Habib Abdullah Al-Mehdhar

Habib is an Islamic scholar, teacher from Tareem, Hadramaut, Yemen. He is a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ through his grandson Sayyidina Hussein ibn Ali KarramaAllah Wajhah. His lineage is recorded as follow: Habib Abdullah bin Abdurrahman bin Muhammad bin Husain bin Abu Bakar bin Ali Bin Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Tolib Bin Ali bin Jaafar bin Abu Bakar bin Omar Al-Muhdhar bin Syeikh Abi Bakar bin Salim bin Abdullah bin Abdurrahman bin Abdullah bin Abdurrahman As-Seggaf bin Muhammad Maula Dawilah bin Ali Sohib Darak bin Ali Al-Ghuyur bin Al-Ustadz Al-A’zom Al-Faqih Muqaddam Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad shohib Mirbath bin Ali Kholi’ Qosam bin Alawy bin Muhammad maula As-Som’ah bin Alawy maula Sumul bin Ubaidillah bin Al-Muhajir ilallah Ahmad bin Isa Ar-Rumi bin Muhammad An-Naqib bin Ali Al-‘Uraidli bin Ja’far As-Shodiq bin Muhammad Al-Baqir bin Al-Imam As-Sajjaad Ali Zainal Abidin bin Al-Imam Husaein bin Al-Imam Ali bin Abi-Tholib, son of Sayyidatina Fatimah Az-Zahra, daughter of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Birth and Life

Born in 1972a (1391H) in Tareem, Hadramaut, Al-Habib Abdullah was raised in a traditional religious family at a time where many religious leaders and scholars resided in that city. He received his early education from his father, a respected spiritual leader and scholar, Habib Abdurrahman Al-Muhdhar.

At the age of adolescence, he went on to acquire knowledge from religious leaders in Hadramaut and mostly from Rubat Tareem Institution, one of the oldest and most respectable institutes in Tareem. Some of his prominent teachers are mentioned below. Of whom, he studied extensively and was trained critically on Islamic Jurisprudence were the late Muft of Tareem, Syeikh Fadal Bafadal, the current mufti of Tareem, Habib Masyhur Bin Muhammad Bin Hafidz and the Qadi, the Islamic Judge of the city of Tareem, Habib Omar bin Ahmad Al-Masyhur. Habib read a lot of Islamic Sufism books under the feet of Al-Maghfurlah Habib Hasan bin Abdullah bin Umar Asy-Syathiri (The respected late Rector of Rubat Tareem) where his last book read before the passing of Habib Hasan was Al-Wajiz authored by the great scholar, Al-Imam Al-Ghazali. Habib also derives his spiritual learning from Habib Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Alwy bin Syihabudeen where Habib read all the books of Imam Al-Haddad.

After studying in Tareem and its surrounding cities and after the collapse of the Communist rule and re-opening of Rubat Tareem, (around 1992) he embarked into calling and preaching the religious sciences and spent most of his time there and concurrently attended the lessons of scholars of Tareem.

Among the subjects that he read were exegesis, Quranic sciences, Hadith, and methodology of narration, Fundamentals of Islamic Jurisprudence and Islamic ruling based dominantly on Syafi’e school of thoughts.

Many students who delved in his knowledge benefited greatly from it. He was renowned for his deep sincerity, excellent morals and who observed the Sunnah of the Beloved Prophet ﷺ. Spreading dakwah and knowledge did not distract him from continuously increasing his supererogatory prayers. He was often seen as a scholar with great humility and caring teacher. One of his concern and caring gestures is that after his lesson, he would stay back and ask his students about their predicaments and problems and spare them with some wise advice and persistent patience. Habib is well respected and loved by his students and is looked up by his peers.

Currently Habib Abdullah dedicates himself to guide about 500 Rubat Tareem students from various countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Africa and Middle East. At the same time, he just started to spread dakwah all over the world. May Allah ﷻ grant this humble and knowledgeable scholar good health and longevity for the benefit of the religion and community.

Allahumma aamiin.

Some of his prominent teachers

• Al-Maghfurlah Habib Hasan bin Abdullah bin Umar Asy-Syathiri (The respected late Rector of Rubat Tareem (1346 H- 1425H)
• Al-Habib Abdurrahman Al-Mohdar (His Father)
• Syeikh  Al-Imam Abdullah Bin Muhammad Bin Alwy Bin Syihabudeen
• Sultanul Ulama Al-Habib Salim Bin Abdullah Bin Omar Asy-Syatiri
• Al-Qadhi Al-Habib Omar Bin Ahmad Al-Masyhur (The Judge)
• Al-Habib Al-A’llamah Masyhur Bin Muhammad Bin Salim Bin Hafidz (The Current Mufti)
• Al-Habib Al’Alamah Ali Bin Muhammad Al-Attas
• Syiekh Allamah Amin Asy-Syinqiti
• Syeikh Fadhal Bin Abdurrahman Bafadhal (1347- 1421H)