The Hypocrisy of Sayyids

I was going to include this as part of the Shia Hypocrisy post, but it is more appropriate to post separately, because not all Shia are Sayyids. A true Sayyid is a Muslim man who can trace his lineage to the Prophet Muhammad. A Muslim woman who traces her lineage to the Prophet Muhammad is a Sayyida or Ilwiya, but her sons are not considered Sayyids. The title "Sayyid" cannot be inherited maternally, and therein lies the hypocrisy: all true Sayyids are the descendants of a woman, the only biological child of the Prophet Muhammad.

My father is a Sayyid, and my mother (not a Sayyida) recently received as a gift the family tree that shows my father's lineage to the Prophet. Every name on that tree is a male, even though the daughters of Sayyids are considered Sayyidas. My mother added her children's names to the tree, including my sister's name.