Shaykh Umar Bagharib
His full name is Umar bin Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Umar bin Abdullah Bagharib. He was born in Tarim, Hadramaut, in Ramadan 1300 AH.

His father was a hafiz Al-Quran and had reportedly performed his haj 35 times, most of the time by walking from Tarim to Mecca and Medina. Shaykh Umar’s mother was Shaykhah Salman binte Sheikh ‘Awad Abu Bakr Bazeghefan. According to Syeikh Umar bin Abdullah Al-Khatib, among the students was the famous Habib Abdullah Al-Haddad.

When he was 13 years old, Syeikh Umar Bagharib had started teaching. He then traveled to al-Qaryah to teach Syed Muhammad bin Husayn’s children for 3 years. When he was 18, he went to Al-Ajlaniyyah at the request of Habib Ahmad bin Hasan Al-Attas, to teach the children there and to be the imam of the Al-Ajlaniyyah Mosque.

He migrated to Singapore in about 1935, he opened 3 classes for children, boys and girls, teaching them Arabic Language, Al-Quran and Fiqh. He was affectionately called Mu’allim (Teacher). He stayed in Singapore for 53 years, and became the imam of Khadijah Mosque for 33 years.

Shaykh Umar was the first person to give out the call to prayer (azan) at Ba'alwie Mosque in Singapore. That was during Asr, on Tuesday, 19 Zulhijjah 1372H (9 Sep 1952). He was also the one who set up the daily prayer schedule. He often gave khutbah at Ba'Alwie Mosque, which at that time, was in the Arabic language.

Shaykh Umar Bagharib was also the first khalifah for Tariqah Qadiriyah in Singapore. His shaykh was Maulana Abdul Aleem As-Siddiqi.

He was also the teacher of Shaykh Umar bin Abdullah Al-Khatib. Although his son, Shaykh Zakaria bin Umar Bagharib, later became Shaykh Umar Al-Khatib’s student, Shaykh Umar’s humility obliged him to always kiss Shaykh Zakaria’s hand, as an honour to his father who was his teacher.

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.