The majority of Arab nations are not descendants of Shem (as Abraham and Ishmael were), but are descendants of Ham, Shem’s brother.
Following the Table of Nations in Genesis 10, the sons of Ham include the Canaanites (original settlers of Israel), the Egyptians (Mizraim), the Philistines (today’s Gaza Strip), and they settled in areas such as Lebanon, Western Jordan, Coastal or Southern Syria. They also settled in Libya (Put), Ethiopia, Somalia (Cush), Sudan (Nubia), Yemen, and possibly in northern African Arab countries.
Regarding Abraham, Genesis shows that he had three main descendants: the line of Isaac, the line of Ishmael, and the line of Keturah’s sons.
Regarding the lines of Ishmael and Keturah, some have seen the descendants of Ishmael in the area of today’s northern Jordan and Saudi Arabia, with some clans living in Iraq and Syria. From the line of Keturah, some have tried to identify certain Gulf nations. However, in both these lines, it is difficult to trace a direct connection from Abraham because of too much intermingling.
The only identifiable line (from Abraham) is the descendants of Isaac through Jacob, that is, Israel. This specific line is confirmed by the writings of the New Testament.
The opening verses mention “Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1). Regarding the Jewish people, Miriam referred to them as the descendants of “Abraham his descendants forever” (Luke 1:55), a line confirmed by Paul in several places: Romans 4:13, 2 Cor. 11:22, and Galatians 3-4, where he compares the line of Ishmael and Isaac, emphasizing that true descendants of Abraham are from Isaac.