Umar bin Hafiz

In 2019, Habib was listed at number 8 in The 500 Most Influential Muslims, an annual ranking compiled by Georgetown University's Prince Al-Waleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding and the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan.

Later, he enrolled at the Ribat of al-Bayda', where he began studying the traditional Islamic sciences under the tutelage of Al-Habib Muhammad bin Abd-Allah al-Haddar, as well as under the Shafi‘i jurist and scholar Al-Habib Zain bin Sumait. Habib Omar was given permission to teach soon after.

He then studied under the mufti of Ta‘iz, al-Habib Ibrahim bin Aqil bin Yahya. He also studied under Shaikh al-Habib Muhammad al-Haddar, who gave him his daughter’s hand in marriage. Bin Hafiz then traveled to the Hejaz and studied several books with scholars, including Al-Habib Abdul Qadir bin Ahmad al-Saqqaf, Al-Habib Ahmed Mashur al-Haddad, and Al-Habib Attas al-Habashi.

In 2011, Habib toured the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States for outreach purposes and da'wah (calling others to Islam).

Habib has appeared in the list's top 50 every year since its inaugural publication in 2009.

In July 2008, he partnered with Muslim Aid Australia as founder of Yemen-based NGO Al-Rafah Charitable Society to address issues of poverty and hunger and lack of sufficient health care that affect areas of Tarim.

In 2007, Habib joined the ranks of the world's leading Muslim academics and scholars as a signatory to A Common Word Between Us and You, a document that builds bridges between the Muslim and Christian communities. He has also spoken at Cambridge University on the need for such a dialogue.

In 2006, Habib met with Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri; they exchanged knowledge on Islam, and he also received an Ijazah (certificate to teach) of Hadith from Tahir-ul-Qadri.

Habib Omar bin Hafiz (Arabic: عمر بن حفيظ ‎, romanized: Ḥabīb Omar bin Ḥafīẓ; Arabic pronunciation: [ħabiːb ʕumar bin ħafiːðˤ] ; born 27 May 1963) is a Yemeni Sunni Sufi Islamic scholar, teacher, founder and the dean of Dar al-Mustafa Islamic seminary. He also a member of the Supreme Advisory Council for the Tabah Foundation in Abu Dhabi.

Habib Omar bin Hafiz was born on 27 May 1963 CE or 4 Muharram 1383 AH in Tarim, Hadhramaut, Yemen, and raised in a household that possessed a tradition and lineage of Islamic scholarship and righteousness by his father. His father was Muhammad bin Salim bin Hafiz, a Habib and mufti of Tarim, a pious caller to Islam, scholar, and a martyr of the communist uprising. He is a Sayyid (a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad), through his grandson Hussein ibn Ali. The surname "Hafiz" comes from his great grandfather's name, a branch of the family of "Shaikh Abubakr bin Salim", which is also the name of his paternal thirteenth generation progenitor.