Present Y chromosomes support the Persian ancestry of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar and Eminent Navigator Zheng He

TL;DR

This study analyzes the Y chromosomes of Sayyid Ajjal's descendants to trace their origins, revealing a southern Persian lineage and supporting their historical connection to Persian ancestry.

Contribution

The paper provides genetic evidence linking Sayyid Ajjal's descendants to Persian origins through Y chromosome analysis, clarifying historical lineage.

Findings

All descendants share haplogroup L1a-M76

Supports Persian ancestry of Sayyid Ajjal's lineage

Genetic evidence aligns with historical records

Abstract

Sayyid Ajjal is the ancestor of many Muslims in areas all across China. And one of his descendants is the famous Navigator of Ming Dynasty, Zheng He, who led the largest armada in the world of 15th century. The origin of Sayyid Ajjal's family remains unclear although many studies have been done on this topic of Muslim history. In this paper, we studied the Y chromosomes of his present descendants, and found they all have haplogroup L1a-M76, proving a southern Persian origin.