Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s7.5

c48.s7.5

The Saiyad, a title said to be derived from Sūd, gain, are, strictly speaking, the descendants of 'Ali, cousin of the Prophet, who became his son-in-law, and the line is generally limited to his offspring by Fāṭma, not by his other wives. Thus the primary division of the Saiyad is into the claimants through Ḥasan and those through Ḥussain, the proto-martyrs of the faith, but many call themselves after other relatives of the Prophet, using the same titles as the Ṣēkh. Others have adopted geographical names, such as Būkhārī, Sabzawārī, Bilgrāmī, Bārha, the two last being descended from a celebrated Saiyad of 'Irāq, whose family settled in upper India, like many others, in the train of one of the Muslim conquerors. Probably in all the tracts surrounding Delhi and the principal seats of Muslim authority there are families of Saiyad who hold their estates by inheritance from ancestors who rendered distinguished service to the Mughal power either in the field or in administration. Indeed, one family is said to have "made four Timurides emperors, dethroned and killed two, and blinded and imprisoned three". The genealogy of most of the Saiyad of India, however, is not so well attested, and, apart from the selection of this rank by converts of high Brāhmanic caste, which is a practice said to have received the approval of the great Emperor Akbar, it is reported to be not uncommon for a Muslim changing his sect from Sunnī to Ṣī'ah, to signify his belief in the rank of 'Alī as premier Khalīf, by adopting himself into the company of the Apostles. Nevertheless, far down to the south, there are Saiyad settled whose forefathers followed the fortunes of some one or other of the Muslim invaders, and who now, though in some cases reduced to take to lowly occupations for a living, generally hold to their rank and intermarry only with other Saiyad, or members of the Mughal or Paṭhān races, and occasionally, but as seldom as possible, with some respectable local family of the same sect. For there are, it should be noted, Sunnī Saiyad as well as those of the Ṣī'ah sect, to which, in theory, all ought to belong. In the western Panjāb the Saiyad is usually a religious teacher, irrespective of race or descent, and too often is a member of "that pestilential horde of holy men, who not only prey upon the substance of the people but hold them in the most degrading bondage". "The Paṭhān is a bigoted Sunnī, yet he maintains more Saiyad than the Balūc, once known as "the friends of 'Alī".