# Is it true that Africans have no Neanderthal DNA?

*Why people of African ancestry have no Neanderthal DNA*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/voxmweq6rz4/s/4/
- Date: 2022-01-19 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Neanderthals And Denisovans & The Islamic Narrative | Mufti Abu Layth (13:56–15:54)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voxmwEQ6rz4&t=836s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/voxmweq6rz4/

**Topics:** Human origins

**Question as asked:** I never heard that Africans don't have Neanderthal DNA; is that true?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Generally yes: Neanderthals never lived in Africa, though some people seen as African today have mixed ancestry from migration.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says people with only African ancestry have no Neanderthal DNA because Neanderthals were not in Africa.

**Evidence, his words at 15:14:** “people who have only had african ancestry they won't have any uh neanderthal dna that's the the science behind it it's not just a statement because neanderthals were not in africa” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voxmwEQ6rz4&t=914s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth responds to joking chat comments and to a viewer who had never heard that Africans have no Neanderthal DNA, saying this is anthropology. He explains that someone considered African today may have non-African ancestry because people have always migrated, mentioning that his own ancestry DNA test showed a share of Gaelic ancestry. He says that people with only African ancestry have no Neanderthal DNA because Neanderthals were not in Africa.

## Transcript (machine tier, 13:56–15:54)

[13:56] homo sapien women and tourists [Laughter] i'm sure it was all a very long time ago and yeah well not much you can do about it you can just embrace the genes now um mufti going all dr omar okay i don't know doctor i never heard africans don't have neanderthal dna this is not dr um or this is anthropology okay so that's generally how it is it doesn't mean that no person

[14:35] who you may deem today to be african will have that because it could be that who you come across today and is african somewhere in the ancestry had someone that wasn't african so it could be that because people have migrated all the time so you don't know like when i did my ancestry dna 13 came through as gaelic um which is like what like irish welsh and scottish like 13 of you think what the hell is 13 of it doing all the way

[15:14] in over there but it's it's like that so you're going to see that because people move around so you may have somewhere an ancestor that has contributed a certain dna so just because doesn't mean today but in essence people who have only had african ancestry they won't have any uh neanderthal dna that's the the science behind it it's not just a statement because neanderthals were not in africa so how the hell are they gonna get so where are the genes gonna come from so

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment voxmwEQ6rz4/s/4. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/voxmweq6rz4/s/4/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.