Son of Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf, Umar al-Muhdar was the leading scholar and Sufi who institutionalised the Bâ Alawi community of Tarim in the 15th century. He established a broad consultative council and organised the mosques, endowments and welfare work of Tarim, al-Shihr and al-Mukalla. He built the famous al-Muhdar Mosque, whose mud-brick minaret (about 50 m) is one of the tallest in the world. He died while prostrate in the noon prayer and was buried beside his forefathers in the Zanbal Cemetery of Tarim.