Abu Bakr bin Muhammad bin Hasan was a Ba Alawi scholar of Tarim known as Shayban and identified by Al-Mashra al-Rawi as an ancestor of the Ba Shayban family. He was born in Tarim, memorised the Quran and studied jurisprudence with Muhammad bin Abi Bakr Ba Abbad. The biography also places him among the students of Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf.
Abu Bakr later taught members of his family and other scholars, including figures from the al-Aydarus circle. Al-Mashra al-Rawi remembers him for eloquence, good character, care for people in hardship and regular adherence to devotional practice.
Karamat in the received tradition
The biography says that Abu Bakr was sometimes informed of hidden matters and that events would then unfold as he had described. It gives the example of companions who asked him about absent children, after which he told them the condition in which those children would be found. The account says that the report later corresponded with what they discovered. This is preserved as part of the traditional devotional biography transmitted about him.
Al-Mashra al-Rawi dates his death broadly to after 800 AH in Tarim.
Lineage and source note
Primary source: Al-Mashra al-Rawi fi Manaqib al-Sada al-Kiram Al Abi Alawi, volume 2, biography of Abu Bakr bin Muhammad bin Hasan Ba Shayban. It records his Tarim origin, Quran study, teachers, students, attributed extraordinary knowledge and death after 800 AH.
Scholarly connections
Teacher: Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf. Al-Mashra al-Rawi explicitly places Abu Bakr among his students.