Umar bin Abdullah Bagharib

(July 1883 – 24/6/1968)
84 years of age

image001Umar bin Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Umar bin Abdullah Bagharib was born in Tarim, Hadramaut, in Ramadan 1300 AH. This is according to Habib Muhammad bin Salim Al-Attas.

His father was a hafiz Al-Quran and had reportedly performed his haj 35 times by walking from Tarim to Mecca and Medina. He undertook the task to spread and teach Islam in the villages he passed through along the journey. Syeikh Umar’s mother was Shaykhah binte Sheikh ‘Awad Abu Bakr Bazeghefan. His fourth grandfather who carried the same name as him – Syeikh Umar bin Abdullah Bagharih – was a Qutub As-Siddiqah Al-Kubra who had more than 1000 students who had memorized Al-Quran. According to Syeikh Umar bin Abdullah Al-Khatib, among the students was the famous Habib Abdullah Al-Haddad (sahibul ratib).

When he was 13 years old, Syeikh Umar Bagharib was given the responsibility to teach. He then traveled to al-Qaryah to teach Syed Muhammad bin Husayn’s children for three years. Upon the request of Habib Ahmad bin Hassan Al-Attas, he then went to al-‘ajlaniyah to teach the children there, and became the imam for Masjid Al-Ajlaniyah when he was 18 years old.

It seems that his style of teaching was greatly accepted by children wherever they were because when he migrated to Singapore around 1935, he opened three classes for boys and girls, teaching them Arabic Language, Al-Quran and Fiqh. Due to his affinity to teach children, he was affectionately called Mu’allim (Teacher).

Those classes were held at Masjid Khadijah, the mosque where he was appointed and served as Imam for 33 years.

Besides teaching the children, he was also the teacher for Syeikh Umar bin Abdullah Al-Khatib. Although his son, Syeikh Zakaria bin Umar Bagharib, later became Syeikh Umar Al-Khatib’s student, Syeikh Umar’s humility obliged him to always kiss Syeikh Zakaria’s hand, as an honour to his father who was Syeikh Umar Al-Khatib’s teacher.

Syeikh Umar Bagharib was also the first khalifah for Tariqah Qadiriyah in Singapore. His syeikh was the Maulana Abdul Alim As-Siddiqi.

He passed away in Singapore, on Monday, 24 June 1968 (28 Rabiul Awal 1388) and was buried in Bidadari Cemetary.

May Allah bless his soul.

(Source: Syeikh Zakaria Bagahrib & Webmaster)

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