Origin of the term 'Sayyid' or 'Syed' as family titles

[Heba E. Husseyn]

Before I begin, let me make it clear that this is NOT an Islamic culture at all.  According to the Noble Quran, such ideas are thoroughly unimportant and useless.  Family title has NO significance in the Sight of Allah.   This notion is simply a traditional thing derived from the aristocratic culture of societies of pre-Islamic times.



Sayyid

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

Daughters of male sayyids are given the titles Sayyida, Alawiyah, Syarifah or Sharifah. Children of sayyidas are not considered sayyids. Sayyids must be able to demonstrate descent through males alone, without female links.

Other words sometimes confused with sayyid
The term should not be confused with the popular name "Sa'id" or "Saeed", which is an Arabic and Persian word meaning "happy". There is also the possibility of confusion between "shahid", or martyr in Arabic, and "sayyid", if one or more of the speakers in a conversation is not a native Arabic speaker. Some African languages do not distinguish between "s" and "sh" sounds.

Other Uses
The word means literally "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: 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.

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 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'. Primarily Sunnis in the Arab world reserve 'sharif' 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.


Source -  Wikipedia

Also check Wikipedia for more details

[Zainab_M]

   and thank u for the post, cat.  really, this tradition of honorary titles is so much against the culture the beloved Prophet (pbuh) taught us.  i don't know why people can't understand it.  actually, it is quite clear that this custom of family titles is going back to the pre-Islamic days when class distinctions were rampant.  The beloved Prophet was such a humble person.  his only source of pride was being the slave of Allah. 

Besides, as we can see, nowadays any person who desires to take the name 'Sayyid' takes it. Some might be from the Arab world, some non-Arabs.  and they can't even claim to be the descendents of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).