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Mother and family have the last name of Sayyed and claim that they are descendants of Prophet Muhammad, to believe this or not? And then supposing it is true, what happens when you have given zakat money to them?

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Askimam.org

My question is regarding validity of ancestory. My husband’s mother and family have the last name of Sayyed and claim that they are descendants of Prophet Muhammad(SAWS) and say also, that there grandfather had the family tree, consisting of several rolled old pieces of paper, rolled in a scroll in two copies and one copy was stolen when their house was broken into many years ago. Also, a relative of the grandfather has the only remaining scroll of documents and now lives in the states somewhere. The scroll also is said to have contained documents written in arabic.

My main concern is whether to believe this or not? And then supposing it is true, what happens when you have given zakat money to them?

Another concern is how this can be verified or not? Can there be some type of dna test with one of Prophet Muhammad’s(SAWS) real living descendants that is well known in the Islamic world?

Recently the issue regarding the validity of the zakat came up and my husband’s parents seemed to not know what to do about it.

Answer

1. If they are unable to authenticate the status of their being Sayyid, the best is to maintain silence over the issue. Do not refute it. It could be true. Zakaat may not be given to them. The Sayyids are not permitted to accept Zakaat. If Zakaat was already given to them on the assumption that they are eligible for Zakaat and it later transpired that they were Sayyid, the Zakaat is discharged. However, if you gave them Zakaat well aware that they could be Sayyid, your Zakaat is not discharged and should be repeated.

2. Islam does not rely on DNA testing to authenticate family lineage.

and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best

Mufti Muhammad Kadwa
FATWA DEPT.

CHECKED & APPROVED: Mufti Ebrahim Desai (Fatwa Dept.)

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This answer was collected from Askimam.org, which is operated under the supervision of Mufti Ebrahim Desai from South Africa.

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