Sharīf or Sherif (Arabic: شريف, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef, feminine sharīfa (شريفة), plural ashrāf (أشراف), shurafāʾ (شرفاء), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, from the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (c. 570 CE – 632 CE).
[1] The word derives from the Arabic root sh–r–f, which expresses meanings related to honor, nobility, and prominence.
In still other contexts, they both referred to some form of Hashimite descent, but were linked to a different and specific social status.
[1] Over time, people who were not of Hashimite descent were sometimes also granted the title sharīf as a general mark of nobility.
The result of this has been that today the term sayyid has become a more common designation for those claiming descent from Muhammad.