Shaykh Ahmad bin Umar al-Kaff was born in city of Dammam in Saudi Arabia to a Yemeni family of noble Ahl al-Bayt lineage and scholarship. His early years were spent in Dammam, and in addition to religious instruction at home be began his studies in the Shafi school of law with Dr Abdullah al-Kadi, a scholar of the Saudi Shafi community in Eastern Saudi Arabia.

 

As a teenager he moved to Medina Munawwarah to study at a private institute for Islamic studies named Ribat al-Jufri. Here he studied primarily with one of the foremost experts of Shafi fiqh in the Muslim world: Habib Zayn bin al-Sumayyit. His intensive studies included the reading of classical works in Shafi fiqh, Usul, Arabic grammar, Aqidah and other subjects.

 

Shaykh Ahmad bin Umar al-Kaff also studied with respected authorities such as Habib Salim al-Shatiri, Habib Muhammad al-Haddar alongside a number of scholars whose lessons he attended at the Masjid al-Nabawi. His other teachers from Medina Munawwarah are: Shaykh Ahmadu Shinqiti, Shaykh Muhammad al-Hajjar and Shaykh Ahmad al-Qalash. In addition to memorizing the Quran he studied the Qiraat in Medina Munawwarah with Shaykh Safwan al-Dawudi.

 

Shaykh Ahmad bin Umar al-Kaff graduated from the University of Jordan with a BA in Shariah, subsequent to which he has spent many years studying the fiqh of tahawwulat with Habib Abu Bakr al-Adani.