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Are Arabs and Jews cousins, and is there any evidence for that from the Qur’an and Sunnah?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Most High says: (O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.) And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "O people, indeed your Lord is one, and your father is one. Verily, there is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a non-Arab over an Arab, nor for a black person over a red person, nor for a red person over a black person, except by righteousness." The children of Ishmael (a group of Arabs) are cousins to the descendants of Jacob. Kinship does not change the reality of the religious divergence between Muslims and Jews, because Allah does not consider lineage. The Most High says: (So when the Horn is blown, no kinship will there be among them that Day, nor will they ask about one another.) And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Whoever is slowed down by his deeds will not be hastened by his lineage." The Jews are from the progeny of Jacob, son of Isaac, and there is no doubt about this, as indicated by the texts of the Book, such as His saying, the Most High: (O Children of Israel), where He attributed them to Israel, who is Jacob.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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