Shaykh Abu Bakr bin Salim

His Lineage

He is Shaykh Abu Bakr bin Salim bin 'Abdullah bin 'Abd al-Rahman bin 'Abdullah bin Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf bin Shaykh Muhammad Mawla al-Dawilah, bin 'Ali Mawla Darak, bin 'Alawi al-Ghuyur, bin al-Faqih al-Muqaddam, Muhammad bin 'Ali, bin Muhammad Sahib Mirbat, bin 'Ali Khali' Qasam, bin 'Alawi, bin Muhammad Sahib al-Sawma'ah, bin 'Alawi, bin 'Ubaydullah, bin al-Imam al-Muhajir il-Allah Ahmad, bin 'Isa, bin Muhammad al-Naqib, bin 'Ali al-'Uraydi, bin Ja'far al-Sadiq, bin Muhammad al-Baqir, bin 'Ali Zayn al-'Abidin, bin Husayn al-Sibt, bin 'Ali bin Abu Talib and Fatimah al-Zahra’, the daughter of our Master Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets.

Tomb of Sheikh Abu Bakr bin Salim

His Life

Several of the 'Alawi Imams were given good tidings of the coming of Shaykh Abu Bakr, among them Imam al-'Adani. Shaykh 'Abdullah, the youngest son of Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf, was one day wondering how he could ever reach the station and prominence of his two brothers, 'Umar al-Mihdar and Abu Bakr al-Sakran. His father read his thoughts and said to him: “That prominence will be in your progeny.” Amongst this blessed progeny was Habib 'Umar bin 'Abd al-Rahman al-'Attas (the ancestor of all the great Imams of the al-'Attas clan) and Shaykh Abu Bakr bin Salim and all his blessed progeny. Shaykh Abu Bakr was born in Tarim in 919 (1513). His father took him to the Imam of Tarim at the time, Shaykh Shihab al-Din, Ahmad bin 'Abd al-Rahman, complaining that his son was having difficulty in memorising the Qur’an. The Shaykh said to his father: “Leave him and do not burden him. He will devote himself to it of his own accord and he will have a great affair.” It was as the Shaykh said: Shaykh Abu Bakr devoted himself to the Qur’an and memorised it in around four months. Then he applied himself to learning the inner and outer sciences from, among others, Shaykh Ahmad bin 'Alawi Ba Jahdab, Shaykh 'Umar bin 'Abdullah Ba Makhramah and Shaykh Ma'ruf Ba Jamal, from whom he received his opening.

In his youth, he lived in the village of al-Lisk, south of Tarim, and he would walk several miles by night to Tarim to pray in its mosques and visit its graves. He would fill up the tanks used for ablutions in the mosques and fill up troughs for animals to drink before returning to pray the Fajr prayer in al-Lisk. He later moved to Tarim but decided while still in his mid-twenties to move to the village of 'Aynat in the search of territory where he could spread the call to Allah and His Messenger . He built a mosque and house there and be-gan teaching and giving spiritual instruction. His fame spread and students started coming from different parts of Yemen and as far afield as India and North Africa. As a result, a new town grew up distinct from the old village of 'Aynat. He would send his students out to different regions to call people to Allah and educate them in the Sacred Law.

He had a great concern, like his predecessors, for the visit of the Prophet Hud . Leadership of the visit had passed from father to son since the time of al-Faqih al-Muqaddam until it reached Shaykh Shihab al-Din, who saw Shaykh Abu Bakr as being the most worthy of leadership. He duly passed it to him, and that leadership has remained in the descendants of Shaykh Abu Bakr until this day. It was Shaykh Abu Bakr who first established the great annual visit in Sha'ban, it being previously arranged according to the date harvest. In his old age he would be carried to the visit and when he was asked to compile a work on the merits of the visit, he said that the fact that he was still making the effort to visit in his old age was sufficient proof of its merit.

Shaykh Abu Bakr was immensely generous. He would supervise the affairs of his famous kitchen and distribute food with his own hands. He would bake a thousand loaves of bread for the poor every day – five hundred for lunch and five hundred for dinner. This was not including food prepared for his numerous guests. A poor dishevelled woman once came to give a small amount of food to the Shaykh. His servant turned her away saying: “Caravans are bringing goods to the Shaykh from far off places and he is not in need of what you have brought.” The Shaykh, however, was listening and he welcomed the woman, graciously accepted her offering and gave her a big reward in ex-change. He then chastised his servant, saying: “The one who does not show gratitude for small things will not show gratitude for great things. The one who does not show gratitude to people does not show gratitude to Allah.” Out of his humility in front of his Lord in the last fifteen years of his life, he would sit constantly as one sits in the prayer (tawarruk) even when with his family.

He would fast the three hottest months of the year and for fifteen years con-sumed nothing but milk and coffee. He never left praying the eight rakats of the Duha prayer and the eleven rakats of the Witr prayer even while travelling.

He was the author of several works, amongst them Miftah al-Sara’ir, a book which every seeker of Allah is in need of on his path. Shaykh Abu Bakr authored it at the age of 17. He expounded on some of his vast knowledge of spiritual realities in Mir'raj al-Arwah and Fath Bab al-Mawahib. He also composed a number of litanies and prayers upon the Prophet , the most famous of which is Salat al-Taj (the Prayer of the Crown) which is widely read in the Indian Sub-continent. One of his supplications was:

“O Allah, I ask You for knowledge direct from Your presence and a pure spring to drink from, O Bestower, O Free of all want!”

His Diwan is also a treasure trove of divine knowledge and wisdom. He said: “If you look upon your own self with the eye of discontentment, Allah looks upon you with the eye of contentment; if you look upon your own self with the eye of contentment, Allah looks upon you with the eye of discontentment.” “The dunya is the daughter of the akhirah (the next life). If someone marries the daughter, the mother becomes forbidden for him.”

He had thirteen sons and four daughters. 'Ali died before him and was the first to be buried in the cemetery which Shaykh Abu Bakr established in ‘Aynat. Imam Husayn was Shaykh Abu Bakr’s spiritual heir. Other sons included al-Hamid and 'Umar al-Mihdar. Through them, Shaykh Abu Bakr’s progeny spread far and wide and great imams emerged in each generation.

Amongst his students was Imam Ahmad bin Muhammad al-Habashi, whose grave lies beneath the grave of Imam Ahmad bin 'Isa al-Muhajr, at al-Husayyisa. Sayyid Ahmad bin Muhammad would come every day from al-Husayyisa to 'Aynat to attend Shaykh Abu Bakr’s lesson. He is the ancestor of many great Imams from the Habashi tribe, amongst them Habib Ahmad bin Zayn and Habib 'Ali bin Muhammad. Other students included Sayyid 'Abd al-Rahman bin Muhammad al-Jifri, Shaykh Hasan bin Ahmad Ba Shu'ayb and Sayyid Yusuf bin 'Abid al-Hasani whose arrival from Fes in the Maghrib was fore-told by Shaykh Abu Bakr.

His Death

A year before his death, Shaykh Abu Bakr led the visit to the Prophet Hud and thousands crowded around him, almost fighting to kiss and touch him. When he saw this he wept profusely and repeated Allah’s words: He is but a slave upon whom We have bestowed Our blessings.(Al-Zukhruf, 42:59)

Shaykh Abu Bakr finally breathed his last in Dhu’l-Hijjah 992 (1583). He was buried in his cemetery in 'Aynat and a dome was erected over him. He said during his life that he would place secrets in the sand dune in which he is buried, and its blessed sand has been used time and again for healing purposes. Visitors on the way to the Prophet Hud traditionally stop to pay their re-spects to Shaykh Abu Bakr, who contributed so much to the visit. He said:

Do you not know that we are people of honour,

and that the one who loves us will always be under our banner?

We are generous people so whoever comes to us

seeking will attain felicity when he meets us.

The source of book "Imams of the Valley" Dar al-Turath al-Islami (DTI)