Shem

Shem (; Hebrew: שֵׁם, romanized: Šēm; Arabic: سَام, romanized: Sām) is one of the sons of Noah in the Bible (Genesis 5–11 and 1 Chronicles 1:4). The children of Shem are Elam, Ashur, Arpachshad (or Arphaxad), Lud and Aram, in addition to his unnamed daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, is one of the descendants of Arphaxad. In Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, Shem is regarded as the ancestor of various peoples of the Near East, including groups traditionally associated with Arabs, Elamites/Persians, Assyrians, and others. In medieval and early modern European tradition he was considered to be the ancestor of the peoples of Asia, and he gives his name to the title "Semites" formerly given to West Asian peoples. Islamic literature describes Shem as one of the believing sons of Noah. Some Islamic sources even identify Shem as a prophet in his own right and state that he was the next prophet after his father.