Genetic studies on Arabs

Genetic studies on Arabs refers to the analyses of the genetics of ethnic Arab people in the Middle East and North Africa. Arabs are genetically diverse as a result of their intermarriage and mixing with indigenous people of the pre-Islamic Middle East and North Africa following the Arab and Islamic expansion. Genetic ancestry components related to the Arabian Peninsula display an increasing frequency pattern from west to east over North Africa. A similar frequency pattern exist across northeastern Africa with decreasing genetic affinities to groups of the Arabian Peninsula along the Nile river valley across Sudan and the more they go south. This genetic cline of admixture is dated to the time of Arab migrations to the Maghreb and northeast Africa.

In the Levant, the introduction of Islam to the region and the conversion of the region's population to it caused major rearrangements in populations' relations and affinities through admixture with "culturally similar but geographically remote populations" with whom they enjoyed a shared Islamic culture, Arab culture and Arabic language, which led to "genetic similarities between remarkably distant populations like Jordanians, Moroccans, and Yemenis".

A 2018 study of Arabs found that Peninsular Arabs genetically showed two distinct clusters and that Arabs in general can be genetically stratified into four groups; the first consisting of Maghrebi Arabs (Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians and Libyans) along with the first Arabian Peninsula cluster, which consists of Saudis, Kuwaitis and Yemenis, the second consisting of Levantine Arabs (Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians and Jordanians) along with Egyptians and Iraqis and Moroccan Jews, the third compromising Sudanese and Comorians, and the fourth compromising the second Arabian Peninsula cluster consisting of Omanis, Emiratis, and Bahrainis. The study confirmed the high genetic heterogeneity among Arabs, especially those of the Arabian Peninsula.