sayyid

Sayyid (Arabic: سيد‎) (plural sādah سادة) literally means Mister. In the Arab world itself, the word is the equivalent of Engl. "Mister", as in Sayyid John Smith. The same concept is expressed by the word sidi (from the contracted form sayyidī 'my lord') in the Moroccan dialect of Arabic.^[1]

The term Sayyid as an honorific title, is given to males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (primarily by Shi'ite Muslims) through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, who were the sons of his daughter Fatima Zahra and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib. 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 and are called Mirza.

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

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

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.

As-Sayyid is also used as title or a form of address to denote a prince or superior in the Sultanate of Oman.

Transliteration

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 of Arab origin may use the transliteration "sayyid" whilst immigrants of South Asian origin may use "Syed", this tendency may be extended to all ethnic communities. The name, however, could also be an anglicized form of the common Arabic name Sa‘id, with -y- as in 'shy', 'fly', etc.

Other Titles for Saadah

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' (plu. Ashraf). '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. Awans are also son of imam abu hanifa who was son of ali ibn e talib.

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.

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 may 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) (see Sun and moon letters). 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.

Sayyids in South Asia

Some Sayyid families in South Asia claim direct relationship with the Prophet of Islam through his daughter Fâtimah and son-in-law Ali.However, living with Indian society, Muslims got effected with the cast / sects tradition of ancient India, which prompted, some newly converts to establish family lineage to early Syed or Ansari of Arabia. However, they claim their ancestors migrated from different parts of Iran and Central Asia Turkestan, during the invasion of Mongol Halaku and other periods of turmoil. They migrated through Herat in Afghanistan to different parts of modern Pakistan and India. These migrations occurred during the periods of Mahmud Ghaznavi, Delhi Sultanate and Mughals and continued till late into 19th century. Most sufi saints whose lineage is being traced to Prophet Muhammad also migrated during the early periods of Delhi Sultanate and Mughals. Some of the early migrant Sayyids 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. Most probably, authentic Saayids or people of Arab ancestory are found in mostly Kerala, Deccans and Gujarat. Most of the Sayyids in India are of dubious origin regarding their origin.

The history of Sayyids or Syeds in South Asia dates back to more than 1000 years. Several Syeds visited India as merchants along with the general Arab traders. They also ruled over India (Delhi Sultanate) during the period 1414-1451. Except for this brief period of India's history, Syeds or Sayyids were mostly connected to business activities. The notable Syeds of South Asia include Abul Hassan Ali Hajvery aka Data Ganj Bakhsh, Moinuddin Chishti, Khwaja Qutbuddin Baktiyar Kaki, Nizamuddin Auliya, Nasiruddin Muhammad Chirag-e-Dehli,Khaja Mahboobullah,Deccan, Muhammad Hussaini Gisudaraz Bandanawaz, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Akbar Allahabadi, the Shahi Imams of Delhi ,Syed Shahbuddin and Ashraf Jahangir simnani^{[citation needed]}.

Sayyids in India

The Joshua Project reported that 6,944,000 people self-describing as Sayyids in India.^[2] Largest States Of the Syeds in India are the Uttar Pradesh (1,469,000), the Maharashtra (1,129,000), the Karnataka (783,000), the Andhra Pradesh (729,000), the Rajasthan (624,000), the Tamil Nadu (573,000), the Bihar (425,000), the West Bengal (379,000), the Madhya Pradesh (310,000), and the Gujarat (250,000).

And the Major Languages Spoken by the Sayyids of India. Urdu (4,919,000 Speakers), Bengali (292,000), Telugu (141,000), Marwari (125,000), Tamil (117,000), Gujarati (109,000).

Sayyids in Pakistan

The Joshua Project reported that 6,471,000 people self-describing as Sayyids in Pakistan.^[3] Largest Provinces on file: the Sindh (3,150,000), the Punjab (1,824,000), the NWFP (436,000), the Balochistan (172,000), the Azad Kashmir (158,000) and Islamabad (29,000).

Major Languages Spoken by the Sayyids of Pakistan are Punjabi, Western (1,748,000 Speakers), Sindhi (1,507,000), Urdu (1,317,000), Seraiki (366,000), Pashto Northern (103,000)

Syeds of Kirani

Kirani (N 30.17 E 66.94) is an historical village lying five miles west of Quetta city, capital of Baluchistan province of Pakistan on the outskirts of the Chiltan range. Syed's of Kirani owning to their great sanctity and influence among the local tribesmen

Sayyids in Bangladesh

1,044,000 people self-describing as Sayyids in Bangladesh.^[4] Languages spoken by the Sayyid's of Bangladesh are Bengali (741,000 Speakers), Chittagonian (67,000), Sylheti (46,000), Urdu (5,100), Farsi, Eastern (Dari) (700), Kok Borok: Noatia (80)

See also

• Sadaat Amroha
• Saadat-e-Bara

References

External links

• Ba'Alawi Sadah of Hadhramaut
• GILANI Sayyads of Masanian Sharif
• Ba`alawi.com Ba'alawi.com | The definitive resource for Islam and the Alawi Ancestry.
• The BaAlawi Genealogy
•  "Sayad". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.