Ancestry question??

Question

i am a pakistani muslim. everyone knows that pakistan and india used to be one country in the past, so our ancestry is common there. so my aunt says that our family is related to King Akbar, (a very old indian muslim king) by marriage. She says that we were related to him by marriage, that his wife who was a hindu, is our ancestor, and she got married to king akbar, and we are related to the wife, therefore related to king Akbar by marriage. but how can my aunt know this, we have no records or anything of this. is it possible to know this without any proof? and is there a chance of us being related to King Akbar? how do we know or find out? Or do we just count people's word for it?

Answer 1

First, unless she had kids with him and you descend from one of those kids, you are NOT related to him.  There must be blood relation to be related.  "By marriage" does not qualify here.

Second, never just take people's word for it when it comes to genealogy.  You MUST prove relationships by a documented paper trail or you cannot legitimately claim relationships.  In genealogy, it is necessary standard practice to back up your claims with proof.  I know that is a hard pill to swallow sometimes when you "know" something but cannot prove it.

Answer 2

Every second muslim of India or pakistan claims to be related to Akbar or a khalifa or some other honcho like them.

Answer 3

Don't discount oral tradition.  However, to be sure, you would need records of your family back to the time of King Akbar (was he a Mogul?) and his Hindu queen.