The Bible testifies that Ishmael was fourteen years senior to his brother Isaac. Yet, in certain parts of the Bible, the name “Ishmael” appears to be effaced from its place (inserting in its place “Isaac”) but leaving the descriptive epithet, “thy only son”; practically, denying the existence of Ishmael (peace be upon him). To this Genesis 22:2 states:
“Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering”.
Contrary to this Biblical verse, the Qur’an declares clearly and unequivocally that it was with Ishmael God tested the Prophet Abraham; for Isaac had not yet been born when the Prophet Abraham, in a dream was inspired to sacrifice his only child.
It is proven from passages of the Bible itself, that when Ishmael and his mother Hagar (peace be upon them) moved to the wilderness to settle, Isaac was not yet born; and that Ishmael was a baby unable to bring harm to anyone as claimed in Genesis 21: 9-10 which says:
“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking (Isaac). Wherefore she (Sarah) said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.”
As a Muslim and follower of the religion of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, I am indeed elated to prove Ishmael’s innocence of this false charge held against him by his kinsfolks. It is my ultimate pleasure and honour to do so from passages of the Bible itself. To achieve this, we must establish the ages of both brothers at the time of the alleged Biblical persecuting incident. So with a little mathematics and clear conscience we begin.>>>
Genesis 17:25 says that Ishmael was thirteen years of age at the time of the establishment of the covenant—at which time Isaac was not yet born - but was born the following year according to Genesis 21:5. By then, Ishmael was fourteen years. So, according to Biblical testimony, Ishmael was fourteen years of age at the time his brother Isaac was supposedly born—and at which time according to the Bible, both Isaac and Ishmael lived under the same roof.
Now it is for us to establish the age of both brothers at the time of the alleged incident; and again, according to Genesis 21:8, Ishmael was caught “mocking” his brother Isaac during the time Isaac was “weaned”. Biblical scholars tell us that a child normally stops breast feeding about the age of three years. If we accept this as reasonable time, then Isaac would have been three years of age at the time of the alleged persecuting incident. Ishmael would have then been seventeen.
Many Bible scholars are of the opinion that Ishmael was at the age of full understanding—not unusual in the East to marry and provide for a family of his own at the time he allegedly persecuted Isaac. So according to our humble calculation, it is safe to say that Ishmael was a young man, about seventeen years or so when he and his mother Hagar (peace be upon them) were allegedly thrown out of Abraham’s house. However, the profile of Ishmael as shown in the following verses of Genesis at the time of the alleged persecuting incident is that of a baby, and not of a seventeen year old young man:
Firstly; we are told in Genesis 21: 14, that after the alleged persecuting incident; Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water and gave it unto Hagar; “putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away”. Now, would a mother carry a seventeen-year old young man upon her shoulder? Certainly, the young man was strong enough to carry his mother, the bread and the bottle of water upon his shoulder—and even other provisions which Abraham could have given them – him being according to the Bible, a wealthy man. But no; Ishmael was a helpless child needed to be carried and attended to by his homeless mother. So, according to Islamic teachings, under God’s command, it was during this time in Ishmael’s life that Abraham took both mother and only child to settle in the wilderness. At which time Isaac was not yet born.
Secondly; in Genesis 21: 15-16, we are told that when Hagar ran out of water she “cast the child under one of the shrubs” and sat a distance away from him so that she may “not see the death of the child before her eyes.” In all fairness, is that the profile of a husky seventeen-year old young man who should have been worried about his mother dying before his eyes; or isn’t this an obvious profile of a baby or at most, a toddler? This being the case, then, according to the Holy Qur’an, Ishmael left his father’s house years before his brother Isaac was born.
Thirdly; according to Genesis 21: 18, while Hagar and Ishmael (peace be upon them) were alone in the wilderness an interesting thing occurred, an angel appeared before Hagar and said to her: “arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand”. Once again I ask the question; is a seventeen-year-old young man a proper object to be “lift up” by a homeless, distressed woman in the wilderness, or is that reference to a baby—or a child who is not yet able to manoeuver himself effectively. It is because of the helplessness of the child that the succeeding verse tells that Hagar went to fill a bottle with water “and gave the lad a drink.” Here again, according to Islamic tradition, Ishmael could not have been living under the same roof with Sarah and his father at the time of the establishment of the covenant. Where in Genesis 17:25-26 we are told that Ishmael was thirteen years of age; “in the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son…”
We must therefore conclude that Ishmael was not able to help himself nor his distressed mother at her moment of need during their early days in the wilderness. But the strong and most important points to this argument are the verses of Genesis 21: 17-21 which tells of place and time in Ishmael’s life. These verses tells of the time and place when the most wonderful, inspiring and consoling words were revealed to Hagar concerning the future of her child who at the time himself could not comprehend. This event in religious history must now be understood with a clear conscience and renewed spirit of heart. Because, the following quotation according to the Bible, is the Word of God – when God heard the cry of a homeless mother and child in the wilderness; at which time an Angel of God called out of heaven and said to the prudent one:
“What grieves thee Hagar? Fear not: for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in your hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran” (Genesis 21: 17-21).
In light of this, it will not be out of place to disclose some pertinent and valuable Islamic history surrounding the outcome of events relating to this Biblical verse. To start, the wilderness of Paran mention is located in Arabia. In the time of the Prophet Abraham, after the flood; Hagar and Ishmael were the first two persons to settle in that part of Arabia. At which time the land was barren desert having no signs of life, food or water; for this the Bible refers to it as wilderness. The Bible refers to the location as Paran, but in Arabic, the word is pronounce as Fa’ran—as Hagar and Ishmael were isolated in the desert, passing by Arab-Egyptian traders regarded them as Fa’ran meaning two refugees.
Now from the perspective of Biblical and Islamic tradition, one may asked; if Abraham and Isaac were Hebrew (as claim by Jews and Christians), how did Ishmael’s Arab generation came into existence?
To this end, the tradition is amazing and tells of the first two persons to settle in Mecca. As Islamic history tells Hagar was an Arab; as her name Hajar is pronounce in her Arabic language (meaning stone or rock). Because of the miraculous well mentioned in Genesis 21:19, and since water is the most crucial element in desert life, Arab travellers on the trade route began colonizing near the well with Hagar and her baby son, Ishmael (peace be upon them). This eventually grew into a permanent Arab settlement from which Ishmael and his progenies became known as Arabs.
Linguistically, the word Arab means desert and wasted barren land well-nigh waterless and treeless. From the dawn of history, the Arabian Peninsula and its people have been called as such. But even before Ishmael was born, according to the Bible (Gen. 16:12), God made mention to Hagar that her son Ishmael would grow up to be a wild man, — in other words, an Arab. Ishmael learned Arabic at the hand of the tribe of Jurhum, one of the first tribes to settle near the well. The people of Jurhum loved Ishmael (peace be upon him) with great admiration. When Ishmael grew to the age of marriage, he married the daughter of Mudad bin ‘Amr, chief of the tribe of Jurhum and by the grace of God, she bore him twelve sons whom Genesis 17:20 refers to as twelve princes— or the twelve stars of Hagar as allegorically mentioned in Revelation 12.
From tradition; the Law of the Covenant and Ishmael’s marriage, we concur that those pagan Arab tribes who had settle by the well, had to have converted into the Abrahamic faith under the law of circumcision – for it is said that, time and again, Abraham revisited them and they carried out his religious observances.
When Paran or Fa’ran became a permanent settlement for traders moving between Egypt and Syria, it became known as Bakkata; also mentioned in Joshua 13:27 as Beth-ar-am (Arabic, means Holy House). It was afterwards named Mecca as we know it today; being the most important city in Arabia and home of the Ka`bah, the first house of worship ever built by man.
God revealed in the Holy Qur’an that the place where Abraham left Hagar and Ishmael was near the site of the Sacred House, meaning the Ka`bah. It was there and then the Prophet Abraham invoked Almighty God thus:
“Our Lord, I have settled (some) of my progeny in an uncultivable valley near Thy Sacred House. Our Lord, that they may observe Prayer. So make men’s hearts incline towards them and provide them with fruits that they may be thankful” (Qur’an 14: 38-39).
Here, the Qur’an draws the attention to the remote antiquity of the Ka’bah in order to point out that it is the real and original center of God’s religion commissioned to Abraham and his son Ishmael (peace be upon them). It also shows that the site of the Sacred House (Ka`bah), had existed long before Abraham’s time. It is also called Bait-ul-Ateeq, or the most ancient house. In fact, the Ka`bah was built by the Prophet Adam (peace be upon him) and was the first House of worship built in the world and was for some time, the center of worship for his progeny. After the flood in this region, at the time of Abraham, the Ka`bah had fallen into ruin and its site having been disclosed to the Prophet Abraham by revelation. Abraham and his son Ishmael (peace be upon them) later rebuilt a structure on this very site and to this day, it continues to remain a center of worship for followers of the religion of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael (peace be upon them).
At the advent of the prophet of Islam, Mecca became known as the Holy City of Islam. Indeed, the phenomenal event of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael (peace be upon them) is acknowledged by all Muslims. Every year for the past 1,400 years, millions of Muslims from all parts of the world have been making pilgrimage to the sacred City Mecca in commemoration to the event of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael (peace be upon them). For instance, the running between two small hillocks (Safa and Marwah) during pilgrimage is done in memory of Hagar’s search for water in her hour of desperate need—where Ishmael (peace be upon him) is described in the Bible as having become extremely restive from the agony of thirst. There it is said, sprouted a fountain which still exists today in some form, and water from that spot is considered to be bless water. Tens of millions of Muslims every year drink from it during the Hajj (pilgrimage).
Thus, the Biblical passages under scrutiny to a great extent collaborate with Islamic history and furnish convincing evidence of Ishmael’s innocence and truth to Islamic claim. Ishmael (peace be upon him) was but a helpless child when he and his mother migrated into the wilderness of Arabia so as to lay the foundation for God’s future plan for the whole of mankind.
Please note the meaning of the following abbreviations: The name of the Holy Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, has been followed by saw which is an Arabic abbreviation for the salutation Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam (may the peace and blessings of Allah Almighty be upon him). The name of other Prophets are followed by as, an Arabic abbreviation for Alasihissalam (on whom be peace). The actual salutations have not generally been set out in full, but they should nevertheless, be understood as being repeated in full in each case. The symbol ra is used with the name Sarah and Hagar. It stands for Radi Allahu ‘anha (May Allah be pleased with her)
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