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How sound is the narration attributed to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab: "Learn your genealogies, and do not be like the Nabataeans of Sawad; for when one of them is asked about his origin, he says: 'From such and such a village'"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The mentioned narration, "Learn your genealogies so that you may maintain your ties of kinship and prevent transgression against yourselves" (تعلّموا أنسابكم لتصلوا أرحامكم، وتكفوا عن أنفسكم البغي), has not been found with this specific wording and chain of narration in books of آثار (ancient narrations). Rather, it has been mentioned in some history and genealogy books without a chain of narration. What has been narrated from Umar ibn al-Khattab is with the wording: "Learn your genealogies, then maintain your ties of kinship" (‌تَعَلَّمُوا ‌أَنْسَابَكُمْ، ثُمَّ صِلُوا أَرْحَامَكُمْ). And from Abu Hurairah, elevated to the Prophet (marfu‘an): "Learn of your genealogies what enables you to maintain your ties of kinship" (تَعَلَّمُوا مِنْ ‌أَنْسَابِكُمْ مَا تَصِلُونَ بِهِ أَرْحَامَكُمْ).

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

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