Assalamu álaikum warahmatullah,
My dear brothers and sisters in Islam.
I see that many of you write postings that are very emotionally driven without having dalil or nas from the al-Quran and Sunnah about the ahlul bayt, may Allah be pleased with them and include us among those he has purified.
I am a Sunni and my descendants hail from the blessed land of Hadramaut, Yemen before they went to India and then to Java.
So what race does that make me? I don't follow many Arabic customs and culture, neither do I speak Arabic though I understand a bit, and neither do I eat Arabic food all the time. I have some Arabic features, but it is not typical, people may call it a "muwallad" look, ie, local born Arab.
I look more Indonesian. Does that nullify the Arab in me? No! Cos technically, I am of Bani Qureish. Based on what the Holy Messenger said, whomever claims a race that he is not as his, and a man as his father while that man is not, will get the la'nat of Allah and humankind.
So, a man's race is based on his father, who is again based on his father's so on and so forth. So a sayyid descendant of Sayyidina Hasan or Husin must be the race of Sayyidina Hasan and Husin, and that of Sayyidina Muhammad, ie an Arab of Bani Qureish, Bani Hasyim, al-Hasani or al-Husaini.
What's so great about being an Arab and a Qureish? The Holy Messenger has said, love of the Arabs is because of 3 things: One because the Holy al-Quran is in Arabic (not Indonesian, or Pakistani or Chinese or some other Ájami language), 2nd because YOUR NABI IS AN ARAB, and thirdly because the language of the Heavens is ARABIC, not any other.
And the Qureish is most superior among all Arab clans, based on his various hadith insyAllah I'll post it another time. Sayyidina Abu Bakar, when the Ansar (of Aus and Khazraj clans) wanted to forward one Ansar sahabah as a Khalifah, made a statement to all the Muslims of Medina, saying that the Arabs as a whole, could never accept a non-Qureish as a leader. That is someone from Aus or Khazraj or Banu Asad or the other Arab tribes would never get a widespread acceptance.
And to this, all the Arabs Muslims of Medina agreed.
That's why all the 4 Khulafa'ar-Rasyidin are all of Bani Qureish.
There is also a saying (I can't remember if its a hadith or saying of an alim) that says hatred or dislike to an Arab constitutes nifaq.
As to the descendants, the Holy Messenger has declared many things about their honour and importance (fadhail) and these are also in the Holy Quran. Among others, the Holy Messenger has said that because Sayyidatina Fathimah has kept her chastity, Allah Taala has forbidden hell for her and HER DESCENDANTS. The Holy Messenger also has supplicated that Allah Taala save his descendants from hell-fire and said that Allah Taala has answered it.
These are all from Sunni sources not Shiites. The Sunnis follow the ways of Rasulullah most closely in loving and adoring the ahlul bayt as his descendants, and respecting and cherishing the sahabis as the best people from the ummah who had helped him in the early struggling days of Islam, may Allah be well pleased with all of them.
Most ahlul bayt are Sunnis, and up to today are either big ulemas or awliya'. Imam Ja'far Sadiq and the other Imams, Syaikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani al-Hasani, Syaikh Abil Hasan Áli asy-Syadzili al-Hasani, Syaikh Ahmad ar-Rifai, the BaAlawi Saadah of Hadhramaut al-Husaini, the Ahdaliyyah Saadah of Yemen al-Husaini, the Hashimis of Jordan and many countless others in Syria, Egypt, the Maghribis and Iraq are all Sunni.
Contemporary Sayyids Ulemas who are Sunnis include Sayyid Muhammad bin Yahya al-Ninowy, al-Habib Umar bin Hafizh BaAlawi al-Husaini, al-Hbb Ali Zainal Abidin al-Jufri al-Husaini, Sayyid Muhammad Yaqoubi, as-Sayyid asy-Syaikh Hisyam al-Kabbani etc etc.
Only a handful are Shiites and are mostly in Iran, Iraq and India. I will post insyAllah the source of this statement issued by one sayyid alim.
Allahu a'lam.