In about 1000 A.D., the heads of certain families among the descendants of Ali began to make themselves powerful in the Hijaz and held their ground. From 1200 A.D. to the present time, one line of these children of Ali, that of Katada, has succeeded in maintaining supremacy in Mecca.
The names sharif—anglicized as shereef—that is "The Noble," and sayyid signifying "Seigneur" or "Lord," have become, little by little, titles of nobility throughout the entire Mohammedan world, especially among the posterity of the Prophet. The head of the reigning family in Mecca is "The Shereef of Mecca" par excellence, and the people call him Sayyidana, that is "Our Master" (or Our Lord). How far the realm of these Shereefs was extended beyond Mecca depended, as long as the petty dynasties existed, entirely on the chances of
