Imam al-Haddad lived during Islam’s "Period of Decline", in which its forces of might and beauty seem to have become exhausted. During his life, the British were already accustomed to trade in Yemen, and the Portuguese had captured the island of Socotra, 350 km off the coast. Muslim expansion had virtually come to a halt. Furthermore, his region of Hadramawt witnessed a simply ruinous period during his life. When Imam al-Haddad was twenty-five, Hadramawt was conquered by the Qasimi Zaydis of Upper Yemen. The Hadramis regained their freedom in 1715 CE; the Imam was eighty-one years of age. Imam al-Haddad died in his home in al-Hawi, Tarim on Monday night 7th or 8th Dhu al-Qi'dah, 1132 AH (1720 C.E.) and buried at Zanbal cemetery in Tarim. His grave is one of the main destinations many people visited when they do a religious tour to Hadhramaut. Imam al-Haddad was survived by six sons. His first son was Zainal Abidin, the second son was Hasan who died in Tarim in 1188 AH, the third one was Salim, the fourth one was Muhammad, where his descendants are in Tarim, the fifth one was Alwi died in Mecca in 1153 AH and his descendants live in Tarim, and the last one was Husin who died in Tarim Tahun, in 1136 AH while his descendants live in Gujarat. Imam al-Haddad studied with many of the scholars of his time in Hadhramaut, one of them is his own father. Before he reached the age of 15, his father advised to memorize a book called "al-Irshad", an extremely abridged work in Shafii fiqh, but later requested that he would prefer to study the book "Bidayat al-Hidayah" (Beginning of Guidance) instead of concentrating on jurisprudence. Amongst the foremost of his other teachers was al-Habib al-Qutb Umar bin Abdul-Rahman al-Attas. Imagm Abdul-Rahman al-Attas is known to be the teacher that allowed him to develop some of his spiritual opening as a student. He also studied under several other Ulama of Ba 'Alawi sada, such as al-Habib Agil bin Abdurrahman Al-Segaf, Al-Habib Al-’Allamah Abdurrahman bin Sheikh Aidid, Al-Habib Al-’Allamah Sahl bin Ahmad Bahsin Al-Hudayli Ba’alawi and the great scholar in Mecca, Al-Habib Muhammad bin Alwi Al-Seggaf, and several other Ulama.