Y chromosomes of self-identified Syeds from the Indian subcontinent show evidence of elevated Arab ancestry but not of a recent common patrilineal origin // Archaeol Anthropol Sci (2010) 2:217–224
DOI 10.1007/s12520-010-0040-1
Elise M. S. Belle et al.
Several cultural or religious groups claim descent
from a common ancestor. The extent to which this claimed
ancestry is real or socially constructed can be assessed by
means of genetic studies. Syed is a common honorific title
given to male Muslims belonging to certain families claim-
ing descent from the Prophet Muhammad through his
grandsons Hassan and Hussein, who lived 1,400 years ago
and were the sons of the Prophet’s daughter Fatima. If all
Syeds really are in direct descent from Hassan and Hussein,
we would expect the Y chromosomes of Syeds to be less
diverse than those of non-Syeds. Outside the Arab world,
we would also expect to find that Syeds share Y chro-
mosomes with Arab populations to a greater extent than
they do with their non-Syed geographic neighbours. In this
study, we found that the Y chromosomes of self-identified
Syeds from India and Pakistan are no less diverse than
those non-Syeds from the same regions, suggesting that
there is no biological basis to the belief that self-identified
Syeds in this part of the world share a recent common
ancestry. In addition to Syeds, we also considered members
of other hereditary Muslim lineages, which either claim
descent from the tribe or family of Muhammad or from the
residents of Medinah. Here, we found that these lineages
showed greater affinity to geographically distant Arab popu-
lations, than to their neighbours from the Indian subconti-
nent, who do not belong to an Islamic honorific lineage.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mace-lab/publications/articles/2010/Belle_AAS10_Syed.pdf