Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas was born in Bogor, Java, Dutch East Indies into a family with a history of illustrious ancestors, saints. His genealogical tree can be authentically traced over a thousand years through the Ba'Alawi sayyids of Hadramaut and all the way back to the Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He was the second of three sons; his older brother, Syed Hussein Alatas later became an academian and politician, and also had a younger brother, Syed Zedal. He is the cousin of the academic Ungku Abdul Aziz.