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The story's translation is quite long, so I have provided it below. My question is not about the general authenticity of what the Story contains, rather I would like to know whether this story has a Sanad(document) or not. I have searched the web to see if I can turn up any, but I did not, I did find a website/forum though that says that the story is inauthentic, but I am not looking for this, nor am I looking what scholars have said on this, I would like to know does this story have a Sanad or not?

جاء رجل إلى عمر بن الخطاب يشكو إليه عقوق ابنه فأحضر عمر الولد و أنّبه على عقوقه لأبيه و نسيانه لحقوقه عليه، فقال الولد : يا أمير المؤمنين أليس للولد حقوق على أبيه ؟ قال : بلى ، قال : فما هي يا أمير المؤمنين ؟ قال عمر : أن ينتقي أمه و يحسن اسمه و يعلّمه الكتاب أي "القرآن " . قال الولد : يا أمير المؤمنين إنّ أبي لم يفعل شيئًا من ذلك، أما أمي فإنها زنجيّة كانت لمجوس... و قد سمّاني جُعْلاً أي " خنفساء " و لم يعلّمني من الكتاب حرفاً واحداً . فالتفت عمر رضي الله عنه إلى الرجل وقال له : جئت إليّ تشكو عقوق ابنك وقد عققته قبل أن يعقّك، و أسأت إليه قبل أن يسيء إليك

a man once came to ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattaab, the second Khaleefah (Caliph) of Islam may Allaah be pleased with him complaining of his sons’ disobedience to him. ‘Umar summoned the boy and spoke of his disobedience to his father and his neglect of his rights. The boy replied: “O Ameer al-Mu’mineen (Prince of believers)! Hasn’t a child rights over his father?” “Certainly”, replied ‘Umar. “What are they, Ameer al-Mu’mineen?” “That he should choose his mother, give him a good name and teach him the Book (the Quran).” “O Ameer al-Mu’mineen! My father did nothing of this. My mother was a Magian (fire worshipper). He gave me the name of Julalaan (meaning dung beetle or scarab) and he did not teach me a single letter of the Quran.” Turning to the father, ‘Umar may Allaah be pleased with him said: “You have come to me to complain about the disobedience of your son. You have failed in your duty to him before he has failed in his duty to you; you have done wrong to him before he has wronged you.”

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  • I haven't researched about it's authenticity but if it were wrong then some researchers in 1400 years would have pointed it out. I feel it's correct and establishes balance between the rights of parents and rights of children. It would be very awkward if Islam honors only the rights of parents but for children, asks to forget and forgive if they were denied their rights as children. If anyone has suffered it, (a) it would not be possible for him/her to simply forgive without compensation (b) brings the Islamic Justice into question (c) Huqooq ul Ibad (parent to child) are questionable. Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 19:11

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This Story can apparently be found in some books talking about child education in Islam or about honoring the parents and they pretend that Omar ibn al-Khattab was the one who has been addressed. This story is too weak as it can't be found in any authenticate source. It could be found in some books of Imam al Ghazaly or ad-Damyri الدميري (حياة الحيوان) where his talking about scarab and Ibn al-Jawzy ابن الجوزي.

There's a very weak Hadith quoted by al-Qurtuby in his tafsir, abu-Na'ym in his hilya and az-Zubaydy and al-Hindy which may support this story somehow saying that a child has the following rights over his/her father: give him/her a good name, teach him/her the book and marry him/her if he lived to see.

عن أبي هريرة - رضي الله عنه – قال : قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : ( حق الولد على والده أن يحسن اسمه ، ويعلمه الكتاب ، ويزوجه إن أدرك )

And Allah knows best!

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