Alids

Alids العلويين
Hashemite Arab Tribe
A medallion bearing the name of Ali inscribed with Islamic calligraphy in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey.
Ethnicity	Arabic descent
Nisba	al-Alawi or al-Alaoui
Location	Islamic world
Descended from	Ali ibn Abi Talib
Parent tribe	Hashimds
[[Demonym|DemonymTemplate:Pluralize from text]]	Alawis
Branches	Hasanids Alawi / Alaoui (Morocco) Alidrisi / Idrisi (Morocco) Alsaadi (Morocco) Alrassidi / Rassidi (Yemen) Qatadah (Mecca) Dhawu 'Awn Hashemites Abadilah Bolkiah (Brunei) Husaynids Ba 'Alawi sada (Yemen) Jamalullail (Perlis) Jamalullail (Perak) al-Sagoff / as-Saqqaf / as-Segaf al-Aidrus / al-Idrus Bendahara (Pahang & Terengganu) Temenggong (Johor) Ba Alawiyya tariqa (Yemen) Hanafi Alids Abbasid Alids
Language	originally Arabic, nowadays languages spread all over the Islamic world
Religion	Islam
Surnames	Alawi or Alaoui

Alids (Template:Langx) are the descendants of Ali, the fourth Rashidun caliph and the first Imam in Shia Islam. He was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

The Alids have led various movements in Islam. The direct line of Alids, beginning with Ali himself, constitutes the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shia Islam, the largest branch of Shia Islam.

Other branches of the Alids are the Hasanids and Husaynids, named after Hasan and Husayn, the eldest sons of Ali from his marriage to Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. As the progeny of Muhammad, they are revered by all Muslims.

Children of Ali

In addition to seventeen daughters, various sources report that Ali had eleven or fourteen, or eighteen sons. His first marriage was to Fatima, daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who bore Ali three sons, namely, Hasan, Husayn, and Muhsin, though the last one is not mentioned in some sources. Muhsin either died in infancy, or was miscarried after Fatima was injured during a raid on her house to arrest Ali, who had withheld his pledge of allegiance from the first Rashidun caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632–634).

The first report appears in Sunni sources and the latter in Shia sources. Hasan and Husayn are recognized as the second and the third Imams in Shia Islam, their descendants being known as the Hasanids and the Husaynids, respectively. They are revered by all Muslims as the progeny of Muhammad and honored by nobility titles such as Sharif and Sayyid.

Ali and Fatima had two daughters, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum. After the death of Fatima in 632 CE, Ali remarried and had more children. Among them, the lineage of Ali continued through Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya, Abbas ibn Ali, and Umar al-Atraf, their descendants were honored by the title Alawi (Template:Lit). Respectively, they were born to Khawla al-Hanafiyya, Umm al-Banin, and Umm Habib bint Rabi'a (al-Sahba).

Alids in history

Umayyads era (r. 661–750)

Mu'awiya seized the rule after the assassination of Ali in 661 and founded the Umayyad Caliphate, during which the Alids and their supporters were heavily persecuted. After Ali, his followers () recognized as their imam his eldest son Hasan. After his death in 670, they turned to his brother Husayn, but he and his small caravan were massacred by the Umayyads in the Battle of Karbala in 680. Soon followed the Shia uprising of al-Mukhtar in 685 on behalf of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya. Many more Shia revolts followed afterward, led not only by the Alids but also by other kinsmen of Muhammad.

File:Battle between the ʿAlid forces of Muslim b. Aqil and Umayyad forces of ʿUbaydallah b. Ziyad. Ḥadīḳatü’s Süʾedā, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, 70.143, fol. 324a.jpg

Battle between the ʿAlid forces of Muslim b. Aqil and Umayyad forces of ʿUbaydallah b. Ziyad. Ḥadīḳatü’s Süʾedā, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, 70.143, fol. 324a

The main movements in this period were the now-extinct Kaysanites and the Imamites. Named after a commander of al-Mukhtar, the Kaysanites energetically opposed the Umayyads and were led by various relatives of Muhammad. Their majority followed Abu Hashim, the son of Ibn al-Hanafiya. When Abu Hashim died around 716, this group followed Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abd-Allah, the great-grandson of Muhammad's uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib.

The Kaysanite movement thus aligned itself with the Abbasids, that is, the descendants of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. On the other hand, the Imamites were led by the quiescent descendants of Husayn through his only surviving son, Ali Zayn al-Abidin (Template:Died in), their fourth imam. His son Zayd ibn Ali was an exception for he led a failed uprising against the Umayyads around 740. The followers of Zayd went on to form the Zaydites, for whom any learned Hasanid or Husaynid who rose against tyranny was qualified as imam.

Abbasids era (r. 750–1258)

To overthrow the Umayyads, the Abbasids had rallied the support of the Shia in the name of the Ahl al-Bayt, that is, the family of Muhammad. But many Shias were disillusioned when the Abbasid al-Saffah (r. 750–754) declared himself caliph, as they had hoped for an Alid leader instead. The Abbasids soon turned against their former allies and persecuted the Alids and their Shia supporters.

In response, Shia doctrinally limited its leadership to the Alids, many of whom revolted against the Abbasids, including the Hasanid brothers Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah (Template:Died in) and Ibrahim. Some Alids instead took refuge in remote areas and founded regional dynasties in the southern shores of the Caspian sea, Yemen, and western Maghreb.

For instance, the revolt of the Hasanid Husayn ibn Ali al-Abid was suppressed in 786 but his brother Idris (Template:Died in) escaped and founded the first Alid dynasty in Morocco. Similarly, a number of Zaydite rules appeared in northern Persia and in Yemen, the latter of which has survived to the present day.

Some quiescent imams of the Imamites were also probably killed by the Abbasids. For example, the seventh imam, Musa al-Kazim (Template:Died in), spent years in the Abbasid prisons and died there, possibly poisoned by order of Caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), who also had "hundreds of Alids" killed. Caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833) later attempted a reconciliation by appointing Ali al-Rida as heir apparent in 817, the eighth Imam. Other Abbasids revolted in opposition in Baghdad, which forced al-Ma'mun to reverse his policies and Ali al-Rida died around that time, likely poisoned by al-Ma'mun.

Ali al-Hadi (Template:Died in) and Hasan al-Askari (Template:Died in), the tenth and eleventh imams of the Imamites, were held in the capital Samarra under strict surveillance. Most Imamite sources report that both were poisoned by the Abbasids. Their followers believe that the birth of their twelfth imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, was hidden for fear of Abbasid persecution and that he remains in occultation by divine will since 874, until his reappearance at the end of time to eradicate injustice and evil. They became known as the Twelvers.

Meanwhile, the only historic split among the Imamites happened after the death in 765 of their sixth imam, the quiescent Ja'far al-Sadiq, who played a key role in formulating Imamite doctrines. Some claimed that his designated successor was his son Isma'il, who had actually predeceased al-Sadiq. These followers permanently separated and later formed the Isma'ilites. Some of them denied the death of Isma'il but their majority accepted the imamate of his son Muhammad ibn Isma'il.

Muhammad ibn Isma'il's death around 795 was denied by the majority of his followers, who awaited his return as the Mahdi, while a minority traced the imamate in his descendants. The Isma'ilites actively opposed the Abbasids, and their efforts culminated in the establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate (r. 909–1171) in North Africa, although some have questioned the Isma'ilite ancestry of the Fatimid caliphs.

The abortive Zanj rebellion against the Abbasids was ignited in Iraq and Bahrain in the mid-ninth century by Ali ibn Muhammad Sahib al-Zanj, who claimed descent from Abbas ibn Ali. The poetry by descendants of Abbas ibn Ali is collected in , compiled by the Turkic scholar al-Suli (Template:Died in). One of his descendants was Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Alawi, who reached fame as a poet and scholar during the reigns of Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun.

Alid dynasties

Several dynasties have claimed descent from Ali, often through his son Hasan. The Hasanid dynasties include the Idrisites and Sharifs of Maghreb in North Africa, and Hammudids in Andalusia, located in modern-day Spain. The Fatimid Caliphate claimed a Husaynid descent.

Genealogical tables

Kilab ibn Murrah

Fatimah bint Sa'd Banu Azd

Qusayy ibn Kilab

Hubba bint Hulail Banu Khuza'ah

Abd Manaf ibn Qusai

Atikah bint Murrah Banu Hawazin

Salma bint Amr Banu Najjar

Hashim ibn al-Mughira

Qaylah bint Amr Banu Khuza'ah

Fatimah bint Amr Banu Makhzum

Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim

Asad ibn Hashim

Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib

Fatimah bint Asad

Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib

Talib ibn Abi Talib

Aqil ibn Abi Talib

Fakhitah bint Abi Talib

Muhammad ibn Abdullah

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib

Jumanah bint Abi Talib

Fatimah al-Zahra bint Muhammad

Ali ibn Abi Talib

File:Genealogical table of the Alids.png

A genealogical table of the Alids, with the Twelver imams denoted in black font and Isma'ili imams in purple font.

Early Genealogy of the Hasanids

Fatimah bint Muhammad (Family tree) Ali al-Murtazā ibn Abi Talib (Family tree) Khawlah bint Ja'far (Family tree) Hasan al-Mujtabā al-Husayn (Family tree) Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah Zayd ibn Hasan Bishr ibn Hasan Qāsim ibn Hasan Hasan al-Mu'thannā Abu Bakr ibn Hasan Fātimah bint Hasan Ali Zayn al-Abedin Ali ibn Muhammad Abu Hashim Hasan ibn Muhammad Hasan ibn Zayd Abd al-Rahman Muhammad ibn Hasan Abd Allah ibn Hasan Talha ibn Hasan Hasan Abu Bakr (Family tree) Hasan (Alavids) Amr ibn Hasan Husayn al-Athram Maymūnah Umm al-Husayn Ali Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr ʿAbd Allāh al-Kāmīl Da'wud Hasan al-Mu'thallath Ibrāhīm al-Ghamr Jā`far Muhammad Hasan Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ʿAlī al-ʿĀbid Ismāʿīl al-Dībādj Hasan ʿAlī Muhammad al-Baqir Umm Farwah bint al-Qasim Husayn Sahib Fakhkh Ibrāhīm Ṭabāṭabā Hasan Husayn 'Umar al-Ashraf Zayd ibn Ali Jā`far al-Ṣādiq Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Ṭabāṭabā al-Qasim ar-Rassi Ubayd Allah Yahya ibn Zayd Īsā Mūʾtam al-Ashbāl (Father of Aḥmad) Imams of Yemen Hasan al-Utrush Ḥasan Ḥusayn Dhū al-Damʿa Mūsā al-Djawn Yahya ibn Abdallah Ibrahim ibn Abdallah Idris I of Morocco Sulayman I of Tlemcen Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya Jā`far Isa Ibrahim Ali ʿAbd Allāh as-Sālih Idrisids of Morocco and Hammudids of Spain Sūlaymānids of the Maghrib Sharifs of Morocco Sharifs of Sus Yahya ibn Umar ibn Yahya ibn Husayn ibn Zayd al-Kūfī Yūsūf al-Ukhaidhir Husayn al-Ukhaidhir Ismāʿīl ibn Jā`far Abdullah al-Aftah Musa al-Kazīm Ishak Muhammad al-Dibadj Ismāʿīl (Banu al-Ukhaiḍir) Sālih (Banu Sālih of Ghana) Mūsā II (Sharifs of Mecca) Sūlaymān (Sūlaymānid Sharifs) Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl Muhammad ibn Abdullah Ali al-Rida Ahmad Muhammad ibn Yūsūf Muḥammad ash-Shāʿīr Dā'wūd Muḥammad at-Thāʿīr Hidden Imams Muhammad al-Djawad Yūsūf ibn Muhammad Husain ʿAbd Allāh Fatimid Caliphs Musa al-Mubarraqa Ali al-Hadi Ismāʿīl ibn Yūsūf Bū'Hāshīm Muḥammad Abū Jā`far Muḥammad Qatada ibn Idris Imams of Alamut Muḥammad Hasan al-Askari Jā`far Al-Ḥassan ibn Yūsūf Bānū Fulayta Bānū Jā`far Bānū Qatāda Muhammad al-Mahdi Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥassan Hussein bin Ali Abu'l-Muqallid Jā`far ibn Aḥmad Abdullah I (Hashemite King of Jordan) Ali bin Hussein (King of Hejaz) Faisal I (King of Syria & Iraq)

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