Born in Meurah, Samalanga, Bireuen, son of the scholar Tgk. H. Syeikh Abdullah Bawarith. He graduated in law from Universitas Syiah Kuala (1990), took a master's in comparative law at the International Islamic University Malaysia (1993) and a Ph.D. at Universiti Sains Malaysia (2017), and became Professor of Customary Law at USK on 2 September 2026. He long served as Secretary-General of the Panglima La'ôt Aceh, FAO Indonesia consultant (2007–2012), member of the Home Affairs team drafting PP 3/2015, PP 23/2015 and PP 5/2017, special staff to ATR/BPN Minister Sofyan Djalil (2020–2022), expert to Ministers Hadi Tjahjanto (2022–2024) and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (2024), and legal expert to the head of the Land Bank since 2024. He is also a member of ICSF and the Asian Resource Foundation, vice-chair of YPMAN, adviser to the KNTI board and executive chair of BARA; his writing covers customary land, customary-law communities, Acehnese adat courts and coastal law.