Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah

It is narrated from Ishaq bin Saeed, he says: My father told me that he was with Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them). A man came to him, and he (Ibn Abbas) asked him, "Who are you?" He mentioned a distant family relationship. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) spoke to him gently and said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Learn about your lineage so that you may maintain the ties of kinship. For there is no benefit in close relationships if ties of kinship are severed, even if the relationships are very close. And there is no harm in distant relationships if the ties of kinship are maintained, even if they are very distant."