. These saints were not just ascetics living away from the people”They
engaged in their professions and took service to man as one injunction of
Sufism”
The ba Alawis maintained strict morality in their life. They followed the
footsteps of the prophet in every walks of life.In
the early
“Malas are devotional songs which piously praises the admirable events from the
glorious life of holymen” O. Abul, Arabi Malayala Sahitya Chritram,
National Book Stall, Kottayam, 1970, p. 62.
Statesmen of Indian Ocean, Website,15-03-04
. Qazi AbduRahman bin Muhammed bin Husayn, Shans al Zahir, Hyderabad ,
1911,pp,1-14
For details see, Kunhali.V, Sufism in Kerala, Publication Division ,
University of Calicut,2004,p.92
Alawi Muhammed Al Saqaf, Majma al Kutub al Mufida,(n.d),Tarim,p.17
period
the Ba Alawis preferred a secluded life without much connection with the
external world. They shut their doors against the
non –Muslims and never went to the markets where ,they believed lived the
devils. Many of them in ecstatic mood and were known as
Majdub
or
Mastur.
venerating them . They
encouraged visit to the Dargas and organized annual
festivals on the occasion of the death and birth anniversary
The same tariqah had deeply influenced among the
coastal Muslim and it was through the activities of the Ba Alawis. The
Bahjat al Asrar written
by Ali Bin Yusuf Shatanaufi(d.1413)
written hundred years after the death of The Haddad Ratib
In Malabar, as mentioned above the Qadiriyya,founded
by Abdul Qadir Jilani became deep rooted through the activities of the Ba Alawi
sayyids. the shaikh is the main biographical work of
Jilani and the devotional songs of the qadiris are
composed depending up on the Bahjat.
