Muhammad in the Bible — Page 20
20 The first son of Ishmael was Nebajoth. The territory peopled by his descendants, according to geographers is between thirty and thirty-eight degrees North, and thirty-six to thirty-eight degrees East. The Rev. Katripikari (Khu ’ ub ā t Ahmadiyya) admits this and says the descendants of Nebajoth occupied the territory between Palestine and Yanb ū ‘, the port for Medina. Kedar was the second son. His descendants also constitute part of the Arab population. The literal meaning of Kedar is “of camels”, which points to their Arabian habitation. They are to be found in the territory between the © ij ā z and Medina. Ptolemy and Pliny, in the course of their description of the people of the © ij ā z, speak of the tribes Kedars and Gedors (the latter seems to be a corrupt form of Kedar). There are Arabs today who claim descent from Kedar. The third son was Adbeel. According to Josephus, the Adbeels also lived in this part of Arabia. The fourth was Mibsam. We cannot find any traces of this tribe in ordinary geography books. But it is possible that their name has become corrupted into some unrecognizable form. The fifth son was Mishma, and the Mishmas are to be found to this day in Arabia. The sixth was Dumah. A well-known spot in Arabia is still called Dumah, and Arab geographers have always traced this name to that of the sixth son of Ishmael. The seventh son was Massa, whose name is to be found intact in a Yemenite tribe. Their archaeological remains can also be identified. Katripikari mentions this. The eighth son was Hadar after whom we have the famous town © udaida in Yemen. The ninth son was Tema. From Najd to the © ij ā z the territory is called Tema and it is all peopled by the descendants of Tema. In fact they seem to have spread right up to the Persian Gulf. The tenth son was Jetur (Arabic Ya ’ ū r). The Jeturs can also be traced in Arabia and are known as Jed ū rs. The sounds “j” and “y” often interchange, as do “t” and “d”. The eleventh son was Naphish, and Forster thinks that the authority of Josephus and the Old Testament supports the view that the descendants of Naphish lived in the wilds of Arabia. The twelfth son was Kedemah. The habitation of the descendants of Kedemah is known to lie, according to the famous geographer, Mas‘ ū di, in Yemen. The tribe known as A ” h ā b al-Rass and mentioned also in the Quran are descendants of Ishmael, and they were two tribes, one called Kedamah and the other Yamin. According to some authorities the second one was called Ra‘w ī l, not Yamin.