Introduction

This essay introduces the special section “The Making and Unmaking of Sayyid Elites.” It describes the historically specific quality of sayyidhood that has informed the articles in the special section. It notes that through different approaches, each of the articles builds upon the premise that sayyidhood is a universal concept that is defined by a genealogical connection to the Prophet of Islam, which nevertheless appears in widely varying ways across different premodern Muslim societies. This introductory essay outlines the comparisons made possible by regarding how sayyidhood unfolded in different instances in the Arabian Peninsula and the post-Timurid world and indicates the conceptual and historical works of scholarship upon which the contributors’ analyses are based.