The recent emergence and current development of the Imami Shi'i school in Indonesia and Malaysia can only be understood against the backdrop of the early history of the Si 'ah, as well as that of the history of the Islamization of the Malay-Indonesian tor that binds these three historical processes together in a remarkable case of conversion within Islam is the 'olawiyyali sufi order (al-tariqah Archipelago. The common fac-al- 'alawiyyah). The tariqah al- 'alawiyyah is the path of the Siidat Bani 'alawiyyah. The Siidah al- 'alawiyyah (sing. sayyid), of the Shafi'i madhab (school of jurisprudence), originate from the Hadramawt, Yemen and played a major role in the Islamization of East Africa, Southern India, and the Malay- Indonesian Archipelago. The Sayyids of Hadramawt share a common his- tory with the Shi'i school and to some extent it is this commonality that caused Shi' i elements and tendencies among the descendants of Hadrami Siidat emigres in the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago to surface, particu- larly after the Iranian revolution of 1978. Today, the Hadrami Sayyids of the Malay-Indonesian world continue to playa role in the religious life of the region.