Only because anyone who had no heritage wanted one so they took Ishmael’s. So that made them feel as important as the Jews who had a lineage and history they could point to.
However even at that the followers of Muhammad eventually had to write a genealogy to prove he was a descendant of Ishmael, so they invented layers to get connected to a guy who’s descendants never got within 1000 miles of Mecca.
Once they connected themselves to Ishmael, they then can claim they are following the One true Gos, but they are not. They are following Muhammad’s god who is the moon god.
I suppose. But Arab are genetically the most similar peoples to the Jewish people, regardless of where we are in the Diaspora. So they are certainly Semitic.
And there are also Y chromosome studies showing a common male founder.
That could be Shem, or it could be Abraham, or it could be any male.
But coupled with long-standing beliefs — and the fact the Arabs are “donkeys of men” “at war with their brother” (a paraphrase) as promised in Genesis, it’s a pretty safe bet that, yes, Arab, are the descendants of Ishmael.