Editing Arabs (section)

== Origins ==
{{further|Pre-Islamic Arabia|Proto-Arabic language|Old Arabic}}
{{see also|Generations of Noah|Ishmaelites|Qahtanite}}
[[File:François-Joseph Navez - Agar et Ismaël dans le désert.jpg|thumb|''A depiction of Hagar and her son [[Ishmael]] in the desert'' (1819) by [[François-Joseph Navez]]]]
Arabic is a Semitic language that belongs to the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic language family]]. The majority of scholars accept the "[[Arabian Peninsula]]" has long been accepted as the original ''[[Urheimat]]'' (linguistic homeland) of the [[Semitic languages]].<ref>Gray, Louis Herbert (2006) ''Introduction to Semitic Comparative Linguistics''</ref><ref>Courtenay, James John (2009) ''The Language of Palestine and Adjacent Regions''</ref><ref>Kienast, Burkhart. (2001). ''Historische semitische Sprachwissenschaft''</ref><ref>Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1995) ''The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia''</ref> with some scholars investigating if its origins are in the [[Levant]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Murtonen|first=A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cJc3AAAAIAAJ&q=ethiopia|title=Early Semitic: A Diachronical Inquiry into the Relationship of Ethiopic to the Other So-called South-East Semitic Languages|date=1967|publisher=Brill Archive}}</ref> The [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] lived in the [[ancient Near East]], including the Levant, [[Mesopotamia]], and the Arabian Peninsula from the 3rd millennium BCE to the end of antiquity. [[Proto-Semitic language|Proto-Semitic]] likely reached the Arabian Peninsula by the 4th millennium BCE, and its daughter languages spread outward from there,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Postgate|first=J. N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nXtlAAAAMAAJ|title=Languages of Iraq, Ancient and Modern|date=2007|publisher=British School of Archaeology in Iraq|isbn=978-0903472210}}</ref> while [[Old Arabic]] began to differentiate from Central Semitic by the start of the 1st millennium BCE.<ref name="academia.edu">{{cite web|last1=Jallad|first1=Ahmad|date=2018|title=The earliest stages of Arabic and its linguistic classification|url=https://www.academia.edu/18470301}}</ref> [[Central Semitic languages|Central Semitic]] is a branch of the Semitic language includes Arabic, [[Aramaic]], [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]], [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and others.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Aaron D. Rubin|author-link=Aaron D. Rubin|date=2008|title=The subgrouping of the Semitic languages|url=https://www.academia.edu/2603460|journal=Language and Linguistics Compass|volume=2|issue=1|pages=61–84|doi=10.1111/j.1749-818x.2007.00044.x}}</ref><ref name="academia.edu3">{{cite book|last1=Jallad|first1=Ahmad|title=The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics|date=2018|publisher=Routledge|editor1=Elabbas Benmamoun|location=London|chapter=The earliest stages of Arabic and its linguistic classification|editor2=Reem Bassiouney|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/18470301}}</ref> The origins of Proto-Semitic may lie in the Arabian Peninsula, with the language spreading from there to other regions. This theory proposes that Semitic peoples reached Mesopotamia and other areas from the deserts to the west, such as the [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadians]] who entered Mesopotamia around the late 4th millennium BCE.<ref name=":0" /> The origins of Semitic peoples are thought to include various regions Mesopotamia, the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and [[North Africa]]. Some view that Semitic may have originated in the Levant around 3800 BCE and subsequently spread to the Horn of Africa around 800 BCE from Arabia, as well as to North Africa.<ref name=AK1>{{cite journal|last1=Kitchen|first1=A.|last2=Ehret|first2=C.|last3=Assefa|first3=S.|last4=Mulligan|first4=C. J.|date=29 April 2009|title=Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identified an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=276|issue=1668|pages=2703–2710|doi=10.1098/rspb.2009.0408|pmc=2839953|pmid=19403539}}</ref><ref>Sabatino Moscati (2001). ''The Phoenicians''. I.B. Tauris. p. 654. {{ISBN|978-1850435334}}.</ref>

According to Arab–[[Islamic–Jewish relations|Islamic–Jewish]] traditions, [[Ishmael]], the son of Abraham and [[Hagar]] was "father of the Arabs".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jones|first=Lindsay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jMOAQAAMAAJ&q=Ishmael|title=Encyclopedia of religion|date=2005|publisher=Macmillan Reference|isbn=978-0028657400}}</ref><ref name="EoR-Ishmael">{{cite book|author=Fredrick E. Greenspahn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jMOAQAAMAAJ&q=Ishmael|title=Encyclopedia of Religion|publisher=Macmillan Reference|year=2005|isbn=978-0028657400|editor=Lindsay Jones|volume=7|pages=4551–4552|article=Ishmael}}
* {{cite book|last1=Noegel|first1=Scott B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lNAWAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA130|title=The A to Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism|last2=Wheeler|first2=Brannon M.|date=2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-1461718956}}
* {{cite web|title=Ishmael and Isaac|url=http://www.therefinersfire.org/ishmael_and_isaac.htm|website=therefinersfire.org}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">''A–Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism'', Wheeler, ''Ishmael''</ref><ref name="Sajjadi 20152">{{cite encyclopedia|year=2015|title=Abraham|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Islamica|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]]|editor1-last=Madelung|editor1-first=Wilferd|volume=1|doi=10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_0028|isbn=978-9004168602|issn=1875-9823|author-last=Sajjadi|author-first=Sadeq|orig-date=2008|translator-last=Negahban|translator-first=Farzin|editor2-last=Daftary|editor2-first=Farhad}}</ref><ref name="bbc2">{{cite news|last=Siddiqui|first=Mona|author-link=Mona Siddiqui|title=Ibrahim – the Muslim view of Ibrahim|work=Religions|publisher=BBC|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ibrahim.shtml|access-date=3 February 2013}}</ref> Ishmael was considered the ancestor of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]], the founder of [[Islam]]. The tribes of Central West Arabia called themselves the "people of Abraham and the offspring of Ishmael."<ref>Stacey, Aisha. [2013] 2020. "[https://www.islamreligion.com/articles/10302/signs-of-prophethood-in-noble-life-of-prophet-muhammad-part-1/ Signs of Prophethood in the Noble Life of Prophet Muhammad (part 1 of 2): Prophet Muhammad's Early Life]." ''The Religion of Islam''. Retrieved 18 December 2017. § 18, p. 215.
* [[H. A. R. Gibb|Gibb, Hamilton A. R.]], and [[Johannes Hendrik Kramers|J. H. Kramers]]. 1965. ''[[Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam|Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam]]''. Ithaca, NY: [[Cornell University Press]]. pp.&nbsp;191–98
* {{Cite book|last=Maalouf|first=Tony|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0BdsFRX55cC&pg=PA44|title=Arabs in the Shadow of Israel: The Unfolding of God's Prophetic Plan for Ishmael's Line|date=2003|publisher=Kregel Academic|isbn=978-0825493638}}
* {{Cite book|last=Urbain|first=Olivier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oMLkUmraBCAC&pg=PA208|title=Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics|date=2008|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=978-1845115289}}</ref> [[Ibn Khaldun]], an Arab scholar in the 8th century, described the Arabs as having Ishmaelite origins.<ref name="Levity">{{Cite web|title=Levity.com, Islam|url=http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam20.html|access-date=13 April 2010|publisher=Levity.com|archive-date=21 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521001536/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam20.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Quran]] mentions that [[Abraham in Islam|Ibrahim]] (Abraham) and his wife [[Hagar in Islam|Hajar]] (Hagar) bore a [[Prophecy|prophetic]] child named Ishmael, who was gifted by [[Allah|God]] a favor above other nations.<ref>{{qref|6|86|b=y}}</ref> Ibrahim and Ishmael built the [[Kaaba]] in Mecca, which was originally constructed by [[Adam]].<ref>{{qref|14|37|b=y}}</ref> According to the [[Samaritan]] book [[The Asatir|Asaṭīr]]:<ref name="Gaster">{{cite book|last=Gaster|first=Moses|title=The Asatir: the Samaritan book of Moses|publisher=Royal Asiatic Society|year=1927|location=London|chapter=VIII|oclc=540827714|author-link=Moses Gaster|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/MN40245ucmf_0#page/n271/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|262}} "And after the death of Abraham, Ishmael reigned twenty-seven years; And all the children of [[Nebaioth|Nebaot]] ruled for one year in the lifetime of Ishmael; And for thirty years after his death from the [[Nile|river of Egypt]] to the river [[Euphrates]]; and they built [[Mecca]]."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gaster|first=Moses|url=http://archive.org/details/MN40245ucmf_0|title=The Asatir [microform] the Samaritan book of the "Secrets of Moses"|date=1927|publisher=London : The Royal Asiatic society|others=Internet Archive}}</ref> The [[Targum Onkelos]] annotates ([[Toledot|Genesis 25:16]]), describing the extent of their settlements: The Ishmaelites lived from Hindekaia (India) to Chalutsa (possibly in Arabia), by the side of [[Mizraim]] (Egypt), and from the area around Arthur ([[Assyria]]) up towards the north. This description suggests that the Ishmaelites were a widely dispersed group with a presence across a significant portion of the ancient Near East.<ref>{{cite book|author=Onkelos|title=[[Targum Onkelos]]|via=targum.info|language=arc|chapter=Section V. Chaiyey Sarah|author-link=Onkelos|chapter-url=http://targum.info/pj/pjgen23-5.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=JCR – Comp. JPS, Targums Onkelos, Palestinian, Jerusalem – Genesis 25|url=https://juchre.org/targums/comp/gen25.htm|access-date=2 May 2023|website=juchre.org}}</ref>