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To what extent is the hadith "Choose for your progeny, and beware of this blackness, for it is a distorted color" authentic?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Hadith which states: "Marry those who are compatible with you, and marry off your women to them, and choose for your progeny, and beware of the Zanj (black people), for they are a distorted creation," was narrated through several chains of transmission (asanid). Among them is the narration by Al-Daraqutni, concerning which Abu Hatim and Ibn Abd al-Barr said it is false (batil), reprehensible (munkar), and weak, and that Abu Umayyah ibn Ya'la is weak and abandoned (matruk). The narration by Al-Jassas has a missing link between 'Uqbah and Hisham, and there is weakness attributed to Abu Umayyah. The narration by Ibn Hibban is very weak due to the weakness of Muhammad ibn Marwan Al-Suddi and his accusation of fabricating Hadith. The narration by Abu Nu'aym in Tarikh Isbahan is very weak due to Al-Haytham ibn Adi, who is accused of lying. Another narration by Abu Nu'aym in Hilyat al-Awliya' is also weak due to the presence of unknown narrators in its chain.

In summary, this report is not authentic, and all Hadiths that disparage Abyssinians and Sudanese are fabrications, as mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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