According to tradition, Adnan is the father of a group of the Ishmaelite Arabs who inhabited West and Northern Arabia; he is a descendant of Ishmael, son of Abraham. Adnan is believed by genealogists to be the father of many Ishmaelite tribes along the Western coast of Arabia, Northern Arabia and Iraq. Many family trees have been presented by Adnan, which did not agree about the number of ancestors between Ishmael and Adnan but agreed about the names and number of the ancestors between Adnan and the Islamic prophetMuhammad. The overwhelming majority of traditions and Muslim scholars state that Adnan is a descendant of Kedar the son of Ishmael, except forIbn Ishaq who claimed that Adnan was a descendant of Nebaioth, this confusion of Ibn Ishaq can be because one of the descendants of Kedar was also named "Nebaioth". Most of Muslim scholars refused any attempt to recite the ancestors between Adnan to Ishmael, and condemned some other scholars such as Ibn Ishaq for doing it.
Family
Adnan had two sons, Ma'ad ibn Adnan and Akk ibn Adnan. Akk dwelt in the Yaman because he took a wife amongst the Asharites and lived with them, adopting their language. The Asharites were descended from Saba' ibn Yashjub ibn Ya'rub ibn Qahtan.
Adnan was mentioned in various Pre-Islamic poems, such as the Pre-Islamic poets: "Lubayb Ibn Rabi'a" and "Abbas Ibn Mirdas". Adnan was viewed by Pre-Islamic Arabs as an honorable father among the fathers of Arab tribes, and they used this ancestry to boast against other Qahtani tribes who were a minority among the Adnanites. Layla Bent Lukayz, a Pre-Islamic female poet, was captured by a Persian king and forced to marry him, so she composed a poem designated to other Arab tribes, asking for their help and reminding that she and them all belong to Adnan, which makes it a duty for them to rescue her. In other poems such as the ones composed by the Pre-Islamic poet "Qumma'a Ibn Ilias", it appears that Arabs considered it as an "Honor" to be a descendant of Adnan, and for some reason they appear to have been proud of it.
The name of Adnan was found many times in various Thamudic inscriptions, but with few details. In some Nabataean inscriptions, Adnan seems to hold some kind of importance or venerability, to the extent that some Nabataean people were named after him as "Abd Adnon". There is no particular indication that he was worshiped, except as an honorable figure, exactly as some other Arabs called some of their sons as "servants" of their fore-fathers.
According to Islamic tradition, the Islamic prophet Muhammad was descended from Adnan. It has also been reported, through many speeches, that Adnan foretold the coming of Muhammad and ordered his successors to follow him. "The following is the list of chiefs who are said to have ruled the Jazeera and to have been the intraline ancestors of Muhammad."
