Habib Esa al Haddad

Habib Esa was born in 1870 and returned to Tarim in 1874 for his studies. After completing his studies at Rubaat Tarim, he came to Indonesia to settle the affairs of his father, henceafter returned to Tarim. He then traveled to Singapore and set-up an office at 13 Armenian Street. He represented his father in establishing another trust in Singapore for Rubaat Tarim with the Alsree and Aljunied. Because of his honesty and religious practices, the Arabs and traders trusted him. They hand over their financial affairs and properties to him either for management or to wakaf fisabilillah.

Habib Esa bin Abdulkader Alhadad traveled to the two kharamains, Mecca and Medina for ibadah and ziarah. In one of his visits to Medina he met the young Sheikh Umar bin Abdullah Alkhatib whose family he knew very well. Sheikh Umar had left Tarim to avoid being appointed as Qahdi. Habib Esa invited Sheikh Umar Alkhatib to follow him to Singapore. Together with Habib Abdulkader bin Abdulrahman Aljunied, they traveled to Batavia (today’s Jakarta) then to Singapore.

He was meticulous in all transactions; this was well recorded. In his will, he directed the transactions to be returned to their rightful owners. Habib Esa returned to Tarim in 1925 with his sons Alwi (age 7), Muhammad (5) and Ali (3). They all attended school at Rubaat Tarim. Habib Esa passed away in Hawi on Sunday 29th Rejab 1354 or 27th October 1935. He was buried on that very day at the Zanbal burial ground at Tarim. Habib Esa devotion to Imam Al-Haddad was reflected by the ‘niat’ of his wakaf.
Amongst them are to:

1st) provide the maintenance for the three mosques of Imam Abdullah Al-Haddad at Hawi, Masjid Al Awabin and Masjid Hajirah.

2nd) provide for the Poor in Hawi, Tarim,

3rd) look after Habib Abdullah Alhadad’s maqam at Assageefah

4th) support of Rubaat Tarim and its students.
In the Salsila of the Habaib, he was called the “Alalamah Dunia wa Din”, meaning the learned of this life and the religion.