KOZHIKODE: Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz, who initiated talks with the officials in Yemen and with the relatives of the person murdered by Nimisha Priya, has close ties with Kerala and is a regular visitor to the institutions run by Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musaliyar.
A prominent figure in the Ba Alawi Tariqa in the Sufi order, Habib Umar is the founder of Dar al-Mustafa, a religious institution in Tarim in Yemen. Many from Kerala had studied at the institution before the internal strife in the country. He figured in the list of 500 most influential Muslims prepared by Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan and George Town University in the USA.
His students say that Habib Umar commands respect among all sections in Yemen, barring a few extremist groups. It was his stature that helped him to depute his men to have a dialogue with the officials and the relatives of Talal, the person murdered by Nimisha.
Habib Umar was present for the inauguration of the mosque at Knowledge City and the Ma’din Sadath Academy in Malappuram. He created a platform called ‘A Common Word Between US and You’ in 2007 which works for coordination between Muslims and Christians.