al-Musawi[1] (Arabic: الموسَوي, romanized: al-Mūsāwī) is an Islamic title indicating a person descended from Musa al-Kazim, the seventh of the Twelve Shi'a Imams. Family members from this dynasty are amongst the most respected and well-known Muslims. Members of this family are referred to by the anglicized version of their name.
The al-Musawi family is one of the largest and most influential Muslim families in the world. All Musawi's are descendants from the Musa Al-Kadhim son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, their bloodline tracing all the way through each of the first six Twelve Imams, to the first; Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib, along with his wife Fatimah, the daughter of the Muhammad.
Members of the al-Musawi family are referred to with varying titled depending on their country of origin these include but are not limited to; Sayyid (male), Sayyida (female), Sayyid Mirza (male), Habib (male), Sharif (male), Sharifa (female), and Rilwiya (female) [2][3] as an honorific title, they denote those accepted as the direct descendants of the Muhammad. As such they are members of the Alid family.
Members of the Al-Musawi family are mainly Shi'a Muslims found in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, GCC countries, and other parts of the world. According to family tradition, the original roots of the Al-Musawi family comes from the head tribe of Banu Hashim.