Abdullah Officially Becomes Ubaidillah in the 14th Century AH
Book Title: Measuring the Authenticity of Habib Lineage in Indonesia
Author: KH Imaduddin Utsman Al Bantani, leader of Nahdlatul Ulum Islamic Boarding School, Banten
First Edition: October 2022
Publisher: Maktabah Nahdatul Ulum
Translator: alkhoirot.org | Al-Khoirot Research and Publication
Field of Study: Islamic History, genealogy
Contents
- Abdullah Officially Becomes Ubaidillah in the 14th Century AH
- Conclusion of the Scientific Research
- Scientific Research is Not the Ultimate Truth
- Back to Book Measuring the Authenticity of Habib Lineage in Indonesia
ABDULLAH OFFICIALLY BECOMES UBAIDILLAH IN THE 14TH CENTURY AH
In the book Syams al-Zahirah by Sheikh Abdurrahman al-Mashhur (d. 1320 AH), it is explicitly stated that Abdullah held the title Ubaidillah. The full excerpt is as follows:
“This is a chapter explaining the children of a famous Sayyid, namely Ahmad
bin Isa bin Muhammad bin Ali al-Uraidhi bin Ja’far as-Sadiq r.a. He (Ahmad)
had two children: Muhammad and Abdullah, and this Abdullah was also named
Ubaidillah, and his kunya (patronymic) was Abu Alwi.” (Syams al-Zahirah:
51)
Sheikh Abdurrahman al-Mashhur explicitly mentions that the name
Abdullah is an alias for Ubaidillah. There is a discrepancy between Syams
al-Zahirah and the fifth-century books which state that Ahmad’s children
numbered three: Muhammad, Ali, and Husain. Syams al-Zahirah mentions that the
children of Ahmad bin Isa were two people: Muhammad and Abdullah. It removes
the names Ali and Husain and includes the name Abdullah. As mentioned
previously, the name Abdullah only began to be cited by Sheikh al-Kadzim in
the book an-Nafhah at the end of the 9th century Hijri—543 years after the
death of Ahmad bin Isa. Prior to this, the name Abdullah was not mentioned by
genealogical authors; it was not listed in books of the fifth, sixth, seventh,
eighth, or early ninth centuries. It was mentioned for a second time in the
tenth century by the book Tuhfat al-Thalib.
In an-Nafhah, it is
stated that Ahmad bin Isa had a son named Abdullah, and Abdullah had a son
named Abul Jadid, who would later descend to Abu Alwi in the 9th generation,
forming the Bani Abi Alwi. Meanwhile, the book Tuhfat al-Thalib states that
Abdullah directly had a son named Alwi, who would become the forefather of the
Bani Alawi. The book Syams al-Zahirah attempts to compromise these two by
stating that Abdullah had a son Alwi and held the titles Abu Alwi and Abul
Jadid, while adding a third name: Bashri. Thus, he had three children. From
where did that addition come? Wallahu a’lam (God knows best).
From
this, we conclude how complex the attribution of the Ba Alawi as descendants
of Ahmad bin Isa truly is. Besides the name Abdullah or Ubaidillah not being
recorded as a child of Ahmad bin Isa for 543 years, when the name suddenly
appeared, it did so with accompanying weaknesses. These weaknesses are caused
by several factors:
- The appearance of the name Abdullah at the end of the 9th century without citing references; it seems to have appeared out of a vacuum.
- When it appeared in the book Tuhfat al-Thalib in the tenth century, the author stated he found it in a ta’liq on a scrap of paper.
- When the book Syams al-Zahirah concluded that Abdullah is Ubaidillah, it did not specify which Abdullah—whether the Abdullah who had a son named Abul Jadid as in an-Nafhah, or the Abdullah who had a son named Alwi as in Tuhfat al-Thalib. An-Nafhah does not mention the name Alwi as a son of Abdullah, and Tuhfat al-Thalib does not mention the name Abul Jadid as a son of Abdullah. Yet, they were unified in Syams al-Zahirah as both being children of Abdullah.
The unification of Alwi and Abul Jadid as children of Abdullah leaves a problem because an-Nafhah states that the Bani Abi Alwi comes from the lineage of Abul Jadid. Meanwhile, the Ba Alawi we know today are from the lineage of Alwi, and the name Alwi bin Abdullah was not mentioned in the book an-Nafhah as a son of Abdullah.
CONCLUSION OF THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Based on the scientific data mentioned above, the author concludes that it is
extremely difficult, by scientific standards, to claim that the Ba Alawi are
the descendants of Ahmad bin Isa bin Muhammad bin Ali al-Uraidhi bin Ja’far
as-Sadiq bin Muhammad al-Baqir bin Ali Zainal Abidin bin Husain bin Fatima bin
the Great Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Wallahu a’lamu bi haqiqatil hal (And Allah
knows best the true reality of the matter).
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IS NOT THE ULTIMATE TRUTH
The author's research is not a judge over the ultimate truth or falsehood;
rather, it proceeds as a scientific study based on empirical facts that can be
re-examined by anyone who wishes to do so. Allah has made this era easier for
seekers of knowledge to obtain a wealth of scientific data; the books
mentioned by the author can be accessed directly via the internet.
As
a weak human being with all his shortcomings, the author is certainly willing
to receive input from various parties regarding this research. Wallahu a’lamu
bi haqiqatil hal.