Who are the descendants of Ishmael??

[verrid]

I have been studying the first couple of prophecies of the book of Genesis.
I was wondering which nations are descended from Ishmael?
I know that the Arab Nations are but what of the Turks,Persians and the Kurds? I know of the Arabs but I dont know much about the other groups.
Does anyone know about this complicated lineage?

[R' Y'hoshua Moshe]

All I know is that it is the collective people known as the "Arabs". Can anybody else share more?

Shalom,

Reuel

[Chizuk Emunah]

Well, the Kurds and Persians are separate ethnic groups than the Arabs. I do know that much. I also know that modern day Turkey occupies the same area as ancient Byzantium.

I can also tell you this about the Kurds:
1) They are considered an ethnic minority, and are not regarded as being native to Northern Iraq & Southern Turkey.
2) At one time, there was a sizable Jewish population living among them.
3) Saladin, the leader who fought the Crusaders and rescued Yerushalyim, was Kurdish.
Here's an interesting site: www.barzan.com/kevin_brook.htm
here's another one: www.xs4all.nl/~tank/kurdish/htdocs/his/orig.html

Did some digging on the Turks:
1)They can trace their origins to the Central Mongolian steppes.
2)The earliest mention of the Turks can be traced to 3rd Century Chinese writings, although they were not considered powerful until the 6th Century.
3)They were excellent archers and riders.
4)60% of the world's 90 million Turks live outside of Turkey.

In Central Asia, for example, where they recently re-emerged as independent nations from a century of repression, Turkic Azeris, Kazaks, Kirgiz, Turkomans and Uzbeks roughly equal the number of Turks in Turkey itself. There are sizable Turkic minorities too in Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Mongolia, Russia and Ukraine. In northwest China, Uighur Turks outnumber Han Chinese, and give the country's largest administrative unit its name.

Turkic peoples, in fact, are one of the most widespread ethnic groups in the world, inhabiting a vast region from the Great Wall of China in the east to the Balkans in the West, and from Siberia in the north to Afghanistan in the south.