ʿAlawī, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Knysh, Alexander D.
Leiden
Brill
(1,400 words)
Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad ʿAlawī (574-653/1178-1255, sometimes referred to as Muḥammad Bā ʿAlawī), is also known as "the Great Master" (al-Ustādh al-Aʿẓam) or "the Foremost Scholar" (al-Faqīh al-Muqaddam), the latter being the honorific by which he is known in his native land even today. He came from the family of the Bā ʿAlawī sayyid s of Ḥaḍramawt and is widely regarded by them and their followers as the founding father of the ʿAlawiyya Ṣūfī brotherhood of South Arabia and South/Southeast Asia.