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Is it permissible to address someone as "Sayyid so-and-so" to relate him to a specific family?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is permissible to name a person "Sayyid" if he is known by it, because the word is applied to the leader of a people, the jurist, the scholar, and to those who are descendants of Fatimah. The Arabs used to call the chiefs of tribes "Sayyid". The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said regarding Al-Hasan: "Indeed, this son of mine is a Sayyid." As for addressing a person with "Ya Sayyidi" or "Ya Sayyiduna", it is better to avoid it, due to the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: "The Master (Sayyid) is Allah, blessed and exalted be He," and because it may cause arrogance in the addressed person. However, it is not permissible to say "Sayyid" to a hypocrite or a disbeliever, due to the hadith: "Do not say 'Sayyiduna' to a hypocrite, for if he is your master (Sayyid), then you have angered your Lord."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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