While a considerable scholary literature exists on the Banū ʿAlawī sāda's Indian Ocean diaspora and their more recent history in Hadhramawt, their premodern origins remain poorly understood, with lingering concerns surrounding the reliablity of available sources on their formative history in the valley. This social and intellectual history addresses that lacuna by closely re-examining the available primary sources, charting the evolution of the sāda’s Sufi tradition from its early 10th century origins up to the late 16th century. In doing so, it reveals that far from reflecting a provincialist phenomenon, Hadhrami Sufism remained well-integrated within the intellectual and spiritual currents of western Yemen and the Hejaz, exhibiting a sophisticated intellectual engagement with the wider legacy of philosophical Sufism, while retaining its own distinctive features that were equally shaped by the unique and recurring challenges of its social and political mileu.