Arabs/Jewish/Prophet Muhammad's Connection to Abraham
It is commonly said amost Anti-Islamic circles and critcs of Islam that the Arabs have no connection to the Patirach Abraham and that Prophet Muhammad has no ancestorial link to the Prophet Ishmael. This of course is a desperate lie against Islam and Prophet Muhammad spread mainly by internet Christian missionaries and atheist critics of Islam. I even remember reading in the Ibn Warraq (who is an atheist) book Why I am Not a Muslim, that there is no evidence that Prophet Abraham travelled to Mecca or that the Arabs are descendants of Ishamel. [1] What was even more interesting was in the same book Ibn Warraq tries to argue that Prophet Abraham (may peace and blessings be upon him) never existed! Talk about Double standards!
The purpose of this essay is to show that the Arabs and Jews are in fact related and according to many sources and that Prophet Muhammad is connected to both Abraham and Ishamel.
The Arabs of Arabia and even some of the Jews living in Arabia--- believed that Abraham was responsible for making of the Kabba (the house of Allah).
Even hostile critical Orientalists such as William Muir and Charles Cutler Torrey are convinced that the Abrahamic origin of the Kaaba was a popular belief among the Arabs long before the time of Prophet Muhammad. The Arabs Believed that Abraham came and bulit the Kabba way before Islam.
This can be found in the Hadith:
Narrated Ibn Abbas: When the Prophet saw pictures in the Ka'ba, he did not enter it till he ordered them to be erased. When he saw the pictures of Abraham and Ishmael carrying the arrows of divination, he said, "May Allah curse them (i.e. the Quraish)! By Allah, neither Abraham nor Ishmael practiced divination by arrows." (Bukhari Volume 4, Book 55, Number 571)
The fact that there was a picture of Abraham and Ishmael in the Kabba, shows that the Arabs believed that they were the sons of Ishamel.
Arabia before Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was inhabited by a variety of tribes of different lineage, Ishmaelites, Arabians, Idumeans, Horites, and Edomites. Ishmael's descendants are the Arabic peoples according to both Jewish and Arab tradition.
The Arabs used to believe they were the sons of Ishamel way before the coming of Islam.
Its a fact that Arabs and Jews are related. The Arabs and Jews are genetically related (they even look alike) because they share a common ancestor, Abraham (may peace be upon him). Scientists today have found a genetic link between the Arabs and the Jews, and hence this verifies the traditions that informs us that the Semitic people share a common ancestor. We read that:
"…They found that grouping Jews and Arabs together – both are Semites – is based on genetic and well as historical and linguistic reality." [2]
Going back to the Bible, Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael were taken to the dessert of Paran (which has to be Arabia) and placed there, see Genesis 21:17-21. So you can see, that There is good evidence for Abraham going back there and buliding the Kabba. The sons of Ishmael eventually became the Arabs.
In the Jewsih Apocryphal book Book of Jubilees (20:13) it mentions that the descendants of Abraham's son by Hagar, Ishmael, as well as his descendants by Keturah, became the "Arabians" or "Arabs". Also the 1st century Jewish Historian Josephus described the descendants of Ishmael (i.e. the Ishmaelites) as an "Arabian" people. [3] He also calls Ishmael the "founder" (κτίστης) of the "Arabians". [4]
The term Semetic refers to Jews and Arabs. Originally used in linguistics, the Semitic languages seem to have originated in the Arabian Peninsula. Both Arabic and Hebrew are semetic languages.
1.Both groups of Jews appear to be closely related to Lebanese.
2.Technically Arabs and Jews are genetically related.
3.Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East share a very similar gene pool and must be considered closely related and not genetically separate.
4.DNA analysis supports the biblical story of the Jewish priesthood.
I'll try to do more research and put on my site, but it should be clear that Jews and Arabs are related-- and it has been proven through Arab Genelogies that Prophet Muhammad (p) great ancestor was Ishmael-- the first born of Abraham. Even Ibn Ishaq's biography states that Prophet Muhammad is the great grand
son of Prophet Abraham:
This is the book of the biography of the apostle of God.Muhammad was the son of 'Abdullah, b. 'Abdu'l-Muttalib (whose name was
Shayba), bin.( bin means the son of in Arabic) Hashim (whose name was 'Amr), b. 'Abdu Manaf (whose name wasal-Mughira), b. Qusayy (whose name was Zayd), b. Kilab, b. Murra, b. Ka'b, b.Lu'ayy, b. Ghalib, b. Fihr, b. Malik, b. al-Nadr, b. Kinana, b. Khuzayma, b.Mudrika (whose name was Amir), b. Ilyas, b. Mudar, b. Nizar, b. Ma'add, b.'Adnan, b. Udd (or Udad), b. Muqawwam, b. Nahur, b. Tayrah, b. Yarub, b.Yashjub, b. Nabit, b. Isma'il, b. Ibrahim (Ibrahim is Arabic for Abraham), the friend of the Compassionate, b. Tarih(who is Azar), b. Nahur, b. Sarugh, b. Ra'u, b. Falikh, b. 'Aybar, b. Shalikh, b.Arfakhshadh, b. Sam, b. Nuh, b. Lamk, b. Mattushalakh, b. Akhnunk, who is that prophet Idris according to what they allege, but God alone knows best . . . b.Yard, b. Mahil, b. Qaynan, b. Yanish, b. Shith, b. Adam [5]
Prophet Muhammad was an ancestor of Adnan-- and Adnan was a descendant of the Biblical Kedar, the Second son of Prophet Ishmael [6] :
The Arab genealogist Hisham Ibn Muhammad al-Kalbi (A.D. 737-819), known as Ibn al Kalbi, established a genealogical link between Prophet Ishmael and Prophet Muhammad. He quotes writers who had access to biblical and Palmyran sources, but the majority of his information came from the ancient oral traditions of the Arabs. His book, 'Djamharat al Nasab' has been translated into German by W. Caskel, (Ghamharat an-Nasab (The Abundance of Kinship) Das genealogische Werk des Hisam Ibn Muhammad al Kalbi, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1966) It seemed to be Ibn al Kalbi's opinion that the people known as 'Arabs' were all descendants of Prophet Ishmael.
This is the account of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Sarah's maidservant, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham.These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah.These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. (Genesis 25:12-16)
Have you also ever noticed that Arabs (from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, etc) and Jews look alike? This is because they have the same genes--- they both hail from Abraham.
Again, yes the Arabs and Jews are related--- plus read any biography of Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him)-- his genelogies go back to Prophet Ishmael.
As for Paran being Siani, that is actually incorrect-- Paran is none other than Arabia. [7]
According to The Times (9 May 2000), Jews and Arabs United by Genes, The Journal of Babylonian ExilArch [Online Document] it says:
“…both Arabs and Jews owe their genes to a common ancestor population that predated the Jewish religion.”
In America-- Palestines, Labenese, Syrians, are considered WHITE-- the reason not being because they look white-- but because they are genetically linked to Jews.
I have many Arab friends from all over including Palestine, Labanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, etc--- they all look very much like white people so it makes sense that the Arabs and Jews are related. How else do you explain this?
It goes like this--- the Arabs of the Middle East come from Ishmael while the Jews (whether European or Middle Eastern) come from Isaac.
As for the Bible verse, doesn't it also say in the Bible that God will bless Ishmael and make his people into a great nation in Genesis 21:17-2. It is a fact that before Islam, Arabia was divided into tribes and after the minstry of Prophet Muhammad Arabia was united into a nation.
Notes and Bibliography [1] Ibn Warraq pg. 131. Then Ibn Warraq tries to argue that Prophet Abraham didn't exist on page 133-134.
[2] ABCNews, Jews and Arabs Share The Same Genes [Online Document]
[3] Antiquities of the Jews, book 1, 12:4
[4] Antiquities of the Jews, book 1, 12:2
[5] Ibn Ishaq, p. 3 Although there is a lot of false material in Ibn Ishaq's biography of the Prophet, this genealogy has been deemed to be authentic.
[6] See Al-Tabari (1988) and Al-Mubarakpuri (1996) for the exact references.
[7] See http://ihashim1.www8.50megs.com/
Al-Tabari MJ: Tarikh al-Rasul wa'l Muluk In Watt WM, McDonald MV (Trans.): The History of al-Tabari: Volume IV Muhammad at Mecca. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1988.
Al-Mubarakpuri S: Al-Raheeq Al-Maktum: The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Nobel Prophet. Riyadh, Dar Us-Salam Publications, 1996.
Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah (The Life of Muhammad), Alfred, Guillaume, tr. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980)
Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not A Muslim [Prometheus Books, Amherst NY 1995
Josephus F: Jewish Antiquities. In Whiston W (trans): The New Complete Works of Josephus. Grand Rapids, Kregel Publications, 1999.
Noth M: The History of Israel New York, Harper & Row, 1960
Further Reading: 