| Ishmaelites بَنِي إِسْمَاعِيل | |
|---|---|
 Map of Ishmaelite tribes in Pre-Islamic Arabia | |
| Ethnicity | Arabs |
| Location | Northern Arabia, Western Arabia (Hejaz), Central Arabia (Najd) |
| Descended from | Ishmael son of Abraham |
| Language | Old Arabic |
The Ishmaelites (Hebrew: יִשְׁמְעֵאלִים, romanized: Yīšməʿēʾlīm; Arabic: بَنِي إِسْمَاعِيل, romanized: Banī Ismā'īl, lit. 'sons of Ishmael') were a collection of various Arab tribes, tribal confederations and small kingdoms described in Abrahamic tradition as being descended from and named after Ishmael, a prophet according to the Quran, the first son of Abraham and the Egyptian Hagar.
According to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Ishmael had one daughter and twelve sons, the "twelve princes" mentioned in Genesis 17:20. In Islamic tradition, this gave rise to the "Twelve Tribes of Ishmael", Arab tribes from which the early Muslims were descended. In Jewish tradition, the Twelve Tribes of Israel were descended from Abraham and his wife Sarah's son, Isaac, via Isaac's son Jacob. These traditions are accepted by both Islam and Judaism.
Genesis and 1 Chronicles describe the Qedarites as a tribe descended from the second son of Ishmael, Kedar. Some Abrahamic scholars described the historic tribe of Nabataeans as descendants of Nebaioth based on the similarity of sounds, but others reject this connection. Different Islamic groups assign the ancestry of the Islamic prophet Muhammad either to Kedar, or to Nebaioth.
Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions refer to the Ishmaelites as Sumu'ilu, a tribal confederation that would take control of the incense trade route during the dominance of the Neo-Assyrian Empire to the north.[1][2][3][full citation needed][4] Christian Frevel holds that while there certainly existed a tribe of Sumu'il in the eighth century BCE, it is possible that the biblical tradition describing the existence of Ishmaelites in the Middle Bronze Age is unhistorical and emerged no earlier than the eighth or seventh centuries.[5]
- ^ Eph'al, Israel. The Ancient Arabs: Nomads on the Borders of the Fertile Crescent, 9th–5th Century B.C. Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1984.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Knauf on Ishmaelwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Rinap/Sources".
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Noble on Ishmaelwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Frevel, Christian. History of Ancient Israel. Atlanta, Georgia. SBL Press. 2023. p. 37. ISBN 9781628375138.