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Hadhramaut: A Religious Centre for the Indian Ocean in the Late 19th and Early 20thCenturies?Author(s): Ulrike FreitagReviewed work(s):Source: Studia Islamica, No. 89 (1999), pp. 165-183Published by: Maisonneuve & LaroseStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1596090 .Accessed: 27/03/2012 15:54

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Studia Islamica, 1999

Hadhramaut: a religious centre for the Indian Ocean in the late 19th and early

20h centuries ? (1)

Introduction

If one talks to contemporary Hadhrami scholars, matters seem fairly clear: In the late 19th century Hadhramaut, a region situated on the southern borders of the Arabian Peninsula, became once more a blooming centre of Shafi'i Islamic scholarship and jurisprudence. In discussions, the arbita or religious colleges are normally mentioned as the focal points of scholarship and teaching. Such colleges were most notably established in Say'un in 1878-9 and in Tarim in 1885-7, and these were in the early 20th century joined by the ribat of Ghayl Ba Wazir (1902). In addition, a number of smaller and partly older colleges existed throu- ghout the Wadi. Particularly in Tarim, it was proudly repeated to me over and over again, standards were attained comparable only to al- Azhar in Egypt. Such views are supported by the - need I say Hadhrami? - historians such as Muhammad Ahmad al-Shatiri, who proudly pro- claims: "We do not exaggerate when we say that often the graduates of the Hadhrami shari'a colleges were better than the 'ulama' of the Azhar in Shafi'i jurisprudence" (2). The importance of such arbita, if one fol- lows this tradition further, reached far beyond the confines of the

(1) The research for this paper in Yemen was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. I would like to thank Prof. Sean O'Fahey and Dr. Oleg Redkin for their comments.

(2) Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Shatiri, Adwar al-tarikh al-hadrami, 3rd. ed. Tarim 1994, p. 422, deve-

lops this argument.

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Hadhramaut or, indeed, the Yemen. While religious and intellectual connections with the Hijaz, Egypt, and India are readily acknowledged, East Africa in particular figures as an area to which Hadhramaut had, at best, relations which might be described as "religious development aid", i.e. sending out missionaries to Islamise uneducated Africans ('). I would like to add that, talking to Singaporis and Indonesians of Arab descent, they not only tend to emphasise the important contribution of the community to Southeast Asian Islam, but - perhaps more implicitly than explicitly - link this to the long tradition of Arab learning in their homeland.

With regard to East Africa, where such views are clearly the strongest, the Arab view finds support from authors such as Kagabo who, after analysing a good number of Swahili 'ulamd' during the period under discussion, comes to the conclusion that they obtained their training first on the African coast and then moved on to the "grands centres de perfectionnement d'Arabie ou du Hadramaut" (), following in the footsteps of the Sunni-Shafi'i tradition which is often assumed to have been introduced by Hadhramis. The study of leading East African 'ulamd' of the 19th century has led Brad Martin to go even as far as to suggest that Zanzibar and its dependencies in this period, i.e. much of the East African coast from northern Moqambique to southern Somalia, might be considered as "an annex of the Hadhramawt culturally and intellectually" (5). It should not be forgotten in this context that a good number of the Swahili 'ulama' whose study has given rise to such state- ments, were of Hadhrami origin. One example is the well-known scholar 'Abdallah b. Muhammad Ba Kathir al-Kindi (1860-61-1925) from Lamu, another the qadi and mufti of Zanzibar, Ahmad b. Abi Bakr b. 'Abdallah Bin Sumayt.

The intention of this paper is to deconstruct this historiographical tradition. While Hadhramaut clearly had an important role in earlier Isla- mic scholarship and is considered by Voll to have played a central role as a "linking area" for the Indian Ocean as late as the eighteenth century, it had lost this intellectual role by the nineteenth (6). I do not doubt that

(3) This picture is based on a series on interviews in the Hadhrami towns of al-Mukalla, Say'un and Tarim between October and December 1996.

(4) Jose Kagabo, "Reseaux d'ulama "swahili" et liens de parente", pp. 59-72 in Le Guennec-Cop- pens & Caplan, Les Swahilis entre Afrique et Arabie, Paris, Nairobi 1991, here p. 69.

(5) B. G. Martin, "Notes on Some Members of the Learned Classes of Zanzibar and East Africa in the Nineteenth Century", in African Historical Studies 4;3 (1971), pp. 525-545, here p. 530.

(6) John O. Voll, Islam, Continuity and Change in the Modern World, Boulder 1982, p. 70. For the state of scholarship during the 15th to 17th centuries, c.f. Sa'id 'Awadh Ba Wazir, al-Fikr wa-l-Tha- qdfafi 'l-tarikh al-hadrami, Cairo 1961, p. 89ff. and al-Shatiri, Adwdr, pp. 301-326. For a Hadhrami saint of wider Islamic importance c.f. Esther Peskes, "Der Heilige und die Dimensionen seiner Macht. Abu Bakr al-'Aidarus (gest. 1509) und die sayid-sufis von Hadramaut", in QSA 13, 1995, pp. 41-72.

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HADHRAMAUT: A RELIGIOUS CENTRE FOR THE INDIAN OCEAN

East African, Indian, Hijazi and Southeast Asian 'ulamd' and others continued to entertain relations with Hadhramaut, but I would like to question whether this was really due to its role as a centre of religious learning of truly international standing (even if this were only limited to Shafi'i Islam). Instead of supporting this view, I will argue in the first part of this paper that the state of religious learning in the period under consideration was in a rather sorry state, in spite of some attempts to change that situation. I'd then like to move on in the second part of the paper to the reasons for which East African scholars, such as the founder of the Riydd school of Lamu, Sayyid Salih b. 'Alawi Jamal al-Layl, specifically sought ijaza-s from Hadhrami teachers in order to legitimise their role in East Africa 0. This will lead me to the role of a particular sufi-order, the tariqa 'alawiyya.

The reform of religious learning in Hadhrnmaut in the 19th century

The political situation in Hadhramaut in the 19th c. can be described as fairly chaotic, as Friedhelm Hartwig's dissertation has shown. It saw the struggle of two rival Hadhrami officers from Hyderabad, Ghalib b. Muhsin al-Kathiri (d. 1870-71) and 'Umar b. 'Awad al-Qu'ayt. (d. 1865) for supremacy in a country torn by political divisions. By the early 1880s, the political situtation began to stabilize with the emergence of a Qua'ayti sultanate on the coast and the interior city of Shibam and of a Kathiri sultanate centred around the towns of Say'un and Tarim in Wadi Hadhramaut. However, the rivalries between the two sultanates, their struggle for territorial control outside the main cities and the emergence of new competitors seeking to establish their own fiefdoms kept the political situation rather unstable until 1936-37, when a series of peace agreements effectively established lasting peace in the area ().

Political instability might have been one of the reasons why the religious learning for which Hadhramaut had been famous in the preceding centuries went into decline in the 1 lth/18th century. Although the 19th and 20th centuries did see a number of renowned scholars, a real cultural revival - and this time in more secular terms - only started in 1940

(7) Abdul Hamid El Zein, The Sacred Meadows. A Structural Analysis of Religious Symbolism in an East African Town. Northwestern University Press 1974, p. 128. The ijaza by the founder of the ribat of Say'in, 'AlT b. Muhammad al-Hibshi, which was addressed to three East African scholars col- lectively, is reprinted in 'All b. Muhammad al-Hibshi, Majmu' tasadyc wa-ijdzat. Singapore 1990, p. 514.

(8) For a survey of the political situation, c.f. Friedhelm Hartwig, "Expansion, State Foundation and Reform: the contest for power in Hadhramaut in the 19th century", pp. 35-50, Linda Boxberger, "Hadh- rami Politics 1888-1967: Conflicts of Identity and Interest", pp. 51-66 and Ulrike Freitag, "Hadhramis in International Politics, c. 1750 to 1967", pp. 112-130, all in Freitag & Clarence-Smith, Hadhrami Tra- ders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s to 1960s. Leiden: E.J. Brill 1997.

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with the reorganisation of the educational system, according to Ba Wazir, the historian of the cultural movement of Hadhramaut (9). Since the majority of authors focussing on Hadhrami education tend to prefer modernist salafi tendencies and to be rather critical of the mostly sayyid- led religious education (10), the following paragraphs will try to review

developments in the late 19th century and discuss the efforts to revive

religious teaching, to which many contemporary Hadhramis like to refer. However, I would contend that these were rather short-lived, because the upheavals which followed the outbreak of World War I (economic hardship, isolation, emigration) and the development, from the 1920s onwards, of a different style of education which departed from the exclusively religious (and linguistic) orientation of reformed

religious schools undermined the earlier achievements. As will be shown, it is more than unrealistic to compare the arbita or religious col-

leges which were founded during that period with al-Azhar in Cairo, even if one takes into consideration that al-Azhar itself underwent dras- tic reforms from the 1870s (").

The first initiative to revive religious education in Hadhramaut came from 'Ali b. Muhammad al-Hibshi (1843-1915) (12), who had, significantly enough, studied for two extended periods in the Hijaz with his father, the Shafi'i mufti of Mecca ('3), as well as with the noted scholar and teacher of so many Shafi'i 'ulama' of his generation, Ahmad Zayni al- Dahlan (14). After his return to Hadhramaut, he settled in Say'un, where he took to teaching in mosques, until he built his own mosque, al- Riydd, in 1878/79, to which he attached a formal college or ribat which exists to this day. While al-Hibshi succeeded in attracting large numbers

(9) Ba Wazir, al-Fikr pp. 163-188. For a similar interpretation, c.f. Salah al-Bakri al-Yafi'i, Fijanab al-jazira al-'arabiyya, Cairo 1949, p. 225.

(10) Ba Wazir and al-Bakri, c.f. Karama Mubirak Sulayman, al-Tarbiya wa-l-ta'limfi 'shatr al-janubi min al-Yaman, vol. 1: 1930-1970, Sana'a 1994, particularly p. 54 and more openly in an interview in Tarim on Dec. 11, 1996. On al-Bakri's and Ba Wazir's views, c.f. R.B. Serjeant, "Historians and Histo- riography of Hadramawt", in BSOAS 25 (1962), pp. 249-251. An exception to this rule are the comments by al-Shatiri in his Adwdr al-tdrikh al-hadrami, see note 1.

(11)J. Jomier, "Al-Azhar" in EF, vol. 1, pp. 813-821, here p. 817f. 'Ali 'Abd al-Qfdir al-Hibshi, current head of the ribat in Say'un and great-grandson of the founder of this institution, maintains that the decline set in as early as World War I which caused massive emigration due to economic hardship (personal communication, Say'un, 16.8.1995), while 'Abdallah al-Haddad claimed that the real decline started with World War II (personal communication, al-Mukalla, 16.10.1996). According to 'Abdallah b. Hasan Balfaqih, Tadhkirat al-bdhitth al-muhtdt fi shu'un wa-tdrikh al-ribdat, Tarim (n.d.), p. 20, the decline of the ribat of Tarim set in after the death of 'All al-Mashhur in 1344 (1925-6).

(12) On him see Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli, al-A'ldm, 6th. ed. Beirut 1984, vol. 5 p. 19 and Abu Bakr al- Mashhur, Lawami' al-Nur. Nukhba rinm A'lIm Hadramawt, Sana'a 1412 (1991-92), pp. 197-203.

(13) On him see Muhammad 'Abd al-Qadir Ba Matraf, al-Jami, 2nd. ed., Aden 1984, vol. 3, p. 325f. (14) On Dahlan (1817-1886) see J. Schacht, "Dahlan", in Elr, vol. 3, p. 91 and al-Zirikli, al-A'ldm,

vol. 1, pp. 129f. Dahlan was also teacher of Shaykh 'Abdallah b. Muhammad Ba Kathir al-Kindi, c.f. Mar- tin, "Notes", p. 539.

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of students, and clearly seems to have revived religious learning (as well as to have fashioned himself as a new saint, which is attested by the annual ziydra to his grave), he did not revolutionise or restructure reli- gous learning ('l). The ribat provided a new style setting as well as a cer- tainly very powerful personality. However students still migrated between their different teachers in the various mosques and zawdyd (16), and the curriculum does seem to have followed more or less traditional lines which were strongly influenced by the teachings of the tarlqa 'alawiyya.

A more radical approach came from the large diaspora abroad. Hadh- ramis around the Indian Ocean had become acquainted with ideas of pan-Islamic co-operation, Islamic modernism and the salafiyya movement, which were developed and disseminated in Cairo, Istanbul and the Hijaz as well as India and which reached Southeast Asia as well as the East African coast long before they achieved popularity in Hadhra- maut itself ('7). For developments in Hadhramaut, the rise of Singapore and its development into a centre for Muslim economic and cultural activity proved of particular importance. Although comparatively few in numbers - Roff mentions 919 Arabs (overwhelmingly Hadhramis) for 1901 (18) - they rose to elite status not only thanks to their origin, which was assumed to endow them with particular piety and knowledge of Islam, but also as a result of their economic success as traders and merchants. As communications improved during the last quarter of the nineteenth century with the introduction of steamships in the Indian Ocean, Hadhramis developed the habit of sending their sons off to Hadhramaut to receive religious learning and acquire the language and culture of their fathers (19). However, there was a certain dissatisfaction about the level of scholarship in their homeland. While an attempt to introduce education in the natural sciences in the late nineteenth century is reported to have been met with outright hostility by the sayyids of Hadhramaut (20), the less conspicuous idea of improving religious education found support among rich merchants in Singapore and Java.

(15) On the ribat and the controversial way in which he promoted the mawlid nabawl see 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Ubaydillah al-Saqqaf, "Hadramawt: Biladuha wa-sukkanuha", al-Alrab 4;3 (1996), pp. 242- 253, here p. 245f.

(16) According to 'All 'Abd al-Qadir al-Hibshi, 'All b. Muhammad al-Hibshi had around 1000 students, although he apparently issued only 110 ijdzct and letters of "advice" (wasdyd), see his Majm'.

(17) See Voll, Islam, pp. 87-147 for the wider picture. (18) William R. Roff, "The Malayo-Muslim World of Singapore at the Close of the Nineteenth Cen-

tury" in Journal of Asian Studies 24 (1964), pp. 75-90, here p. 81. (19) L.WC. van den Berg, Le Hadhramaout et les Colonies Arabes dans I'archipel indien, Batavia

1886, p. 214. D. Van der Meulen & H. von Wissmann, Hadramaut. Some of its Mysteries Unveiled, Leiden 1932, p. 89.

(20) Van den Berg, Le Hadhramaout, p. 96.

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A number of members from the Al al-Haddad, Al al-Sirri, Al al-Junayd and Al 'Irfan undertook to collect donations among the rich merchants (21). A committee was formed to oversee the investment of the funds in real estate, its endowment as a waqf(on March 10, 1886) and the establishment of a religious college in Tarim, following the example of al-Hibshi (22). A representative in Hadhramaut acquired buildings close to the Great Mosque of Tarim which were turned into a school with adjacent rooms to accomodate students from afar. School and board were free to encourage students from poor families, although this translated into rather austere living conditions for students without additional funds (23).

In order to ensure the success of this effort to revive Tarim as a centre for religious learning, the general directorship for the school, which opened its doors in 1887, was entrusted to 'Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad al-Mashhir (1835-1902), the "Mufti of Hadhramaut" and author of Shams al-zahira, the famous genealogy of Hadhrami sayyids (24). Six teachers were initially engaged, three of whom had studied abroad, usually in the Hijaz (2S). The most experienced and widely travelled at this stage was 'Alawi b. 'Abd al-Rahman b. Abi Bakr al- Mashhur (1846/7-1922), who had spent time in Egypt and the Yemen as well as in the Hijaz (26). His colleague Hasan b. 'Alawi Bin Shihab (1852- 1914) was an outspoken social reformer (2).

This concentration of what might be termed the cream of religious teachers in Tarim in one institution revolutionised the style of teaching. Instead of individualised instruction, students now studied as a group following a common curriculum in a structured way, along the lines of Egyptian and Hijazi educational institutions (2). While the earlier studies in the mosques had been conducted basically at the pace chosen

(21) Balfaqih, Tadhkira, p. 18. (22) Balfaqih, Tadbkira, p. 24 and p. 11, n. 1. (23) Personal communication by Shaykh 'Abdallah al-Haddad, 16.10.1996, in which he recalled that

the daily food consisted of a cup of sweet coffee in the morning, 9 dates for breakfast and a bowl of rice in the evening. This might be the only aspect in which Tarim was truly comparable to al-Azhar and indeed other Islamic institutions of the time, see Taha Hussayn's memoirs al-Ayyam on this period.

(24) This is a honorific title which may be used to denote the most distinguished scholar of a particular period, i.e., it is not an official position. Personal communication by 'Abdallah al-Haddad, 16.10.1996, who himself has been called by this title. On 'Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad al-Mashh0r see al-Mashh0r, Lawami, pp. 173-177 and Balfaqih, Tadhkira, p. 19f., on al-Shams al-zahira Engseng Ho, "Hadhramis Abroad in Hadhramaut: the Muwalladin", in Freitag & Clarence-Smith, Hadhrami Traders, pp. 131-146.

(25) Balfaqih, Tadhkira, p. 22-25 and footnotes for biographies, additional biographical information in al-Mashhfr, Lawdmi'.

(26) Al-Mashhur, lawami', pp. 17-31. (27) On him see 'Ali b. Salim Sa'id Bukayr, "Da'wa ila '1-islah fi waqt mubakkir" in al-Hikma 137

(April 1987), pp. 95-108 with further references. (28) This link to Egypt is made by Sulayman (personal communication, 11.12.1996). The reference

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by individual teachers and students, and could continue as long as they felt necessary, studies at the ribat of Tarim lasted for a prescribed period of four years. They still took place, however, in the form of halaqat, i.e. students sitting in circles on the floor with the teacher in the middle (29). Of course this did not prevent students or graduates from

following such lessons outside their official studies, a practice which is still common in Wadi Hadhramaut (30).

The most important innovation, however, was the weight which was laid on jurisprudence and the training of future judges and muftis, in contrast to earlier religious education. This had focussed on the individual relation between teacher and student, and had concentrated on theology and tasawwuf alongside the teachings of the tariqa 'alawiyya (31). The former subjects were by no means banned, however, and public lectures (siddra) by the leading sufi of each generation introduced (32).

By the changes outlined above, and due to the great success of the ribat in attracting students, teaching and religious knowledge became institutionalised in a new way. The individual relationship between teacher and student was replaced by the more structured group teaching, and religious knowledge was - at least to a certain extent - functionali- sed as a way of obtaining a future living. In part, this might have been a reflection of the diaspora character of the larger Hadhrami community, and the input from the diaspora merchants who hoped to send their children for some time to the ribat: discussing Hadhrami education in Indonesia two decades later, Mobini-Kesheh observed that the aim of enabling graduates to support themselves independently was "a natural virtue for a small migrant community" (33).

to Mecca (as well as to Egypt) can be found in Hasan b. 'Alawi Bin Shihab, Nilhat al-watanfi istinhdd himam duwi 'I-ftan wa-man bihifitan, Singapore, n.d. (1905 or later), p. 18. Since the benefactors lived mostly in Singapore and Batavia, it is conceivable that they had taken similar ideas from the existing colonial schools.

(29) C.f. Sulayman, al-Tarbiya, picture on p. 57. A vivid impression of the teaching is given in al- Mashhur, Lawami, p. 350f. On the importance of spatial arrangements in general see Michael Gilse- nan, Recognizing Islam, London 1992, pp. 187-191. More specifically on schools see Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, Cambridge 1988, pp. 74-87, although I disagree with much of his interpretation.

(30) Observations in 1995 and 1996. (31) Sulayman, al-Tarbiya, p. 90f. and personal communication, 11.12.1996. (32) Balfaqih, Tadhkira pp. 28-31. There exists a striking similarity between the arbita of Tarim

and Lamu, which incidentally opened in the same year - although teaching in Lamu was actually more elaborate than at the "Hadhrami Azhar". On Lamu see Bin Sumeit Khitamy, "The Role of the Riyadah Mosque-College in Enhancing the Islamic Identity in Kenya", in Mohamed Bakari & Saad S. Yahya, Islam in Kenya, Mombasa 1995, pp. 269-277.

(33) Natalie Mobini-Kesheh, The Hadrami Awakening: Community and Identity in the Netherlands East Indies, 1900-1942. Unpublished PhD thesis, Monash 1996, p. 113.

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This met with the opposition particularly from followers of the tarlqa 'alawiyya, many of whom were noteworthy scholars (34). The tariqa 'alawiyya, which is characterised by its adherents as following the teachings of al-Ghazali with regard to the outward interpretation of Islam (al-zdhir) and the tradition of the Sddhbiliyya order for recognition of the inner truth (3s), stresses concentration on the religion, din, and its inner meaning, and propagates the renunciation of worldly goods. "They wanted [...] no part in dunya [world] nor in its positions of leadership" (36), which was of course exactly what the students of the ribdt were trained for, among other things. The institutionalisation of religion, which resulted from the foundation of the ribdit, seemed to exemplify this outward orientation. One might see here an expression of the conflict between internally oriented sufi learning (din for din's sake, so to speak) and scholarship which used din for the specific needs of the dunyd, which developed in the long run into a hegemonic conflict over the nature and interpretation of Islamic knowledge. Inter- estingly, this tension seems to be a dim reflection of the wider discussions which developed during the integration of Muslim societies into the capitalist world system in the 18th and 19th centuries (3).

However, it would be wrong to equate support or resistance for the new schools with the acceptance or rejection of worldly matters and the reform of society. Clearly, both tendencies were represented in the arbita - as indeed in the tariqa 'alawiyya - as shows the dispute over Hasan b. 'Alawi Bin Shihab's critique of religious learning, in which his former colleague and teacher at the ribd.t, 'Alawi b. 'Abd al-Rahman al- Mashhuir, was involved. A further example that such simple distinctions do not reflect reality is the case of the founder of the ribat of Ghayl Ba Wazir, Shaykh Muhammad b. Salim (1274/1857-1329/1912) (38). A native

(34) Sulayman, al-Tarbiya, p. 54 and personal communication, 11.12.1996. This view was shared by 'Abdallah al-Haddad, personal communication, 16.12.1996. Unfortunately, I have not found any further written material on this issue. On the tariqa 'alawiyya, see R.B. Serjeant, The Sayiyids of Hadramawt, London 1957, p. 19f.; Abdallah al-Attas, The Way of Bani Alawi, Tarim, n.d. [photoco- pied typescript, obtained by Franck Mermier in Tarim in 1996, it seems to be an abridged translation of the following title], 'Abdallah b. 'Alawi al-'Attas, al-'Ilm al-nibrds fi '-tanbih 'ala minhaj al-akyas, n.d., n.p., 'Alawi b. Tahir al-Haddad 'Uqud al-almis, 3 vol. ed Singapore.

(35) Al-'Attas, al-'lm al-nibras, p. 21f., al-Haddad, 'Uqud al-almds, pp. 65-74, 1991. (36) Al-Attas, The Way, p. 4. (37) Voll, Islam, pp. 145-147, more specifically on schools Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, pp. 87-92.

For example, a similar criticism of education for employment rather than knowledge is expressed in al- Muwaylihi's Hadilh 'Isd b. Hisham. See Roger Allan, A Period of Time, Part One, A Study of Muham- mad al-Muwaylihi's Hadith Isa ibn Hisham, Oxford 1992, p. 121.

(38) The following discussion is based on Sa'id 'Awadh Ba Wazir, Safahldt min al-tdrikh al-hiadrami, Aden (n.d.), pp. 201-213, unless indicated otherwise. Another example is Shaykh 'Abdallah al-Haddad, who after his studies in Tarim in the 1940s was originally not willing to accept a post as judge in the Qu'ayti state, preferring instead to cultivate a small plot of land and to continue with his sufi practices. Personal communication, 13.10.1996.

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of al-Shihr, Shaykh Muhammad had studied in Egypt and after his return refused the office of qddl in his hometown, preferring teaching over the more worldly concerns of a judge. Interestingly, his educational approach met with a certain amount of opposition, which might have been one of the reasons why he established his ribdt in Ghayl Ba Wazir (1902) (39). During his lifetime this became the most important educational institution on the Hadhrami coast, although it never quite attained the same reputation as Tarim. A number of minor arbita were founded as well, such as the ones in al-Khurayba (Wadi Daw'an), 'Aynat and Qaydun (4().

Results of the reforms

How radical was this first "renaissance" or nahda? (41) Does it point to the emergence, in Hadhramaut, of a rejuvenated religious centre? Cer- tainly, the level of studies - four years after the kuttdb which only taught basic skills in reading, writing and some basic study of the religion, makes the ribat of Tarim comparable to a secondary school rather than to al-Azhar, where one could study for full twelve years (after 1896), or to the Riydd of Lamu with its eleven years of education (42). As already mentioned, the arbita attempted at best to provide a new form of study and a different focus from the older ways of learning.

To what extent the implementation of even such rather modest aims was successful, is a different matter. The severe criticism expressed by Hasan b. 'Alawi Bin Shihab in his Nihlat al-watan, written in 1905 in Sin- gapore, raises certain doubts. It seems to be the late and embittered response of a disillusioned reformer and former teacher at the ribdt who already during his stay in Hadhramaut had antagonised many conservative scholars by his directness, to the extent that his enemies at one stage even cut off the ears of his donkey to harm and embarrass its owner (43). Even if we take this background into consideration, Bin Shihab's criticism of learning is the first in a long series of complaints by reformers, and therefore deserves to be taken seriously, although its

(39) Sa'id 'Awadh Ba Wazir, "Mudhakkirat". Unpubl. manuscript, Ghayl Ba Wazir (1945-6), p. 2.

Interestingly, the author does not mention this opposition in his Safahat, which were intended to pre- sent its readers with positive historical examples.

(40) Al-Shatiri, Adwar, p. 423. (41) The term is used for example by Shatiri, Adwar, p. 421. (42) Personal communication, 'Abdallah al-Haddad, 16.10.1996, c.f. Jomier, "al-Azhar", p. 817f. and

Bin Sumeit al-Khishany, "The Role", p. 272. (43) 'All b. Salim Sa'id Bukayr, "Da'wa ila 'l-islah fi waqt mubakkir" in al-Hikma 137 (April 1987),

pp. 95-108, here p. 96.

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comparison to the writings of 'All 'Abd al-Raziq and Taha Husayn, suggested by an enthusiastic reviewer (44), seems slightly exaggerated (4c).

Nihlat al-watan is a 40 page appeal to renew education in Hadhra- maut, written, according to its author, in response to a letter from Hadh- ramaut which complained about the loss of morality and tyranny and condemned the silence of the 'ulamd' in this crisis (46). Bin Shihab sup- ports the view of the anonymous writer that religious scholars had a

particular duty to speak out against the destructive clannishness and egotism which prevailed in Hadhramaut. Instead of fulfilling this noble task, however, they lacked any convincing approach:

"It is well known that there will not be any success if there is no

genuine call by the 'alim, the guide (7) and the reformer for education and guidance and reform and righteousness. Such is the situation at the moment with our scholars and their teaching" (48).

Bin Shihab referred to a well-known hadith about the 'ulama' as the "heirs of the prophets" (9), the ones on whom the burden to guide the intellects was cast. Therefore, it was insufficient if they were righteous themselves, they had the duty to lead others to righteousness, even if this duty caused fatigue of body and mind and went beyond the current practice of simply giving the traditional lectures to the students (5").

"In reality it [the duty] is broader and more complete and useful. It is a duty which relates to all cases and circumstances and is linked with the remainder of religious and worldly issues. If complete, this is expressed in teaching and guidance and the fulfillment of the tasks such as the issuing offatawa and the judiciary. All these three [areas of activity] are currently unorganised and without a system which leads us to the required [results]" (S').

The author contends that the only changes which had so far been effected, such as "leaving the sanctification to the old" (52), merely scrat-

(44) Bukayr, "Da'wa", p. 95. (45) Similar observations, albeit in a much less systematic way, were made by Muhammad Bin

Hashim, Rilila ild thagrayn, Cairo, n.d. (1931 or after), p. 53; Salih b. Ghalib al-Qu'ayti, Rihlat al-sultan ila Dau'an ,, MS 2055, Tarim, p. 35, Ba Wazir, "Mudhakkirat", p. 4-6.

(46) Bin Shihab, Nilila, p. 3f.

(47) Bin Shihab uses the sufi term mnurshid. (48) Ibid., p. 9. (49) A.J. Wensick, Concordance et Indices de la Tradition Musulmane, vol. 4, Leiden 1962, p. 321.

(50) The term used here repaetedly is saldli. Bin Shihab, Niltla, p. 10. (51) Ibid., p. 1Of. (52) Ibid., p. 11. This passing comment seems to suggest, however, that the tariqa 'alawiyya had

also been affected by what Voll terms neo-sufi style ideas (Voll, Islam, p. 36f.) and what, in light of

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ched appearances. With regard to the content of teaching, Bin Shihab criticised the neglect of many branches of jurisprudence, such as usul al-fiqh, logic and rhetoric, and in another context emphasises the role of "the power of the intellect" (53). Teaching methods were outdated, and he explicitly suggests forming groups of students studying the same subject on the basis of their academic level "as it is done in Mecca and Egypt, where the 'dlim sits [in the middle], surrounded by his students and others" (54). The current situation, in which able students cannot find support from their teachers, prompts them to emigrate, he argues, and he appeals to the wealthy to invest in education (5) :

"Fatherland [watan], is a noble word, but few are those amongst us who understand its meaning. Most of them think that they love their fatherland by not leaving it, and they do not realise that they resemble the women, children and animals. The person who loves something does not mind spending money on it and on himself, in order to please the one he loves, and hoping to benefit his love" (56).

While staying completely within an Islamic tradition, i.e. by only asking to extend the canon of subjects to all branches of jurisprudence (instead of extending it to include secular subjects, as had already hap- pened in Egypt, had been suggested for Hadhramaut and was about to occur there), Bin Shihab clearly employs the rhetoric of reformers. He notably suggests the emulation of the Egyptian example of the reorganisation of teaching. Finally, his employment of the concept "watan" clearly points to his familiarity with the emerging ideology of Arab nationalism, not surprisingly, given that he himself wrote not only for the Hadhrami press in Southeast Asia but for the Egyptian journals al- Manar and al-Mu'ayyad (57). Thus, one may summarise that Bin Shihab constitutes an early link between Hadhramaut and Islamic modernism (w) and thus serves to support the observation that the local developments described here have to be situated in a wider context.

recent criticism of the term neo-Sufism (see R.S. O'Fahey & Bernd Radtke, "Neo-Sufism Reconsidered", Der Islam 70, 1993, pp. 52-87), might better be described as a specific branch of Islamic reformism in the colonial period.

(53) Bin Shihab, Nil.ha, p. 11, 16 (the quote). This is an interesting sign of individualisation, another major theme in the discussions surrounding neo-sufism.

(54) Ibid., p. 18. (55) Ibid., pp. 20, 30. (56) Ibid., p. 36. (57) Al-Zirikli, al-Al'dm, vol. 2, p. 199 and Mashhur, Lawami, p. 347. (58) C.f. on this issue Werner Ende, "Schiitische Tendenzen bei sunnitischen Sayyids aus Hadhra-

maut", in Der Islam 50 (1973), pp. 82-97.

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It may well be the recognition that Bin Shihab stood for wider trends in the Islamic world which were to threaten the old ways in Hadhra- maut, rather than mere anger in Tarim over the criticism of its flagship institution, which prompted his opponents to issue angry replies. 'Alawi al-Mashhur, we are told by his grandson, "answered this letter disappro- ving of his views on anything which he [Bin Shihab] called reform" (59). Another outraged response came from Abu Bakr b. 'Abd al-Rahman Bin Shihab, while the young scholar 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Ubaydillah al-Saqqaf (1883-1956), later Mufti of Hadhramaut and famous for his radical views which brought him in conflict with the conservative Hadhrami society and its rulers ('), wrote a poem in support of Bin Shihab's view ('). The

sensitivity of the debate was still obvious when, in 1997, I broached the

topic with a Singaporean scholar of Hadhrami extraction. On the level of Hadhrami education, however, his text shows us just

how little the intended reforms had achieved. It may be assumed that the original intentions had not only been thwarted by outright opposition, but were yet far from achieving any hegemonic quality. The case of the ribdt of Ghayl is indeed rather typical and shows how much these institutions depended on the input of outstanding individuals: After the death of its founder, no suitable successor was found. Eventually, some of the students took over and, for want of sufficient training and insight, reverted to the traditional methods of teaching. Thereafter, the academic level "did not differ in anything from the katatlb which existed during this period [the 1920s] on the coast" (62). This resembles the course of events in Say'un, where, "since the death of its late Principal Sayyed Ali-al-Habashi, no one takes much interest in the institution" (,3).

Dissatisfaction with this state of affairs seems to have been the dri- ving force behind the formation, around 1915, of aJam'iyyat al-.Haqq, in Tarim, which had once again been prompted by notables in Bata- via (64). The aim of the society was to advocate the advancement of religious, juridicial and literary science in Java and Hadhramaut and the afo- rementioned 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Ubaydillah al-Saqqaf was commissioned

(59) Al-Mashhur, Lawmii', p. 347. (60) At one stage around 1931, he was banned from Say'un by the sultans. MT Say'un, II, 61;66 and

in 1936, the Imam of Yemen was pleading his case to the British, ibid., III;97. (61) 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Ubaydillah al-Saqqaf, Diwan, Jidda (n.d.), p. 265f. for an explanation and

266-269 for the qasida which starts with the words "I see the ignorance pointing the horns at the suc- cessors, there is no illness which like ignorance detracts from the right ways".

(62) Ba Wazir, "Mudhakkirat", p. 4. Events seem to have taken a similar course in Say'un, c.f. 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Ubaydillah al-Saqqaf, "Hadramawt", p. 246.

(63) India Office, R/20/A/1415, Report by Captain Nasir-ud-din Ahmad, Political Officer Aden, on his visit to the Hadramaut 12.3.1920, p. 21.

(64) India Office, R/20/A/1409, Office Note, 10.5.1915.

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with the activities in Hadhramaut ('S). The political work of the society need not concern us any further here, apart perhaps from the observation that there is a certain likelihood of links with the Indonesian-Ha- dhrami Jam'iyyat al-Irshad wa-l-Isltih, which had strong salafi lea- nings ('6). By 1917, the society had set up a school in Tarim, at least partly aimed at children of migrants and aspiring to "develop salafi teaching and to renew it" (67). It attracted a large number of respected 'ulamd' as teachers, such as Ahmad b. 'Umar al-Shatiri (1894/5-1942), who had obtained his education at the ribat and introduced at the new school subjects like rhetoric, history, geography, logics and language (18). Thus, the school went far beyond primary schoolteaching and its advanced classes seem to have matched teaching at the ribdat, except that teaching was conducted in an even more structured way (6). From the 1920s onwards, new schools were added favouring ever more "secular" subjects over religious learning which, however, still predominated.

These developments were highly significant (and controversial) in the Hadhrami context and may have wider significance if we study the process of transformation in regions which were only rather peripheral to European imperialism, i.e. where the people actually had some choice over how to adapt to international changes. However, in terms of a comparison with other centres of Islamic learning such as Egypt, the Hijaz, and indeed possibly such East African cities as Zanzibar and Lamu C?), they have to be considered as rather modest. Therefore, I would now like to return to my initial assumption that other factors may explain why Hadhramaut was a place visited by leading East African (and indeed Southeast Asian) 'ulamd'.

The "genealogical" link

My main claim is that the links between East African and Hadhrami 'ulama' are primarily due to what I would call in general terms the "genealogical factor". Martin has already drawn attention to what he calls the "Hadhramization" of a significant portion of East African 'ulamd' in the middle and late nineteenth century, many of whom clai-

(65) R/20/A/1409, Report by Sayyid 'Alawi b. Bubakr El Jifri. Both the Arabic original and the English translation of the report have been used.

(66) Ulrike Freitag, "Hadhramis in International Relations", unpubl. paper presented at the confe- rence Hadhramaut and the Hadhrami Diaspora, London, April 1995.

(67) Sulayman, al-Tarbiya, p. 64. (68) al-Mashhur, Lawami', vol. II, p. 68. (69) Sulayman, al-Tarbiya p. 64f. (70) On this, see Randall Pouwels, Horn and Crescent, Cambidge 1987, pp. 130-33 and 146-151

and El Zein, Sacred Meadows, pp. 124-142.

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med descent from the Prophet Muhammad C'). This picture seems to be substantiated by a glimpse at the list of East African students of 'Alawi b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mashhur, the earlier mentioned teacher from Tarim, during his visit to East Africa in 1911/12. Among the nineteen students listed, nine belong to families of Hadhrami origin, to which must be added members of the Bin Sumayt family C2). Even if we consider that students of Hadhrami extraction might have been more attracted than others to a visiting Hadhrami scholar, the high Hadhrami component among the students shows significant Hadhrami participation in religious life on the coast C(). Furthermore, many of the Hadhrami scholars on the East African coast were sayyids, who were obsessed with genea- logies, a factor which was reinforced by the Shafi'i emphasis on kafa'a (eligibility) in marriage. For such people, Hadhramaut as the home of their noble ancestors might have seemed a much more obvious desti- nation for further studies than for others, particularly if we note that Hadhramaut was, in spite of the rather underdeveloped state of religious learning, not empty of remarkable scholars with international links C4).

Besides nostalgic family links and the Hadhrami tradition of sociali- sing children by sending them for some years to Hadhramaut, there was also an institutional link, related to the issues discussed above, which seems to have encouraged the tight links entertained between East Afri- can and Hadhrami 'ulama', namely, membership in the earlier mentioned tariqa 'alawiyya. This order distinguishes itself from other sufi orders by its explicit link to the sayyids, making it a "religious and earthly lineage" (al-nasab al-dini wa-l-tinT) (C). It thus presents itself as a rather elitist undertaking, since the author of a significant work on the tariqa 'alawiyya tells us:

"the people of the house [of the Prophet] are better than all other people, and the Al Ba 'Alawl are the best among the people of the house in their following of the sunna and with regard to their worship and moderation and generosity and high morality" (7).

(71) Martin, "Some Notes", p. 527. Specifically on Lamu, c.f El Zein, Sacred Meadous. (72) Al-Mashhfur, Lauwmni', vol. II, pp. 232-239. (73) On the Hadhrami influence on East African religious life see also Salih Muhammad 'Ali Badawi,

al-Riydl bayna mud.ihi wa-lIddirihi. N.p. 1410/1989, p. 12. A survey of the 'ulamu' of Lamu in the 19th c. shows that approximately one third of all scholars there were of Hadhrami origin. Ibid., p. 15f. I would like to thank Ibrahim Soghayroun for a copy of this publication.

(74) Besides the names noted earlier, see Ba Wazir, al-Fikr p. 165, al-Shatiri, Adwdr, pp. 449-463 and the biographies in al-Mashhur, Lawami'.

(75) Al-Attas, The WaD, p. 7 and al-'Attas, al-'lim, p. 14. (76) 'Aydarus b. 'Umar b. 'Aydarus al-Hibshi, 'Iqd al-Yawaqit al-jawhariyya, vol. 1, Cairo

1899/1900, p. 6. I would like to thank Prof. Sean O'Fahey for a copy of this work. C.f. al-Attas, The Way, p. lOf.

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Furthermore, the close and potentially exclusive connection between Alawi-s and the Hadhrami tartqa seems to be a fairly late development, it might be as recent as the 19th century (7). At least in early Hadhrami sufism, 4Alawi-s and non-Alawl-s seem to have been united in their strife for the Reality (i.e. God: haqiqa), although the Alawi-s seem to have claimed precedence even then on the basis of their noble ancestors (8). In an important settlement such a Lamu, and for reasons which might be linked to the social basis of the Lamu mosque-college, the riydd, this exclusivity seems to have been missing altogether (.9).

It seems that this later trend towards Alawi exclusiveness, to which Peskes has drawn our attention and which merits further investigation, might fit in well with a wider dispute among 19th century Alawt authors about their role in society. While certain individuals, including 'Ali b. Muhammad al-Hibshi in Say'un and the descendants of Salih 'AlawiJamal al-Layl (c. 1850-1934) in Lamu, seem to have rather enjoyed the privileged status of Alawi-s and encouraged the veneration of saints, criticism of such exuberant claims for worldly recognition and power developed among more puritanically minded Alawi-s. This is reflected, for example, in the conflict between 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Ubaydillah al- Saqqaf and 'All b. Muhammad al-Hibshi (8'), as well as in the following commentary of an author on the tariqa 'alawiyya, arguing that it is the course of exemplary members to

"protect the sons and offspring from involvement in the search for fame and elevation and leadership just as they disapprove of it for themselves, and [to protect them from] aspiring to the world [al- dunyd] and excellence in it. These [features] have become general in our times, so that those who manage to avoid pursuing the money of the [other] people have become few [...]" (8').

And although $alih 'Alawi Jamal al-Layl was attacked for innovations such as the introduction of music to the mawlid nabawi, in which he followed al-Hibshi's text, an outside observer remarks that it was - for a sufi-ceremony - remarkably restrained. He further notes that the main

(77) Peskes, "Der Heilige", p. 62 and note 171. (78) Ibid., pp. 59-62. (79) Patricia Romero, Lamu. History, Society and Family in an East African Port City, Princeton

1997, p. 169. (80) See above n. 15. (81) Al-'Attas, al-'llm, p. 33. The tAlawi- Irshadi dispute of the early 20th century and the discus-

sion about the cult of the saints in Hadhramaut in the 1920s and 30s can be seen as a continuation and further development of this debate. See Natalie Mobini-Kesheh, "Islamic Modernism in Colonial Java: the al-Irshad movement" and Alexander Knysh, "The Cult of Saints and Islamic Reformism in Hadhra- maut", both in Freitag & Clarence-Smith, Hadhrami Traders, pp. 231-248 and pp. 199-216

respectively.

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thrust of teaching in Lamu went towards improvement of character and the pursuit of learning, which were held to be more important than the performance of dhikr (82).

Be that as it may, more important than this internal struggle over the necessary degree of pietism was a drive to renew the da'wa to Islam, not least by developing schools. As has been shown, members of both sides in the dispute over the required degree of worldly abstention par- ticipated in it. In East Africa, the tariqa 'alawiyya became a prime agent for the spreading literacy and religious learning. Although many of the teachers engaged in this enterprise might have been, just like their counterparts in Hadhramaut, adverse to the idea of using such knowledge for purposes of the dunyd, they effectively contributed to the formation of a new generation of more strongly reform-minded 'ulamd' (83). Non-Alawi-s such as 'Abdallah Ba Kathir joined it - as they had indeed done for generations - and became prominent teachers and Shaykhs, although Alawi-s continued to dominate and usually reach the higher stages of initiation (84). Not only the large involvement of actual Hadhramis in this intellecutal undertaking, but also the spreading of a particular kind of Islam with a specific set of prescribed texts thereby contributed to the "Hadhramization" of East African Islam C(). Bin Sumeit al-Khitamy links the following approach to Islamic teaching, pur- sued by the Riydc in Lamu, explicitly to the activities of the tariqa 'alawiyya:

"1. Producing scholars of high eminence. 2. Propagating Islam among the masses. 3. Eradicating illiteracy. 4. Resisting apostasy and polytheism (shirk). 5. Preserving Islamic culture and heritage" (C6).

(82) Peter Lienhardt, "The Mosque College of Lamu and its Social Background", Tanganyika Notes and Records 53, 1959, pp. 228-242, here p. 236.

(83) Pouwels, Horn, p. 202. It is interesting in the debate surrounding the role of pietism as an important force within Enlightenment and Modernity (O'Fahey, "Pietism, Fundamentalism & Mysti- cism", paper in progress, Jan. 4, 1997, p.6), that Pouwels describes the Alawi-s as "proto-reformist" and mentions as their most prominent traits "humility, piety, love of obscurity, and abhorrence of osten- tation, while they gave attention to the careful observance of religious duties and kept Muhammad at the centre of their faith above all others."

(84) El Zein's statement (Sacred Meadows, p. 144) that even ignorant sharifs automatically attained higher positions than non-Alawi savants would need closer investigation. al Hibshi, who mentions in the 2nd volume of the 'Iqd al-Yawdqit Shaykh 'Abdallah b. Sa'd b. Sumayr (p. 47) as his teacher in tasawwuf thereby shows that also non-'Alawi-s aspired successfully to intiation, which would raise certain doubts as to whether origin really was the main criterium for a religious position. However, the same work shows also that it was rather rare for non-Alawl-s to become a renowned sufi shayks.

(85) For a closer discussion of the Kenyan example, see A.A.Ahmed, "The impact of Hadrami scholarship on Kenyan Islam", in Bakari & Yahya, Islam in Kenya, pp. 158-167.

(86) Bin Sumeit al-Khitamy, "The Role", p. 276.

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His study of the Riydd of Lamu also gives us for the first time more detailed insights on the actual way in which this "Hadhramized" Islam spread further, listing not only a number of influential 'ulamd' and qadl-s trained there but also giving a list of eight further religious schools which followed the syllabuses of the Riyad and sometimes received help from teachers from Lamu (87). A list of the visitors to the Riyad also shows the special importance which this institution seems to have had among scholars of Hadhrami background ().

Having shown the wide range of activities of the tariqa 'alawiyya, which were by no means limited to an elitist type of sufism, I would like to claim that the most important explanation for the intensity of contacts between Hadhrami and East African 'ulama' in the nineteenth century lies in the importance of the tariqa 'alawiyya. It was in search of the spiritual genealogy of earlier Hadhrami shaykhs that East African 'ulamd' of Hadhrami extraction made the journey to Hadhramaut. Let us listen to 'Abdallah Ba Kathir:

"When my companionship with this Imam [Almad b. Sumayt] lengthened and I had learned from him what I have learned, and when I saw of him what I have seen, all of this added to my attach- ment to him and my belief in him, and in his Shaykhs and the pious forefathers, as it added to my wish and desire to meet his Shaykhs, the people of nobility and honour. I asked him for permission to visit those 'Alawi sayyids whose love had resided in my deepest heart and had filled the corners of my bosom. They are very special and hold high ranks and have prophetic characteristics. And [I wished] to visit those of Hadhramaut who can distinguish good from evil (89). and [to see] their Sunni exploits" (9C).

It would seem that this importance of a spiritual as well as personal link is confirmed by Roff's work, in which he emphasised the role of Hadhramis in the religious and intellectual life of Singapore in the late 19th c., but stressed the role of Mecca - and not Hadhramaut - as the centre of scholarship (91).

(87) Bin Sumeit Khitamy, "The Role", pp. 273-275. (88) Badawi, al-Riyad, p. 55f, (89) Interestingly, Ba Kathir uses the termjabdbidha, he does not refer to 'ulamd'. (90) Ba Kathir, Rihla, p. 3. Indeed, Ba Kathir seems to have been initiated into the tariqa 'alawiyya

by Ahmad b. Sumayt. al-Mashhur, Lawdmi', vol. II, p. 239. (91) William R. Roff, The Origins of Malay Nationalism, Kuala Lumpur ( OUP), 2nd ed. 1994, p. 44.

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Conclusion

It should have become clear from the above discussion that Hadhra- maut did play a central role within the Hadhrami - and I would claim: mainly within the Hadhrami - as opposed to the wider Shafi'i - network of 'ulamd' in the Northwestern Indian Ocean. This Hadhrami sub-network was very much linked to the tariqa 'alawiyya, for which Hadhra- maut was a spiritual centre closely linked to the cult of the saints or awliyd'. It is this function and the related contribution of Hadhramaut to the spread of a particular type of pietism, rather than Hadhrami excellence in Islamic learning and teaching in general, which has prompted the initially quoted reactions about the central place of Hadhramaut.

In terms of scholarship in the more narrow sense, Hadhramaut was one - and possibly a minor - point in an international network which included the holy places in the Hijaz, Cairo as well as Zanzibar and Lamu. Perhaps the two most important Hadhrami 'ulama' of their generation on the East African coast, Ahmad b. Sumayt and 'Abdallah Ba Kathir, visited not only the home of their ancestors but also Mecca and Cairo, alongside other places of Islamic and, more specifically, Hadh- rami learning such as Istanbul and Java. Hadhramaut and Yemen were not just centres which attracted students, but they also sent others out, for example to study in Lamu (92). In the next generation, i.e. during the first quarter of the 20th century, the reformist discourse, propagated not least by Egyptian newspapers, came to dominate - albeit in different forms - in East Africa as well as in Hadhramaut. Pietism along the lines of the tariqa 'alawiyya, which had laid the foundations for important developments in the Northwestern Indian Ocean, came under attack by more radical forces and was criticized as outdated and reactionary (93). While Hadhramaut retained its role as a spiritual centre for members of the tarfqa 'alawiyya, this organisation lost much of its avantgardist role. Thereby, Hadhramaut in the 20th century became something of a religious backwater.

It might be an interesting postscript to the above that, since Yemeni unification in 1990, the arbita of al-Shihr, Say'un and most notably Tarim have been revived. They now attract not only a Hadhrami but also a significant Southeast Asian student population (4). Furthermore, links

(92) Bin Sumeit Khitamy, "The Role", p. 272. Unfortunately, Bin Sumeit Khitamy is not specific on where in Yemen the students in Lamu came from.

(93) C.f. Knysh, "The Cult of Saints" and Ulrike Freitag, "Dying of Enforced Spinsterhood. Hadhra- mawt through the Eyes of 'Ali Ahmad Ba Kathir", Die Welt des Islams 37;1 (1997), pp. 2-27.

(94) Current estimates range as high as some hundred students, mostly from Malaysia and Indone- sia. It would be interesting to investigate how many of these are of Hadhrami origin (however remote), my guess is that this might account for most of them.

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with other religious establishments of Hadhrami origin, such as the Riydd of Lamu, have been restored with the aid of Hadhrami scholars who had taken their refuge in Mecca during socialist rule. Given the fact that currently Islamic "fundamentalism" is seen not only in the West but also in much of the Islamic world, including Hadhramaut, as a serious challenge [which in Hadhramaut has particular dimensions], it is perhaps not surprising to see that Hadhrami sufis are trying to rally support, challenging the "fundamentalists" (or, as they are often called in Hadhramaut, "Wahhabis") on their own - Islamic - grounds. This might yet lead to interesting new developments, including a possible revival of sufism, which has so long been presented by its internal opponents as well as by Western observes as somewhat out of touch with the modern world.

Ulrike FREITAG (SOAS, University of London)

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