Ashraf

:"For the name, see Ashraf (name). For the city, see Camp Ashraf."

Ashrâf (Arabic: اشرف ) is an Arabic term referring to someone claiming descent from Muhammad by way of his daughter Fatimah. The word comes from the Arabic "sharif" ("noble"), from "sharafa" ("to be highborn").

This Islamic class can be found from the Maghreb to India. They, like the Sada (plural of Sayyid), derive their names from ancestry from Ali/Fatima and Muhammad, respectively, and have in many Muslim societies evolved into an honorific denoting "master" or "gentry". More precisely, the Ashraf are descendants of Ali's elder son, Hassan, and the Sada those of Ali's younger son Hussein. During the Abbasid period, the term Ashraf was applied to all Ahl al-Bait, basically Muhammad's wn family, including, for example, the descendants of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, of Ali's second wife and of the Hashemites. But during the Fatimid Dynasty, the use of the term was restricted to the descendants of Hassan and Hussein only. This restriction remained in force even after Egypt became Sunni again under the Ayubids.

Social practice in Egypt does not distinguish between Ashraf and Sada. The sources speak of Ashraf who are called Sada Ashraf and Sayyid became a Sharif's title. Nevertheless, the distinction between Hassani Ashraf (according to the earliest edefinition) and Husseini Ashraf (Sada, according to the earliest) is not known. It should be pointed out that by as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century Sayyid had no meaning other than Sharif in Egypt. Abdurrahman al-Gabarti felt compelled to explain that a certain as-Sayyid Ali al-Qabtan was a Mamluk and not a Sharif, as might have been mistakenly inferred from his title. The title in this case, meaning a Mamluk master, originated from the Maghribi usage of "Sidi" which means an emir or a sheikh. In modern usage, Sayyid has lost its religious significance and means simply "mister".

Egyptian Ashraf received great honor and played central roles in the Sufi culture. The status of Ashraf is heritable through either the father or mother, and this class is quite large throughout Egypt.

Well aware of their distinguished descent, the Ashraf in Egypt kept genealogical records and were socially acknowledged as a religious elite. Inevitably, doubts arose concerning the descent of many claimants to the title. Al-Gabarti once commented of one person: "He is one of the Ashraf of true genealogy (as-sahihi an-nasab). Sayyid Muhammad Murtada verified his genealogy."