Naqib al-ashraf

Naqib al-ashraf (plural: nuqaba or niqabat) was a governmental post in various Muslim empires denoting the head or supervisor of the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The descendants of Muhammad were known as ashraf and throughout Islamic history, the ashraf organized themselves into large groups, akin to corporations, throughout the various Muslim territories. This was done to ensure their special place in Muslim society and thus maintain their socio-political privileges.

The office dated back at least to the Mamluk era and was maintained by the Ottoman Empire. During the Ottoman era, there was an imperial naqib al-ashraf who appointed subordinate provincial nuqaba al-ashraf. The appointments were renewed or changed on an annual basis. The official role of the imperial naqib al-ashraf was to keep updated lists of the ashraf and to distribute to the provincial nuqaba al-ashraf the goods and funds that they required to administer the affairs of the ashraf under their respective jurisdictions.Ashraf in the Ottoman Empire were accorded special privileges, including personal inviolability, certain tax exemptions and immunity from regular prosecution. In the event of a legal complaint against a member of the ashraf, the naqib al-ashraf would prosecute and judge the alleged offender.

The imperial naqib al-ashraf was typically a member of the ashraf based in the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. The naqib al-ashraf played a significant role in the sultanic court ceremonials in Istanbul.

In Aleppo, the ashraf played a more significant role in that city's affairs than anywhere else in the Ottoman Empire, including Cairo and Damascus, where the nuqaba al-ashraf often were or grew wealthy. At one point during Ottoman rule, the ashraf in Aleppo constituted roughly 85% of the city's elite families, partially due to the large presence ashraf families traditionally had in the city, but also because of increasing intermarriage between ashraf and non-ashraf families. Because of their massive presence, there were typically a handful of ashraf families that formed the upper ranks of Aleppo's ashraf.

For much of the 17th century, the office of naqib al-ashraf was held by the Zuhrawi family, who were closely associated with the Shia Muslim community (Shia Muslim scholars identified them as Shia). The Taha family dominated the post for most of the 18th century, but at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, their control of the office was frequently interrupted by members of the al-Jabiri, al-Kawakibi, al-Trablusi, al-Qudsi, al-Adili and Shurayyif families.

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