sayyid

 

For the Lost character, please see Sayid Jarrah

Sayyid (سيد) (plural Saadah) is an honorific title that is given to males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, who were the sons of his daughter Fatima Zahra and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.

This follows Muhammad's saying that Hassan and Husayn are his children, and that he Muhammad is their father.

Daughters of male sayyids are given the titles Sayyida, Alawiyah, Syarifah or Sharifah. Children of a Sayyida mother but a non-Sayyid father cannot be attributed the title of Sayyid, however they may claim maternal descent. Both Shiites and Sunnis that claim descent from Muhammad, do so through at least one of the Shiite Imams.

In Islamic mysticism or Sufism, only a sayyid can initiate a Sufi order or tariqah.

Other Uses

The word literally means "master" ; the closest English equivalent would be "sir" or "lord". In the Arab world itself, the word is still used as a substitute for "Mister", as in Sayyid John Smith. The same concept is expressed by the word sidi (from the Arabic word 'sayyidi') in the Moroccan dialect of Arabic.

Some Muslims also use the term sayyid for the descendants of Abu Talib, uncle of Muhammad, by his other sons: Abbas, Jafar, Aqeel and Talib.

Alevis use seyyid (Turkish) as an honorific before the names of their saints.

Dawoodi Bohras use the title syyedina for their Da'i al-Mutlaq (spiritual leader of the Bohra community) although they are not the descendants of Fatima.

El Cid , the name given to a famous Spanish knight of the 11th century C.E., is derived from Al-Sayyid (as-sayyid), meaning lord.

Transliteration

Language	Transliteration	Areas spoken
Arabic	Sayyid, Sayyidi, Sayyed, Sayid, Sidi (Maghrebi)	Arab world
Persian	Sayyed, Sayed	Iran, Azerbaijan, and Central Asia
Turkish	Seyed, Seyit, Seyyid, Seyyed	Turkey, Azerbaijan and Central Asia
Pashto	Sayed	Afghanistan and Pakistan
Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Bengali, Gujrati	Syed, Saiyad, Saiyed, Sayyid	South Asia
Malay	Syed	Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
Other	Siyyid

People chose different Romanised (Latinized) transliterations based on the language with which they are familiar, not necessarily on the place where they are living. For example there are Muslim immigrants from many different countries living in London, UK. Immigrants from Yemen may use the transliteration "sayyid" whilst immigrants of Pakistani or Indian origin may use "syed".

Other Titles for Sayyids

Language	Title	Areas spoken
Arabic	Sharif, Habib	Arab world
Persian, Pashto, Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Bengali, Malay	Agha, Mir, Shah, Sheikh,Chishty	South and South East Asia
Gujarati	Sayedna, Syedna, Sayednah	Northwest India, Sindh

Other Arabic honorific terms include sheikh and sharif. The line of Hassani sayyids who ruled Mecca, Medina, Iraq and now rule in Jordan, the Hashemites, bore the title 'sharif'. 'Sharif' is reserved for descendants of Hassan while 'sayyid' is used for descendants of Husayn. However ever since the post-Hashemite era began, the term 'sayyid' has been used to denote descendants from both Hassan and Husayn. Arab Shiites use the term 'sayyid' and 'habib' to denote descendants from both Hassan and Husayn.

Indication of descent

Sayyids often include the following titles in their names to indicate the figure from whom they trace their descent. If they are descended from more than one notable ancestor or Shi'a imam, they will use the title of the ancestor from whom they are most directly descended.

Ancestor	Arabic Title	Arabic Last Name	Persian Last Name	Urdu Last Name
Ali ibn Abu Talib	Allawi2	Allawi2 or Alawi3	Alavi2 علوى	Alvi2
Hasan ibn Ali	al-Hashimi or al-Hassani	al-Hashimi or al-Hassani	Hashemi, Hassani, or Tabatabai حسنى	Hasani or Hashmi
Husayn ibn Ali	al-Hussaini	al-Hussaini1	Hosseini حسينى	Hussaini
Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al Abidin	al-Abidi	al-Abidi	Abedi عابدى	Abdi
Zayd ibn Ali ash-Shahid	az-Zaidi	al-Zaidi	Zaidi زيدي	Zaidi
Muhammad al-Baqir	al-Baqiri	al-Baqiri	Baqeri باقرى	Baqri
Jafar as-Sadiq	al-Ja'fari	al-Ja'fari	Jafari or Jafri جعفرى	Jafri
Musa al-Kazim	al-Mousawi	al-Mousawi	Mousavi or Kazemi موسوى / كاظمى	Kazmi or Mousavi
Ali ar-Rida	ar-Radawi	al-Ridawi or al-Radawi	Rezavi or Rizvi or Rizavi رضوى	Rizvi
Muhammad at-Taqi	at-Taqawi	al-Taqawi	Taqavi تقوى	Taqvi or Taqwi
Ali al-Hadi	an-Naqawi	al-Naqawi	Naqavi نقوى	Naqvi
Shaikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani	Qadir	Qadir	Qadir	Qadri or Qadir
Fatima Zahra	Ashraf Al-Quraishi	Al-Husaini	Fatimi	Fatmi

NOTE: (For non-Arabic speakers) When transliterating Arabic words into English there are two approaches.

• 1. The user may transliterate the word letter for letter, e.g. "الزيدي" becomes "a-l-z-ai-d-i".

• 2. The user transliterate the pronunciation of the word, e.g. "الزيدي" becomes "a-zz-ai-d-i". This is because in Arabic grammar, some consonants (n, r, s, sh, t and z) cancel the l (ل) from the word "the" al (ال) . When the user sees the prefixes an, ar, as, ash, at, az, etc... this means the word is the transliteration of the pronunciation.

• An i, wi (Arabic), or vi (Persian) ending could perhaps be translated by the English suffixes ite or ian. The suffix transforms a personal name, or a place name, into the name of a group of people connected by lineage or place of birth. Hence Ahmad al-Hashimi could be translated as Ahmad of the lineage of Hassan and Ahmad al-Harrani as Ahmad from the city of Harran. For further explanation, see Arabic names.

¹Also, El-Husseini, Al-Husseini, Husseini, and Hussaini.

²Those who use the term sayyid for all descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib regard Allawis or Alavis as sayyids. However Allawis are not descendants of Muhammad, as they are descended from the children of Ali and the women he married after the death of Fatima Zahra, such as Umm al Baneen/Fatima bint Hizam. Those who limit the term sayyid to descendants of Muhammad through Fatima Zahra, will not consider Allawis/Alavis to be sayyids.

³This transliteration is usually reserved for Alawi sect.

Notable Sayyid Families

al-Atassi : An example of a Sayyid family in Syria

al-Keilani : An example of a Sayyid family in Iraq

al-Mehdar : An example of Sayyid family in Yemen

al-Sanoosi : An example of a Sayyid family in Lybia

al-Sibaie : An example of a Sayyid family in Morocco

Ibn Battutah on the usage of 'Sayyid' in India

Ibn Battutah had the following to say on the usage of the Sayyid in India " Then one of the officers said to me in Arabic , What do you say , ya sayyadi ?( the people of that country never address an Arab except by the title of Sayyid , and it is by this title that the Sultan himself addresses , out of respect for the Arabs .)" ^[1]

Sayyids are predominantly denoted by the J, J1, or J2 Haplogroup (DNA) though it is still not verified.

Sayyids in South Asia

Some Sayyid families in Indian sub-continent claim direct relationship with the Prophet of Islam through his daughter Fâtimah and son-in-law Ali. Their ancestors migrated from different parts of Iran, during the invasion of Halaku and other periods of turmoil. They migrated through Herat (then part of Iran) in Afghanistan to different parts of India. These migrations occurred during the periods of Mahmud Ghaznavi, Delhi Sultanate and Mughals. These migrations continued till late into 19th century. Most sufi saints whose lineage could also be traced to Prophet Muhammad also migrated during the early periods of Delhi Sultanat and Mughals.

Chishti (Chishty) : An example of a Sayyid family in Pakistan and northern India

Bukhari (Bokhari) : An example of a Sayyid family in Pakistan and India

India

Some Sayyids even moved deep to the peninsular part of India, in the region of Deccan plateau, in the reign of Bahmani Sultanate/Bahmani kings and later Qutb Shahi kings of Golconda, Nizam Shahi of Ahmadnagar, and other kingdoms of Bijapur, Bidar and Berar.

Qadri / Qadir : An example of Sayyid family in India

Pakistan

Sayyids have prominent position in Pakistan. Sayyid Iskandar Mirza and ruled as a president of Pakistan.

See also

• Tabataba'i
• aristocracy
• Saadat-e-Bara
• History of Arabs in Afghanistan
• Rizvi
• Shaikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani
• The BaAlawi Genealogy

References

Links

[1]

[2]

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