The Ruling on Boasting about Lineages and Ancestry
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The questioner asks: What is the meaning of the hadith in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that whoever calls out with the call of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) is of the people of Hellfire, and that he said, "Call people by the names Allah has given them"? Is there any harm, for example, if we say "O Saudi" or "O Egyptian" or the like?
The Shaykh : Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Hujurat 49:13] It is well known that it is not possible to know one another except by relating a person to his tribe, so it is said so-and-so, son of so-and-so, son of so-and-so, until we reach the tribe. Thus, relating oneself to tribes is among the rulings for which Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, established these tribes, because if people were all one tribe, confusion would arise. Likewise, there is no doubt that there is no harm in relating oneself to countries, because it is of the same kind as relating oneself to tribes. However, it is obligatory that no one should boast over another by his relation to a tribe or a country, because this is of the call of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah), when they used to boast about lineages and ancestry. All boasting is in obedience to Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, as He said: [Al-Hujurat 49:13] meaning, do not boast with wealth and children [Al-Hujurat 49:13] So whoever is more mindful of Allah is more noble in the sight of Allah, even if he has no known lineage, even if he is from the lowest class or from the slaves, and he is more mindful of Allah, then he is more noble in the sight of Allah the Exalted. And if he is not more mindful of Allah, then he is more lowly in the sight of Allah the Exalted, even if he is of the most noble people in lineage. Yes.
The questioner : O Shaykh, but the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Name them as Allah has named them: the servants of Allah."
The Shaykh : Yes, this is in the context of boasting. It means, do not boast, for you are all servants of Allah the Exalted. As for relating oneself to a tribe, that is well known.
The Shaykh : Allah the Exalted said:
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُواand made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another
وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُواIndeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you
إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْThe questioner : O Shaykh, but the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Name them as Allah has named them: the servants of Allah."
The Shaykh : Yes, this is in the context of boasting. It means, do not boast, for you are all servants of Allah the Exalted. As for relating oneself to a tribe, that is well known.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، حكم التفاخر بالأنساب والأحساب - المنهيات و المحرمات -للشيخ بن عثيمين - مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.