Abrahamic Covenant
The following logic is what is contributing to the alarming conversion rate among Christians to Islam. Jews, Christians and Muslims have a common father, Prophet Abraham, the patriarch of monotheism. For example, Abraham married Sarah and it is through her Jewish children over generations that the following prophets came: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus.
Abraham also married Hagar and it is through her Muslim children over generations that the following prophets came: Ishmael and Muhammad.
Disclaimer:
Note: We have put the following video which has been done by a Jewish in collaboration with another Muslim YouTube Channel in an Academic way.
Islamic Prophets Family Tree OR Abrhamic Family Tree: The Bible and Quran Compared
When Christians realize that the Bible was manipulated by biased writers to unfairly exclude Ishmael, the son of Hagar, they realize that their religion may be nothing more than the result of innocently mislead people who wrote from the time Jesus left earth in 30 AD until about 350 AD when the formation of the New Testament came to an end.
The following analysis of biblical scriptures illustrates that Ishmael was part of God’s covenant, thereby proving Islam a divine religion. God made an important promise to Abraham before any children were born to him.
(Genesis 12:2-3) And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shall be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Abraham was first married to Sarah who happened to be a barren woman and bore him no children.
(Genesis 16:1). Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children
Later in the book of Genesis (16:2) we are told that Sarah gave Abraham a handmaid (Hagar) to be his wife, in the hope that she may bear a child to Abraham. Hagar did indeed bear Abraham’s first child, and the Angels of God told Hagar to name him Ishmael (Gen 16:11), which means God Hears.
Clearly, this is a divine child as God is intervening and sending angels down to name him; this is a clear indication that the child is divine and important.
Moreover, we are told in Genesis (21:20) that, God was with the boy as he grew up. Ishmael, the firstborn child is very important. As a matter of fact, this is indeed consistent with the bible. In Hebrew traditions, the first-born son is to have double portions of honor, even inheritance and that right is not changed by the status of his mother.
For example in (Deuteronomy 21:15-17) we are reminded that a firstborn son is to be given a double share of inheritance regardless of the circumstances since the first born is the first sign of his father’s strength.
For the following 14 years, Ishmael was Abraham’s only child. Later, Abraham’s first wife Sarah bears him a son, Isaac (Gen 21:1-5). After the birth of Ishmael and before the birth of Isaac, God’s promise to bless the families of the earth through Abraham’s descendants was repeated:
(Genesis 17:4) As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shall be a father of many nations.
According to Jews and Christians only Isaac was the son of promise and covenant. The following verses are referenced.
(Genesis 17:21) But my covenant will I establish with Isaac.
(Genesis 21:12) For in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
An interesting thought arises, is it possible that the writer(s) of this book (Genesis) inserted such statements to favor his own clan, himself being an Israelite? When these two verses (Gen 17:21 and 21:12) are examined in context with other verses of this same book, it becomes obvious that the Ishmaelite were included in God’s promise and his covenant with Abraham.
God’s covenant with Abraham was made before he had any children (Gen 12:2-3). It was reiterated after the birth of Ishmael and before the birth of Isaac (Gen 17:4). Moreover, Ishmael is also specifically blessed, and, hence, included in God’s promise.
For example, “God said”:
(Genesis 21:13) Of the son of the maidservant (i.e. Ishmael) I will make a great nation because he is thy seed.
The above promise was further confirmed a few verses later:
(Genesis 21:18) Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in your hand; for I will make him a great nation.
(Genesis 21:20) God was with the boy as he grew up.
When God speaks of greatness, he does not merely refer to numbers. Greatness by God’s own criterion is founded on faith, spiritual heritage and religious leadership. One may wonder at this point why there should be only one child as the heir of the divine promise?
Why not both sons in view of the evidence discussed already? What type of divine justice punishes the rites of the firstborn to satisfy Sarah’s ego and bless her jealously? Was Sarah dictating her desires to God, too?
(Genesis 21:10) Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.
This statement was made after Ishmael allegedly mocked Isaac on the day Isaac was weaned (Gen 21:8-9). Can one imagine Hagar and her 17 year old son Ishmael expelled to the desert because Ishmael allegedly mocked the 3 year old boy Isaac on the day of a great feast when Isaac was weaned (Gen 21:8) What did Ishmael say to the 3-year-old baby to warrant such a harsh punishment?
Did he mock him in the presence of a large group of people who attended the feast? One can only wonder what he said to the lad. Moreover, it is doubtful Abraham would send his wife and son off into the desert (a virtual death sentence) at the request of his other moody wife Sarah; the story does not seem plausible. On the contrary, as we will see below, something is rotten in the State of Denmark!
THE MUSLIM VERSION
The Muslim version of the story is that Abraham received instruction from God to take Hagar and her baby Ishmael to a barren and lifeless place in Arabia (Paran). The area of Paran is also referred to in the Bible in (Gen 21:21). When Abraham began to leave Hagar and Ishmael alone in such barren wilderness, Hagar cried to him and asked why he was leaving her in the desert, eventually she asked if God had commanded him to do this and Abraham responded yes.
When Hagar ran out of water, the baby was crying (Gen 21:17-19) and in a moment of despair and apparent death, God Hears (i.e. Ishmael Gen 16:11) the cry and intervenes again and a spring of water suddenly gushed forth from under Ishmael’s feet. That well later came to be known as the well of Zamzam.
One must ask why God intervenes to save Ishmael, perhaps because he was part of a divine plan? Ishmael means God hears (Gen 16:11); how ironic a name God’s Angels gave him. According to the Muslim version Abraham did not just abandon his son and never talk to him again. Abraham would still keep in contact with Ishmael and visit him (Quran 37:102-111). This is because he cared about him, which seems to be consistent with the Bible (Gen 21:11).
THE BIBLICAL VERSION
Sarah, Abraham’s first wife was jealous of Hagar and her son Ishmael. She did not want Ishmael to inherit with her son Isaac because Ishmael was the son of the handmaid. She was particularly angry because of what she considered mockery on the part of Ishmael toward his younger brother Isaac while they were playing together.
(Gen 21:10) Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.
This incident took place after Isaac was weaned. Abraham obeyed his wife Sarah whose demand of casting out the slave woman and her son was blessed by God who told Abraham to (Gen 21:12) listen to Sarah. One morning Abraham rose up, gave provisions and water to Ishmael and Hagar, and left them in the wilderness of Beer Sheba in Southern Palestine (Gen 21:14).
When Hagar ran out of water she could not bear to watch her son die, so she sat away. Eventually, an angel appeared before her and provided her with a spring of water. The angel further told her (Gen 21:18) Arise, lift up the lad and hold him in your hand; for I will make him a great nation. Ishmael dwelt in the wilderness of Paran (Gen 21:17-21) He had twelve sons one of whom one was named Kedar (Gen 25:13).
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE TWO VERSIONS
There appears to be at least three similarities between the two versions:
1) That Hagar and Ishmael were taken away from Palestine and dwelt in the wilderness of Paran.
2) That Hagar ran out of water and was worried about the life of her son Ishmael.
3) That unexpectedly, she had access to water which she gave to her son to save his life.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO VERSIONS
According to the Muslim version:
1) Hagar and Ishmael were taken away because of a specific divine instruction given to Abraham as part of the divine plan. When the time came, prophet hood was to shift from the Israelites to the Ishmaelite, after the rejection of the last Israelite prophet, Jesus.
2) Hagar and Ishmael were taken to the wilderness of Arabia, specifically Mecca and not to Beer Sheba.
3) The incident took place before the birth of Isaac and not after; when Ishmael was a baby, which is further confirmation of the more realistic reason for Hagar and Ishmael’s apparent exile as stated in the first difference.
ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENCES
Was Ishmael and Hagar sent to the desert before or after the birth of Isaac? If we were to accept the Biblical version, we would encounter a number of inconsistencies and contradictions. It is clear from the story in Gen. 21:14-19 that Ishmael was a little baby at that time.
For example according to Gen. 16:16 Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. And according to Gen. 21:5 Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born. It follows that Ishmael was already fourteen years old when his younger brother Isaac was born.
According to Gen. 21:8-19 the incident took place after Isaac was weaned. Biblical scholars tell us the child was probably weaned at about the age of three. Thus, it follows that when Hagar and Ishmael were taken away Ishmael was a full-grown teenager, seventeen years old. However, the profile of Ishmael in Gen 21:14-19 is a small baby and not a full-grown teenager. Why?
Genesis 21:14-21
14 Early next morning Abraham took some food and a full water-skin and gave them to Hagar. He set the child on her shoulder and sent her away, and she wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the skin was finished, she thrust the child under a bush, 16 then went and sat down some way off, about a bowshot distant.
How can I watch the child die? she said, and sat there, weeping bitterly. 17 God heard the child crying, and the angel of God called from heaven to Hagar, What is the matter, Hagar?
Do not be afraid: God has heard the child crying where you laid him. 18 Go, lift the child and hold him in your arms, because I shall make of him a great nation. 19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well full of water; she went to it, filled the water-skin, and gave the child a drink. 20 God was with the child as he grew up. He lived in the wilderness of Paran and became an archer; 21 and his mother got him a wife from Egypt. (The Revised English Bible)
1st) First, the original Hebrew for Gen. 21:14 is ” and put the bread and water on her shoulder AND the boy.” Anyone fluent in Hebrew can confirm this! This reading is still rendered in the Revised English Bible; however, other Bible publishers possibly aware of the discrepancy decided to translate the verse slightly different.
However, we can see their trick! How would a mother carry a seventeen-year-old teenager on her shoulder? Certainly he was probably strong enough to carry his mother. Ishmael must have been a baby!
2nd) Second, in Gen 21:15 we are told that Hagar put the child under one of the bushes. Ishmael must have been a baby and not a teenager!
3rd) Third, in Gen 21:16 we are told that Hagar sat away so she did not have to see the child die before her eyes. Is this the profile of a husky seventeen-year-old teenager who probably was capable of being worried about his mother dying before his eyes? Or is it obviously a profile of a small helpless baby? Ishmael must have been a baby and not a teenager!
4th) According to Gen 21:17-18, the angels told Hagar lift the child and hold him in your arms. Is a seventeen-year-old man the object of being lifted up and held in one’s arms by a woman while CRYING? Or is it the reference of a small child. Ishmael must have been a baby and not a teenager!
5th) According to Gen 21:19 we are told that Hagar filled the bottle with water and gave the child a drink. One would expect a seventeen year old to bring water to his mother instead. Ishmael must have been a baby and not a teenager!
6th) According to Gen 21:14 Abraham puts the food and water on Hagar’s shoulder. Why doesn’t the strong husky seventeen-year old Ishmael offer to carry the food and water? Ishmael must have been a baby and not a teenager!
7th) According to Gen 21:20-21?? Ishmael grew up, became an archer and got married. Ishmael must have been a baby and not a teenager!
The above analysis leads to the inevitable conclusion that while the Bible contains some truths as explained earlier, there is also evidence of human additions, deletions and interpolations which only a subsequent authentic revelation could clear.
The Islamic version of the story is fully consistent and coherent from A to Z.
Ishmael was a baby and Isaac was not born yet when this incident took place. This proves that the real reason behind their settlement in Arabia (Paran) was not the dictation, jealousy, ego or sense of racial superiority on the part of Sarah. It was rather God’s plan, pure and simple!
(Gen 21:10) Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.
How hypocritical Sarah is, for initially she saw potential in Hagar, As per the Bible.
(Gen 16:2) The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.
(Gen 16:4) He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When Sarah knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Even the Bible admits how Jews tampered with scripture.
(Jeremiah 8:8 RSV) How can you say, We are wise, we have the law of the LORD, when scribes with their lying pens have falsified it?
THE SYMBOL OF GOD’S COVENANT WITH ISHMAEL AND HIS DESCENDANTS
According to Gen 17:10-14, circumcision was regarded as a symbol of the covenant with God and a sign of purification from polytheism. In Gen 17:23-27 we are told that Abraham took Ishmael and all those males born in his household and circumcised them.
Therefore, one can see that Ishmael was somehow participating in the Abrahamic covenant. Even to this day every Muslim male is circumcised.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AWAITED PROPHET: A PROPHET LIKE MOSES
In the book of Deuteronomy 18:17-18, Moses was quoted as saying: And the lord said to me, they have well spoken that which they have spoken, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Three important elements are included in this prophecy: A prophet will come from among the brethren of the Israelites; this prophet will be like Moses and God will put his word in the mouth of this prophet.
FIRST: The bible refers to the Israelites as the brethren of the Ishmaelite (Gen 16:12, 25:18). Moreover, Isaiah 42:1-11 Speaks of the geography of where this prophet will come from. Verse 42:11 states Let the desert and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where KEDAR lives rejoice.
Let the people of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. According to the Book of Genesis, KEDAR was the second son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:13). The best-known prophet who came from Ishmael’s descendants is Muhammad.
SECOND: Muhammad is like Moses:
| AREA OF COMPARISON | MOSES | MUHAMMAD | JESUS | |||
| Birth | Usual | Usual | Unusual | |||
| Family Life | Married/Children | Married/Children | No marriage or children | |||
| Death | Usual | Usual | Unusual | |||
| Career | Prophet/Statesman | Prophet/Statesman | Prophet | |||
| Forced Immigration (in adulthood) | To Median | To Madinah | None | |||
| Encounter with enemies | Hot Pursuit | Hot Pursuit Battles | No similar encounter | |||
| Results of Encounter | Moral Physical Victory | Moral Physical Victory | Moral Victory | |||
| Writing down of Revelation | In his lifetime (Torah) | In his lifetime (Al-Quran) | After him | |||
| Nature of Teachings | Spiritual/Legal | Spiritual/Legal | Mainly Spiritual | |||
| Acceptance of leadership (by his | Rejected then accepted | Rejected then accepted | Rejected by most Israelites | |||
| people) |
THIRD: God will put his words in the mouth of that Prophet. The specific wording of the above verse is a vivid description of the type of revelation received by Muhammad.
Angel Gabriel used to come and dictate to him specific portions of the Quran that were then repeated by Prophet Muhammad exactly as he had heard them.
Muhammad’s own thought or authorship was not involved in any way in what he uttered. The words of God were put into his mouth. As the Quran itself described 53:3-4:
“He (Muhammad) does not speak of his own desire, it is no less than a revelation sent down to him.”
Jesus also mentioned that Muhammad would speak only what he hears but not on his own. For example, in John 16:7,13 Jesus said,
“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. But when he the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (NIV)
If Christians think the Counselor is the Holy Spirit then they are mistaken, because the Holy Spirit was already present at the time of Jesus (John 20:22 Luke 3:22). Moreover, the sentence does not make sense if it is referring to a spirit; the sentence only makes sense if it is referring to another prophet as Deuteronomy 18:18 states a prophet.
SACRIFICE OF ABRAHAM’S ONLY SON: ISHMAEL OR ISAAC?
The following quotes are taken from the Bible.
The Bible Genesis 22:2
“Take now your son, your only son, whom you love,_______, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains”.
The Bible Genesis 22:12
“Since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
The important question is who was this only son of Abraham that was offered for sacrifice? Ishmael the eldest son or Isaac the second son? The Bible writers have placed the name of Isaac in the blank space above. Muslims believe Ishmael was around thirteen years old when Abraham was asked to sacrifice him. In both the above quotations the Lord uses the word your only son.
Obviously, the logical answer is that the incident must have taken place before the birth of Isaac, the second son of Abraham. So, what could be the reason that the name of Isaac appears in the blank space, as the only son of Abraham? Bible scholars explain that anomaly by putting forward the following two arguments.
The first argument is that after the birth of Isaac, Ishmael lost his status of being a son of Abraham, since he was not born of a wife of Abraham but born to a handmaid of Abraham’s wife. However, this argument is false because Hagar was a wife of Abraham otherwise the Lord would not have used the word wife in the following verse.
Genesis 16:3 So after Abraham had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
Moreover, Jews and Christians contend that only Isaac, the one that was born to Sarai was a son. However the biblical passage below tells us that Ishmael never lost his status as a son, not even after the birth of Isaac. If Ishmael had lost the status, the Lord would not have used the word sons in the following verse.
Genesis 25:9 Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael, buried him (Abraham) in the cave of Machpelah.
A second argument presented is that because Ishmael was born to a handmaid he would qualify as a seed or a descendant of Abraham, but not as a son. This argument is nullified because prevailing Nuzi Laws of marriage (exhibit A) tell us that such marriage contracts were legal in the days of Abraham and the child born of a handmaid or slave-girl would have the same status as one born to the wife, even if the wife had a child of her own later.
There can be no doubt concerning the validity of the Nuzi laws of marriage. For example, when one traces the maternal side of the children of Israel, Genesis tells us that Jacob (later called Israel Gen 32:28) had four wives. He married Leah (Gen 29:22-23), Rachel (Gen 29:28), a slave-girl Bilhah (Gen 30:4), and another slave-girl Zilpah (Gen 30:9).
From these four wives came the twelve Children of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naptali, Gad and Asher (Gen 35:23-26 & 1 Chronicles 2:1-2). All twelve of these children make up the Israelites and are all referred as a combined group, see (Exodus 1:1-9). Four of the twelve children (Gad, Dan, Naphtali and Asher) were sons of the slave-girls.
Thus, it follows that about one third of all Israelis are children of slave-girls! Will a third of all Jews stand up and say they are illegitimate? Moreover, further evidence that the Bible clearly includes the slave-children as part of the combined group of Israelis is the Bible’s tracking of their genealogy in (1 Chronicles 5:18; 1 Chronicles 7:12, 13, 30). Moreover, we are told that the children of Asher were leading princes.
1 Chronicles 7:40 “All these were descendants of Asher, heads of families, picked men of ability, leading princes.”
Consequently, the entire Abrahamic family tree is tracked in 1 Chronicles, including Abraham’s children from his first wife Hagar (1 Chronicles 1:29), his second wife Sarah (1 Chronicles 1:34) and his third wife Keturah (1 Chronicles 1:32 – see family tree at main web page).
Moreover, there is a very similar incident in the Bible (Ruth 1-4). In this story a child born to a handmaid is indeed recognized as a son. For example, Boaz, a landowner of Bethlehem, meets a handmaid named Ruth (Ruth 3:9) and marries her.
Ruth was a young widow and a handmaid of Moabite descent (Ruth 1:4); the Moabite people were descendants of an act of incest by Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19:36-37). Boaz and Ruth latter had a son named Obed. Later on, Obed became the founder of the royal line of Israel (Ruth 4:17-22), an ancestor of both king David and of the great prophet Jesus.
If the son of a maidservant of questionable heritage could have the honor of being the progenitor and forbearer of the most important lines of descent for both Jews and Christians, then why cannot Ishmael, a son of a handmaid, be offered by his father for a burnt offering as his only son?
Moreover, this argument cannot be correct because if it were, Sarah would have never said. (Gen 16:2) The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her. Abraham agreed.
It is certain that Sarah and Abraham knew the law and did not want to waste their time during their old age building an illegitimate family that would serve them no good!
So, is it out of tribal rivalry that the descendants of Isaac (Jews) are concealing these facts and depriving the preeminence due to the descendants of Ishmael (Arabs)? In Encyclopaedia Judaica Jerusalem, volume 9, under the heading Ishmael it is written:
“It is related that a renowned traditionalist of Jewish origin, from Qurayza tribe and another Jewish scholar who converted to Islam, told Caliph Omar ibn Abd al-Aziz (717-20) that the Jews were well informed that Ismail (Ishmael) was the one who was bound (sacrificed), but they concealed this out of jealousy.”
Even the Bible admits how Jews tampered with scripture.
(Jeremiah 8:8 RSV) How can you say, We are wise, we have the law of the LORD, when scribes with their lying pens have falsified it?
The Quran confirms that Abraham did indeed relocate Ishmael & Hagar and that because of Abraham’s strong faith and willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael, God rewarded him with the birth of Isaac (Koran 37:102-111).
The Quran 37:102-111
And when he attained to working with him, he said: O my son! Surely I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice you; consider then what you see. He said: O my father! Do what you are commanded, if God please, you will find me of the patient ones. So when they both submitted and he threw him down upon his forehead, and we called out to him saying:
O Abraham! You have indeed shown the truth of the vision; surely thus do we reward the doers of good: Most surely this is a manifest trial. And we ransomed him with a great sacrifice. And we perpetuated (praise) to him among the later generations. Peace be on Abraham. Thus do we reward the doers of good. Surely he was one of our believing servants. And we gave him the good news of Isaac, a prophet among the good ones.
The Quran 14:35-37
And when Ibrahim said: My Lord! Make this city secure, and save me and my sons from worshipping idols: My Lord! Surely they have led many men astray; then whoever follows me, he is surely of me, and whoever disobeys me, Though surely art Forgiving,
Merciful: O Our Lord! Surely, I have settled a part of my family in a valley without cultivation by thy sacred house; in order, O lord, that they may establish prayer: So fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them, and feed them with fruits: So they may give thanks.
(EXHIBIT A)
THE NUZI LAWS OF MARRIAGE
Jacob M. Myers of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania has been a professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary and a contributor to Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. He is recognized as a leading expert on the Old Testament. In his book Invitation to The Old Testament (1) he writes:
“Archaeological discoveries help us to fill in the details of the biblical narrative and to explain many of the otherwise obscure references and strange customs that were commonplace in Abraham’s world and time. A Nuzi marriage contract provides that a childless wife may take a woman of the country and marry her to her husband to obtain progeny. But she may not drive out the offspring even if she later has children of her own.
The child born of the handmaid has the same status as the one born to the wife. That is why, when Sarah wanted to drive out Hagar and Ishmael, it was quite objectionable to Abraham because of the legal custom of the region from which he came, he was reluctant to do so. It required special divine dispensation to act contrary to that custom.”
Gen 21:12-13 And God said to Abraham, Do not be disturbed over the lad and your handmaid. Listen to Sarah and do everything she tells you.
The above quoted Nuzi Law of marriage confirms that a child born of a handmaid wife to a childless father has the same status as one born to his wife and cannot be treated differently, even after the birth of a child to his original wife.
(1) Doubleday & Co., Inc., New York (1966) page 26
CONCLUSION
Based on the above analysis it is obvious that in no uncertain terms beyond a shadow of a doubt that the bible was manipulated to EXCLUDE Abraham’s other son Ishmael. The preponderance of the evidence proves that Ishmael and Isaac were both blessed and part of God’s covenant.
Moreover, when a Quran sprouts up from this OTHER SON ISHMAEL containing major scientific data that present day science has confirmed to be accurate, it makes Christians say hhhmmm