Hadithcore
Sahih al-Bukhari, 2219
sahih

Narrated Sa`d that his father said:

`Abdur-Rahman bin `Auf said to Suhaib, 'Fear Allah and do not ascribe yourself to somebody other than your father.' Suhaib replied, 'I would not like to say it even if I were given large amounts of money, but I say I was kidnapped in my childhood.' "

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍ، حَدَّثَنَا غُنْدَرٌ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ سَعْدٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ عَوْفٍ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ لِصُهَيْبٍ اتَّقِ اللَّهَ وَلاَ تَدَّعِ إِلَى غَيْرِ أَبِيكَ‏.‏ فَقَالَ صُهَيْبٌ مَا يَسُرُّنِي أَنَّ لِي كَذَا وَكَذَا، وَأَنِّي قُلْتُ ذَلِكَ، وَلَكِنِّي سُرِقْتُ وَأَنَا صَبِيٌّ‏.‏

References2 variants
In-Book Reference
Book 34, Hadith 166
USC-MSA web (English) reference
Vol. 3, Book 34, Hadith 422 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
Islam assigned a special care and attention to lineages, commanded their preservation and protection, and prescribed laws and legislations to protect them from potential mixing of progeny. One of these laws and legislationsis the prohibition of affiliating oneself to other than his biological father. In this hadeeth, the Companion ‘Abdul-Rahmaan ibn ‘Awf warned Suhayb Al-Roomee (may Allah be pleased with them) against attributing himself to other than his biological father, after reminding him to fear Allah, Exalted is He. Suhayb (may Allah be pleased with him) used to attribute himself to Sinaan ibn Maalik ibn ‘Abd ‘Amr ibn ‘Aqeel, affiliating himself all the way to Al-Nimr ibn Qaasit, and saying that his mother belonged to the Banee Tameem tribe. In fact, he (may Allah be pleased with him) was a non-Arab because he (was captured by the Romans in his early childhood, and) grew up among the Romans, and learned their language. ‘Abdul-Rahmaan ibn ‘Awf forbade Suyahb (may Allah be pleased with them) from doing so, assuming that he was attributing himself to other than his real father, being a violation of the Laws of Islam. However, Suhayb (may Allah be pleased with him) explained to him that he was not attributing himself to other than his real father and said, ‘I would not like to say it even if I were given a great fortune, but I say I was kidnapped in my childhood.’ His father worked for the Persian king Khosrau, who appointed him as a governor of Al-Ubullah (Apologou), located in present-day Mosul in Iraq. The Romans raided the city and captured Suhayb (may Allah be pleased with him). He was captured by the Romans in his early childhood and learned their language. He was then bought and brought to Makkah by a man from Kalb tribe, and was then bought and freed by ʻAbdullah ibn Judʻaan. .