Arab ancestry

Arab ancestry or Arab genealogy refers to the traditional genealogical accounts and the genetic ancestry of peoples identifying as Arabs. In Arab and Islamic tradition, Arab ancestry is commonly expressed through nasab, or genealogy, and is often organized through tribal descent narratives. Modern population genetics examines Arab populations as regionally diverse groups shaped by numerous processes including long-term settlement, migration, admixture, endogamy, and Arabization. Because Arab identity is cultural and historical, genetic studies use the term not to refer to a biological entity but to describe the patterns of descent for the regional populations of the Arab world.