[2] At the death of his father, Yosef Mashta, Shalom moved to the small town of Shabaz, near the city of Ta'izz.

Soon after he moved to Ta'izz where he built a house of prayer and a ritual bath (mikveh) outside the city, beneath Jebel Ṣabir.

In the early 20th century the grave of Shabazi was a place of pilgrimage for both Jews and Muslims, especially for those who sought healing.

Shabazi's extant poetic diwan, comprising some 550 poems, was published for the first time by the Ben-Zvi Institute in 1977.

[7] Shabazi's Diwan has become an essential part of Yemenite Jewry's spiritual and cultural lives.

Other songs, such as "As'alak" (أسألك), were also performed by Ofra Haza as well as Zion Golan, Aharon Amram and Shoshana Damari.

[9] According to Professor emeritus, Yosef Tobi, "the fundamental revolutionary change in the poetry of Yemen occurred with the work of Yosef ben Yisrael (17th century), when poetry became the primary tool for spiritual expression of Yemenite Jewry, and when the subject of exile and redemption took on vitality and had the most concrete political significance.

The founder of these genres of poetic visions of redemption is Yosef ben Yisrael in whose footsteps followed many poets, including Shabazī who is said to have refined it.

An example of Shabazi's sublime poetic style is seen in the following lyric although the rhyme has been lost in the translation: May God watch from His sacred abode and smite / all the enemies of His people in the blink of an eye.

Herewith God rises and stands on a plumbline[11] [to judge the oppressors] / He shall let them drink a cup of venom, but not wine.

[12] אם תחפצה בן איש לסודות נבחרו, תקנה לך חבר ורעים יקרו, בעבור יחי לבך ותשמח נפשך שכל והנפש בטוב יתחברו.

“If you will search, O son of man, after the choicest of all secrets, you will find that nothing surpasses that of your gaining a companion, and your endearing unto yourself friends.

Moreover, put on the fine attire of humility, even from the earliest days of your youth, and reject the counsel of vain persons who have vaunted themselves.” Mori Shalom Shabazi is said to have written nearly 15,000 liturgical poems on nearly all topics in Judaism, of which only about 850 have survived the ravages of persecution, time and the lack of printing presses in Yemen.

In Shabazi's poem, Adon ha-kol meḥayye kol neshama, he alludes to Shabbetai Zevi in these words: "We have heard singing from the end of the earth: / A righteous gazelle has appeared in the East and West."

שמעתי חכמת בני אוזל ואני בין אויבי נגזל יקר כספי חשך ונתפרזל