The rise of a Sayyid family between sixteenth-century Medina and Ahmadnagar

A growing number of studies has contributed to our understanding of the different roles that Sayyids (descendants of the Prophet Muḥammad) played in many regions of the Muslim world. Still, many lineages remain unexplored and especially the socio-economic roles of Sayyids often remain unclear. This article studies the little-known Sayyid al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī from tenth-/sixteenth-century Medina, his genealogical writings, and those of one of his sons—Zayn al-Dīn ʿAlī—to trace the political rise and increasing economic affluence of their family, the Banū Shadqam. They combined their Ḥusaynid descent with the prestigious office of custodian ( mutawallī ) of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina and political leadership of the Medinese Sayyids ( naqīb al-ashrāf ). Marital relations with the Niẓāmshāhī Dynasty in the western Deccan and scholarly services at its court in Ahmadnagar provided them with significant royal patronage. Al-Ḥasan increasingly served as socio-economic intermediary in channelling charitable donations from the Deccan to Medina. The mutually beneficial relationship between charismatic and royal authority allowed the Banū Shadqam to advance their social position among the many Sayyid families in Medina. Transgenerational practices of writing genealogical texts served to legitimise their Sayyid claims, complementing transregional mobility and royal patronage to consolidate their social and political position ‘at home’.