Habib Abdullah bin Husayn bin Tahir was a Ba Alawi scholar, teacher and author born in Tarim in 1191 AH, corresponding to 1777. Muwasala preserves his lineage through the Ba Alawi line of Alawi Amm al-Faqih and Muhammad Sahib Mirbat to Imam Ahmad al-Muhajir and the Prophetic family.
He received the traditional scholarly formation of Tarim, beginning with the Quran and the foundational sciences of Islamic law. His principal teachers included his older brother Habib Tahir, Imam Abd al-Rahman Sahib al-Butayhah, Habib Hamid bin Umar Hamid and Habib Abdullah bin Abu Bakr Mawla Aidid. He also studied with Habib Umar bin Saqqaf al-Saqqaf and spent time in Makkah and Madinah learning from scholars of the Two Holy Cities.
Political conflict in Tarim led him, his father and his brother to move to nearby al-Masilah in 1210 AH. There he became closely associated with teaching, worship and community life. He studied and taught Imam al-Ghazali’s Ihya Ulum al-Din and wrote a number of shorter works on religious practice and spiritual discipline.
His best known text is Sulam al-Tawfiq, a concise manual covering knowledge and practices regarded as obligatory for Muslims. The work continued to be studied well beyond Hadramawt. Habib Abdullah died on 17 Rabi al-Thani 1272 AH, corresponding to 1855.
Sources
Muwasala, source biography: https://muwasala.org/2016/01/23/habib-abdullah-bin-husayn-bin-tahir-2/