Learn your family history!

[ibnislam]

Assalaam u alaykum,

As I'm a new father, I've taken a sudden new interest in knowing the genealogy of my son, which coincidentally includes my own. I asked my own father about it, and I now know 5 fathers up. In addition to that, he told me many stories about my ancestors. I feel an extra sense of 'nobility' now that I know something about my heritage. I wish I knew more, but facts have been lost.

My advice to you all is to FIND OUT about your history before your elders pass, for once they depart, that knowledge is gone forever. And that knowledge is knowledge about yourself, for it concerns with your origins. You will find in yourself traits from your ancestors and you will be surprised how much goodness and piety they showed. Record the lives of your ancestors, for that is the closest thing to bringing them back to life.

Ma'asalaam

[Suhaib Jobst]

If I'm not mistaken, knowing one's lineage is something which the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) encouraged us in and we have a perfect example in him: Whenever someone inquired, Muhammad (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) could easily trace his ancestors straight back to Isma'il and Ibrahim and back even to Adam! Wa Allahu 'aalim.

[Abd al-Haqq Marshall]

My earliest American-born ancestor. (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cgetting/d2753.htm)

[Suhaib Jobst]

I am fourth-generation American on my maternal side, and second-generation on my paternal side. None of my ancestors lived in the U.S. before 1916.

[Abuz Zubair]

you immigrant... go back to where ya came from!

[Umm Ahmed]

mabrook Ibn Islam , may Allaah guide him always and grant him Taqwa and piety ameen.

Grandparents are a great source for many things , and they have the time and the patience in their latter years to natter about the past , I was blessed to spend a lot of my childhood and teenage years with both sets of Grandparents and I encourage everyone to let their children spend a lot of time with them.

Going back to lineage , I know the hadith that says one of the things a man should look for in his wife is a good lineage . But what is a good lineage ? surely everyone has a good lineage.
Does coming from a noble family mean that they have a good lineage ?

[Fajr]

It's funny because back where I'm from, you have to memorise your lineage and trace it back to at least a main person - it's something you're taught as a child. I learnt to name upto the 11th or 12th 'grandfather' but no more than that!

I think depending on where you're from, knowledge of lineage nowadays has it great benefits in establishing relations and knowing who your distant family are without you having to know their names etc - for example if you were to go back to your ancestral town, you'd only have to tell your lineage and many people would come forth to taken you in as family simply because you meet at a 4th or 5th 'grandfather'.

[Magoo]

in our village in pakistan the local family tree guy (whos very expensive) tells everyone they have lineage back to quraish, but he seems like a blagger to me, our family is from a caste which also is predominant in sikhs so maybe somewhere along the line one of them reverted, allah knows best

[salafiya]

Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullah

From my dad's father's side, I think our ancestral roots are mainly in Turkey. My grandfather was either half or full Turkish. We don't even know the details about him, so we don't really know about others beyond him.

From my mom's father's side, our ancestral roots are 'Arab (very far back though). Her father made a family tree which our relatives in Canada now have. They're improving it and adding all the new additions (because of new kids). My grandfather traced his lineage back to Muhammad sal Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam. Allaahu Alam if that's true...

Both of my grandmothers are Pakistani/Indian...I don't know much beyond them either. I wish they would make actual documentation of birth and death of family members in Pakistan (not only of the present people, but of those who have died long ago).

Oh and btw, congratulations on your baby. May Allaah make him the coolness of your eyes forever and grow him up to be a pious Muslim, Ameen

[AbuAliTheRoman]

Abu Ali, Muhammad ibn Rumi ibn Rumi Aali alGhaazialShujaa3

Thats how far back i go, with the last name being arabized to keep my partial online majhool status.

[Abd al-Haqq Marshall]

My direct patrilineal lineage goes back to Britain as far as I can trace it. My Y chromosome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-chromosome) DNA Haplogroup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup) is I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_I_%28Y-DNA%29), most common in Scandinavia, the Western Balkans, and Sardinia. Since alot of the groups that have invaded England were of Scandinavian origin (the Angles, Saxons, Danes, and Normans) this is not that surprising.

On my father's mother's side, I'm descended from the Pennsylvania Deutsch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Dutch), French Huguenots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot), and a little bit of Portuguese.

I don't know much about my mother's side.

[UmmAbdulMalikStorm]

IbnIslam, i wholeheartedly agree.

I miss my nan :(

[KnowledgeSeeker]

If I'm not mistaken, knowing one's lineage is something which the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) encouraged us in ...[/I].

Is this true?

Any supporting Hadith for this?

[Suhaib Jobst]

Is this true? Any supporting Hadith for this?

I don't know about a hadith which clearly states such, but there are various narrations which imply such a meaning. For example, the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) cursed those who attribute their parentage to other than their biological parent(s). In choosing a mate, he said one of the signs we look for is their lineage, whether it is of good-standing although we should recognize the deeds of one soul are not burdened onto another soul.

My inference came largely from his practice, which we should emulate to the best of our abilities. Muhammad (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) could recount his own lineage back several generations, definitely back to Ibrahim and Isma'il (alaihum salaam). This was one of the practices of the Jahili Arabs which the Prophet (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) carried over into Islam.

The best of generations in this Ummah, continued to trace their lineage (i.e., Banu Umaya, Banu Abbas, etc.). The Holy Qur'an commands the Muslim to retain the ties of kith and kin, while attributing one's lineage falsely is even counted from one of the Kaba'ir (major sins). Researching one's lineage remains a tradition deeply rooted in Islamic societies.

Based on my understanding of all this evidence, Islam encourages us to acknowledge our lineage and study it, so that we may derive various lessons from it. We come to recognize our past and look forward to our future, hopefully increasing in our Iman. It is how we help to understand ourselves. Wa Allahu aalim.

My Y chromosome DNA Haplogroup is I

It is interesting what modern science can do, allowing us to trace our DNA back to a specific geographic location. I don't know about my Haplogroup, but my ethnic identity is Swabian German/Schwäbisch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabians), Castilian Spanish/Castellano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilian_people), and Flemish/Vlamingen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemings).

[KnowledgeSeeker]

So no explicit texts in this regard?

Regardless, thanks for the post.

[ummghazi]

So no explicit texts in this regard?

Regardless, thanks for the post.

no none, this idea that ones lineage and coming from a "good family " is somehow important is not from Islam,it is from the opinions of men. Indeed the sahabba the best of the companions all came from mushrikeen families. and how can it be important at all, which revert to Islam can come from "good lineage" it is the opposite as stated by the prophet salAllahu alleyi wa salam,

hadith states that a woman can be married for four things, her beauty her wealth or her lineage but that one should marry for deen. It is the first criteria. As beauty will fade and be lost, wealth may cause her husband to take advatage of her, and her lineage means nothing as as family can easilly be shamed and their so called "nobility" lost. the prophet salAllahu alleyhi wa salam actually stated that we should have no pride in our lineage, yes we should know who our relatives are in regards to the right of the child to know who its parents are, and to be given the name of his father and of course it is necesscary to know ones lineage to avoid marrying someone who is related in such a way that they are forbidden for marriage.


Narrated by Abu Hurayrah "Indeed Allah has removed from you the blind loyalties of jahiliyyah and the pride for ancestry. Either be a pious believer or a miserable insolent. (All of) you are children of Adam, and Adam is from dust. Let some men cease to take pride in others, who are nothing but burning coal for the HellFire, it will be easier for Allah to handle them than a dung beetle driving his nose into filth" ( Ahmad, Abu Dawud hasan, similar reported in at-Tirmidhi)


in our village in pakistan the local family tree guy (whos very expensive) tells everyone they have lineage back to quraish, but he seems like a blagger to me, our family is from a caste which also is predominant in sikhs so maybe somewhere along the line one of them reverted, allah knows best

i think it was anwar awalaki who jokingly said.. its strange how most of the direct relatives of the prophet salAllahu alleyhi wa salam seemed to have landed in karachi because so many people there claim they are directly related to the prophet salAllahu alleyhi wa salam ...; )

i can trace my fathers lineage back about 450 years only as far as records go here, most of them including my own father were grave diggers & sextons ( thats a caretaker of a church and its grounds) and farmers all from a tiny island off the coast of europe.

[Al_Zahir_Baybars]

This is somethign I have looked into for sometime myself, from one conclusion to another I finally found that my Father's side is Tatar, Siberian, they owned a horse ranch in Turkmanistan or Kazakhstan, I can't tell which cause of the way the town of Kipchak is not only the name of a town but also of the people from it, so I became confused on this thing and only recently got hold of the info after some persistency.

My Father's mother is half Indian, half Persian.

My mother's side is totally from Iraq, Baghdad, they're ancestors were merchants.

[Abuz Zubair]

Hey! We might be long lost cousins! I am a Tatar, too!

[abu_ibrahim]

My mothers ancestors accepted Islam around 600 years ago at the hands of a Sufi called Syed Qadiri. It is said that 700 families/6000 people accepted Islam including her ancestors.

[Abu Dharr Al Kashmiri]

As salaamu alaykum,

the family tree to know for every jihadi :D