Ahmad bin Alawi bin Umar bin Aqil bin Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Muhammad Jamal al-Layl was a Ba Alawi scholar from Rawgha in Hadramawt. Al-Mashra al-Rawi records that he was raised by his father Alawi, learned the Qur’an in the recitation of Abu Amr and pursued jurisprudence, hadith, legal theory and the inward sciences from an early age.
He later travelled to India and then reached Mecca, where he performed Hajj, visited Medina and spent a period studying in the Two Holy Sanctuaries. Muhammad bin Abi Bakr al-Shilli writes in the first person that Ahmad studied Kitab al-Ta’arruf with him through close reading and discussion, together with works in hadith, jurisprudence and Arabic.
Al-Shilli states that he granted Ahmad a broad ijaza in his transmitted works and authored material and invested him with the khirqa through the chains he himself had received. The biography says that Ahmad then returned to India. At the point when al-Shilli wrote this notice, Ahmad was still living, so no death year is supplied here.
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 Alawi bin Umar bin Aqil bin Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Muhammad Jamal al-Layl. It records his Rawgha origin, education under his father, travel to India and the Haramain, study with al-Shilli, ijaza and khirqa, and subsequent return to India. The primary biography explicitly speaks of him as living at the time of writing and therefore supplies no death year.
Shams al-Zahirah fi Nasab Ahl al-Bayt min Bani Alawi, first edition (1404 AH / 1984 CE), printed page 492, independently places Ahmad within the Al Jamal al-Layl branch and gives the same paternal chain through Alawi bin Umar bin Aqil bin Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abdullah. It calls him Bahasan, says he was born in Rawgha, pursued jurisprudence, hadith and legal theory, travelled to India and Mecca, studied with scholars in Mecca, and then returned to India. The printed notice does not supply a death year, so none is inferred here.
Abd al-Hayy al-Hasani also gives Ahmad an exact-name entry in Nuzhat al-Khawatir wa Bahjat al-Masami wa al-Nawazir, volume 5, page 488. That entry explicitly introduces the account as drawn from al-Shilli in Al-Mashra al-Rawi and follows his account of Ahmad studying in Mecca and returning to India. It is therefore treated here as a dependent retelling rather than as a second independent witness.
Scholarly connections
Teacher: Muhammad bin Abi Bakr al-Shilli. Al-Shilli states directly that Ahmad read works with him in Mecca, received a general scholarly ijaza and was invested by him with the khirqa.