The majority of the documents in this collection contain the genealogies of specific lineages that are in many cases introduced with various quotations coming from the Qurʾān and ḥadīth (the sayings of the Prophet Muḥammad) that are used to demonstrate the necessity of paying respect to the family and descendants of the Prophet. The documents in this category also include a more substantial discussion of theoretical and doctrinal issues concerning sayyid status and how this status may be legitimately established (Bernheimer; Morimoto 1999; 2012). Some texts also present a classificatory system of different degrees of sayyid status based on the purity of one’s lineage. In some documents in this category these discussions are found in texts alongside genealogies of specific lineages while others are found as standalone texts.

References:

Bernheimer, Teresa. The 'Alids': The First Family of Islam, 750-1200. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013.

Morimoto, Kazuo. "The Formation and Development of the Science of Talibid Genealogies in the 10th & 11th Century Middle East." Oriente Moderno 79 no. 2 (1999): 541-70.

Morimoto, Kazuo, ed. Sayyids and Sharifs in Muslim Societies: The Living Links to the Prophet. Abingdon: Routledge, 2012.