Boasting About Lineage

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) said: “There are indeed people who boast of their dead ancestors, but in the sight of Allah they are more contemptible than the black beetle that rolls a piece of dung with its nose. Behold, Allah has removed from you the arrogance of the time of jahiliyya (ignorance) with its boast of ancestral glories. Man is but an Allah-fearing believer or an unfortunate sinner. All people are the children of Adam, and Adam was created out of dust.” [Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud]

Nobody has any control over which family they are born into. Therefore, a person has no right to boast about that which they had no role in. Nor do the good or bad deeds of our ancestors have any bearing on our status with Allah (subhana wa ta’ala). Muslims are therefore told to shun these wrong criteria of status. What gives a person status with Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) is righteousness.