[aruanan]

I thought the Arabs came from Ishmael.

No, that was Muhammed's propaganda to gain some sort of legitimacy for his new religion. He first appealed to the Christians and Jews of the Arabian Peninsula (the Christian and Jewish kingdoms were the dominant civilizations of that region from the first couple centuries AD onward until Muhammed wiped them out) and included various rituals and references to both religions. He originally had prayers directed toward Jerusalem. The Jews told him to pound sand and he set about destroying them.

[William Terrell]

That's an odd theory. First I've heard of it. Why was Genesis 16:11-12 written, if he were just an individual wild man, then died? Who are the brethren he lived amongst?

An interesting theory. I'm not sure I can buy it. From my reading, there were millennia between Ismael and Muhammad.