Muhammad Ali Ba'alawi

Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī Bā ʿAlawī commonly known as al-Faqīh al-Muqaddam , ; 574 H - 653 H or 1178 CE - 1232 CE) is known as the founder of Ba 'Alawiyya Sufi order which has influenced Sufism in Yemen, South Asia and Southeast Asia. He is the only son of Ali son of Muhammad Sahib al-Mirbath whom all 75 families of Ba 'Alawi sada that spread out from Yemen to Southeast Asia are rooted.

Epithet The Title al-Faqih was given because he was a great teacher and student of religion and jurisprudence. One of his teachers, Ali Bamarwan said that he mastered the science of jurisprudence as great as the former scholar Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Shafi'i Furak who died in 406 H.

Teachings Muhammad was the founder of Ba 'Alawiyya tariqa (Sufi order) and the first who introduce Sufism in Yemen. He received his Ijazah from Abu Madyan through one of his prominent students, Abd al-Rahman bin Ahmad al-Hadhrami al-Maghribi (he died before reaching Hadramaut, but it was continued by another Moroccan Sufi he met in Mecca). However, Muhammad al-Faqih did not follow fully Abu Madyan's tariqa, but he combined it with the teachings of his forefathers and the tariqa of Abdul Qadir Gilani.

Among the followers of his teachings and also his descendants that are prominent before 20th century are Imam Abd Allah ibn Alawi al-Haddad and Sayyid Abu Bakr al-Aydarus and in modern time are Habib Umar bin Hafiz and Habib Ali al-Jifri, among others. Another follower in modern time who is not directly descendants of him is Sayyid Muhammad ibn 'Alawi al-Maliki.