Habib Umar bin Hafiz

Habib Umar bin Hafiz was born in 1963 in Tarim, Yemen, into the Ba'Alawi scholarly tradition as a sayyid, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. He memorized the Qur'an from childhood and studied jurisprudence, Arabic, hadith and the spiritual sciences under his father's guidance, beginning to teach at age 15. He went on to train in Taiz and the Hejaz under prominent scholars including al-Habib Ahmed Mashur al-Haddad.

Upon returning to Tarim, he established Dar al-Mustafa, an Islamic seminary that has drawn students from around the world and produced teachers now active across the UK, US and Indonesia. He has been listed among The 500 Most Influential Muslims for over a decade, ranking first in 2024, and travels widely for lectures, interfaith dialogue and humanitarian work through the Al-Rafah Charitable Society, which he co-founded to address poverty and healthcare in Tarim.