Early in the twentieth century, a dispute concerning the privileges of the
sayyid-shaiif, the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, occurred within the Hadrami community of Southeast Asia. In Hadramawt, the homeland of the Hadrami immigrants, members of Al 'Alawi a clan of
sayyid-sharif, were entitled to high social status. Within the Hadrami community of Southeast Asia, however, a group emerged disclaiming the special status of 'Alawis, or
sayyid-sharif generally, as a violation of the notion of the equality between all Muslims. They established an organization called Irshad in Batavia in 1914. The conflict between the 'Alawis and the Irshadis continued until the 1930s.
Previous literature has considered the dispute as concerning predominance in the Hadrami community and presented it only as viewed within the local context. The roles of Muslims other than Hadramis in the struggle and the arguments about the privileges of
sayyid-sharif themselves have not been discussed. The present article considers the dispute within the larger context, focusing on the intervention of non-Hadrami Muslims. This article deals with the attempts at reconciliation undertaken by two leaders of the Middle East, Rashid Rida and Shakib Arslan, during the first half of the 1930s.
In this period, the Irshadis questioned the validity of the genealogy of 'Alawis as the descendents of Muhammad. The object of this argument was the 'Alawis only, irrelevant of the privileges of the
sayyid-sharif The leaders of the Middle East denied this claim of the Irshadis. This shows that the leaders considered the dispute to be about the status of
sayyid-sharif. The result of the reconciliation gave a heavy blow to the Irshadis. This article concludes that the dispute had two dimensions: one was within the context of the Hadrami community, and the other, which had a predominance in the dispute, was not restricted locally, but concerned the privileges of
sayyid-shaiif generally.
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