Ahmad bin Husayn bin Abdullah al-Aydarus was a Ba Alawi scholar and religious teacher of Tarim. Al-Mashra al-Rawi records that he studied with his father Husayn bin Abdullah al-Aydarus and his uncle Shaykh bin Abdullah and learned from scholars including Muhammad bin Umar Bahraq, Umar bin Abdullah Ba Shayban, Maruf Bamal and Umar bin Abdullah Bakhrama. His studies included jurisprudence, hadith and tasawwuf, and many people later studied with him.
The biography also attributes several writings to Ahmad, including works concerned with devotional ethics and the qualities of the Prophet. It remembers him for assisting students, interceding for people with rulers and caring for poor people.
Karamat in the received tradition
Al-Mashra al-Rawi says that Ahmad’s companions transmitted many karamat about him. Among the examples it records is a statement to Ahmad bin Shaykh al-Aydarus that Fatimah, Ahmad bin Husayn’s daughter, would become his wife even though she was married to another man at the time; the source says that this later occurred after Ahmad bin Shaykh returned to Tarim.
It also transmits a report from Ahmad bin Abd al-Qawi that he saw Ahmad bin Husayn at Arafat and also witnessed him performing tawaf and sa’y. Another student, Said bin Salim bin al-Shawwaf, is said to have asked that he might die in his own home region, to which Ahmad replied that he would instead die at a particular place in al-Shihr; the account says events unfolded accordingly. These reports are preserved as received devotional tradition.
Ahmad died in Tarim in 968 AH and was buried in Zanbal Cemetery, in the dome of his grandfather.
Lineage and source note
Primary source: Al-Mashra al-Rawi fi Manaqib al-Sada al-Kiram Al Abi Alawi, volume 2, biography of Ahmad bin Husayn bin Abdullah al-Aydarus. It records his teachers, teaching, writings, received karamat, death in 968 AH and burial at Zanbal. An independent biographical record drawing on Al-Nur al-Safir corroborates the identity and death year.
Scholarly connections
Student: Umar bin Muhammad bin Alawi al-Muallim Ba Alawi. Al-Mashra al-Rawi explicitly states that Umar took knowledge from Ahmad bin Husayn al-Aydarus.