Ṣadr-ush-Sharī’aĥ, Badr-uṭ-Ṭarīqaĥ, ‘Allāmaĥ Maulānā Muftī Muhammad Amjad ‘Alī A’ẓamī عَـلَيْهِ رَحْـمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ الۡـقَـوِی wrote in Baĥār-e-Sharī’at: Six things are considered in Kufw: (1) Lineage (family background). (2) Islam. (3) Occupation. (4) Freedom. (5) Piety. (6) Wealth. (Baĥār-e-Sharī’at, part 7, pp. 53)
Question: What is the meaning of Kufw in lineage?
Answer: Kufw in lineage means that the man’s lineage should be either higher or equal to the woman’s lineage in terms of social norm. If it is slightly inferior, then it must not be so inferior that it causes disgrace for the woman’s Awliyā (father, grandfather etc.). There is some detail regarding the superiority, inferiority or equality of lineage:
1. All Quraysh families are equal to each other. Even a ‘non-Ĥāshimī Qurayshī’ is a Kufw for a Ĥāshimī. Fatāwā Razawiyyaĥ states: A Sayyidaĥ can marry in any Quraysh tribe, whether ‘Alawī, ‘Abbāsī, Ja’farī, Ṣiddīqī, Fārūqī, ‘Ušmānī or Umawī.
(Fatāwā Razawiyyaĥ, vol. 11, pp. 716)
A ‘non-Qurayshī’ is not a Kufw for any Qurayshī.
Excluding the Quraysh, all other Arab tribes are Kufw for each other, Anṣār and Muĥājirīn are equal here.
A non-Arab is not a Kufw for an Arab, except for a religious scholar because a scholar’s nobility is greater than that of lineage.
(Baĥār-e-Sharī’at, part 7, pp. 53)