Ali bin Alawi Ba Alawi was an early Ba Alawi devotional figure of Tarim whose biography in Al-Mashra al-Rawi places him in the family of al-Faqih al-Muqaddam. He was born in Tarim, memorised the Quran and was raised in the company of his father.
The biography records that Ali performed Hajj and visited Madinah. It remembers him for sustained worship, frequent prayer and periods of seclusion near the grave of the Prophet Hud, peace be upon him, during Rajab, Shaban and Ramadan.
Karamat in the received tradition
Al-Mashra al-Rawi says that karamat and instances of spiritual perception were attributed to Ali. It also relates that people sought his prayers and believed that prayers he made for them were answered. The biography says that many people kept his company and received the khirqa from him. These reports are preserved as part of the devotional remembrance transmitted about him.
Al-Mashra al-Rawi records that Ali died in 709 AH and was buried in Zanbal Cemetery.
Lineage and source note
Primary source: Al-Mashra al-Rawi fi Manaqib al-Sada al-Kiram Al Abi Alawi, volume 2, biography of Ali bin Alawi of the line of al-Faqih al-Muqaddam. The section records his Tarim upbringing, pilgrimage, devotional practice, attributed karamat, death in 709 AH and burial at Zanbal.
The later chronicle Qiladat al-Nahr fi Wafayat Ayan al-Dahr independently identifies the same Ali bin Alawi through the lineage of al-Faqih al-Muqaddam, records that he encountered his grandfather al-Faqih al-Muqaddam while still of discerning age, notes his pilgrimage and khirqa transmission, and independently gives his death in 709 AH. The exact day in Rajab remains omitted here because later notices preserve different day readings.
Scholarly connections
The biography places Ali under the formative influence of his father and also remembers his grandfather al-Faqih al-Muqaddam in his early life. No broader teacher or student relationship is inferred beyond what the sources state.