On the nobility of urban notables

The claim to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (teseyyüd) was a widespread phenomenon that afflicted the Ottoman Empire from the sixteenth century onwards. Historians of the Arab lands were the first to observe the unnatural increase in the number of sadat/ashraf, particularly in the eighteenth century. They also observed a high degree of correlation between wealth, notability and Muham madan pedigree. It has been noted, for example, that in eighteenth-century Da mascus, the average wealth of the ashraf was three times that of the commoners, and most of them “were members of otherwise prominent families”. In Aleppo, they constituted the elite of the civilian population with 58% of the notable families counted among their ranks according to one study. By the end of the eighteenth century, these families held more than 30% of the lifetime tax-farms. Although there is reason to expect elective