Sayyid of Uttar Pradesh
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (1,469,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
 Islam 100% |
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
The Sayyid (Arabic: سيد) (plural sādah Arabic: سادة) of Uttar Pradesh in India are a Muslim community who are members of the wider Sayyid community of South Asia. They are also known as Mir and Pirzada. Many are also now found in Pakistan.
Sayyid literally means Mister or Sir. In the Arab world, the word is the equivalent of the English "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.
As an honorific title, the term Al-Sayyid is given to males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali (Hasnain), who were the sons of the prophet's 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.
Sayyids are Arabs by origin, and Sayyids and are by descent a branch of the tribe of Banu Hashim, a clan from the tribe of Quraish, which traces its lineage to Adnan, whose lineage traces back to the Prophet Ismael, the son of the Prophet Ibrahim or Abraham. In North India, most of the Sayyid families are descended from individuals invited by the Muslim rulers of the Delhi Sultanate, as advisors and administrators, and granted jagirs. During the period of Mughal rule that followed the Delhi Sultanate, they held the majority of the civil and ecclesiastic posts. They also provide an important element in the Mughal army, and many are still found in the old Muslim garrison towns such as Nuhta, in Bijnor District, Budaun, Kara in Awadh and Bayana. Many of these towns were founded by the Sayyid grantees, and they encouraged both Muslim immigrants and new converts which helped established Muslim towns in what was still a Hindu countryside. A further event that accelerated Sayyid immigration was the Mongol invasion of Central Asia, Iran and Iraq in the 13th Century, and sacking of such famous Muslim cities like Bukhara, Samarkand, Nishapur, Mashad, Isfahan, Hamdan, Baghdad and Basra by Hulagu Khan, the Mongol warlord. This is still reflected in the common surnames among the Sayyid such as Bukhari (literally an inhabitant of Bukhara), Mashadi, Baghdadi and Hamdani and so forth.
...
Wikipedia