Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad

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Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad (Arabic: أحمد مشهور بن طه الحداد) was a Sunni Islamic scholar from Qaydun in Wadi Dawan, Yemen. He followed the Ba 'Alawiyya way of teaching and spent years proselytizing in East Africa, where he contributed to the establishment of mosques and schools.^[1][2]

He is a descendant of Muhammad's grandson Husayn.^[3]

His father spent long periods in Indonesia and his mother, Safiyyah, raised him. She took him to the Ribat of Qaydun at an early age, a religious school founded by his two uncles. His uncle, Habib Alawi, took him to Tarim to learn from the scholars there. His uncle also took him to Indonesia to meet and learn from great scholars there. In Mukalla he met and learned from Habib Ahmad bin Muhsin al-Haddar, and from him he received his spiritual opening.^[1]

In 1928 he first traveled to East Africa and taught in the main mosque in Zanzibar during Ramadan. He then settled in Mombasa, Kenya to give da'wa. He kept his own small business to remain financially independent. In 1956 he moved to Kampala, Uganda. He learned Swahili but would often preach in Arabic with a translator.^[1] In Uganda he confronted what was happening in terms of the mixing of women and men, the non-compliance of Muslim women with the hijab, and their failure to give inheritance to daughters. He confronted secularists and communists among Muslims who studied in schools established by colonial governments. He also strongly confronted the Qadianis and was able to convert some of them to Sunni Islam. Thousands of people from various backgrounds including Africans, Indians, and Arabs flocked to him for his teaching, advice, and du'a.^[4][2] He would spent his time between the two holy mosques (Mecca and Medina) and Africa.^[5]

He was deeply concerned for the Muslim world as a whole and about various conflicts in Muslim countries to the extent that world events could give him physical symptoms. He represented Uganda at the Muslim World League.^[1]

He died on Wednesday the 14th of Rajab, 1416 AH (1995 CE). He was buried in Jannat al-Mu'alla.^[6][2]

• Miftah al-Jannah (Key to the Garden)^[7]

• List of Sufis

• The Imam and Preacher al-Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad: Pages from His Life and Preaching (Arabic, 2003)