Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Qadir bin Shaykh bin Abdullah al-Aydarus was a Ba Alawi scholar, historian and author born in Ahmadabad, India, in 978 AH. His Al-Mashra al-Rawi biography incorporates his own account of his birth and early intellectual life, placing him within the al-Aydarus scholarly family.
Abd al-Qadir describes completing the Quran, studying with scholars, collecting useful books from different regions and devoting himself to a wide range of religious and literary disciplines. He also records teaching others and maintaining scholarly correspondence across a broad network.
The source names a substantial body of works, including al-Futuhat al-Qudsiyyah fi al-Khirqah al-Aydarusiyyah, al-Hadaiq al-Khadrah, al-Durr al-Thamin, Ghayat al-Qurb, Ta’rif al-Ahya bi-Fadail al-Ihya, and al-Nur al-Safir an Akhbar al-Qarn al-Ashir. A later biographical compilation independently preserves the same identity, birth in Ahmadabad in 978 AH, many of the same works, and his death in Ahmadabad in 1038 AH.
Among Abd al-Qadir’s works was Qurrat al-Ayn fi Manaqib al-Wali Umar bin Muhammad Ba Husayn, a dedicated biography of his teacher Umar bin Muhammad Ba Husayn al-Saqqaf. In Umar’s biography, Al-Mashra al-Rawi quotes Abd al-Qadir as describing himself as Umar’s disciple and naming Umar among his shaykhs, while later biographical catalogues independently list Qurrat al-Ayn among Abd al-Qadir’s works.
Scholarly connections
Teacher: Umar bin Muhammad Ba Husayn al-Saqqaf. Abd al-Qadir’s first-person testimony in Umar’s biography identifies Umar as one of his shaykhs. Nuzhat al-Khawatir and Hadiyat al-Arifin independently preserve Abd al-Qadir’s dedicated Qurrat al-Ayn fi Manaqib al-Wali Umar bin Muhammad Ba Husayn, corroborating the relationship.
Lineage and source note
Primary source: Al-Mashra al-Rawi fi Manaqib al-Sada al-Kiram Al Abi Alawi, volume 2, including Abd al-Qadir’s autobiographical material. A later historical compilation independently corroborates his identity, 978 AH birth, authorship and 1038 AH death in Ahmadabad. The lineage is explicit in the primary al-Aydarus/Ba Alawi source context.