Abraham (3)
Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son.
Bible
Genesis 22:1-18 tells how “God put Abraham to the test”.
Cf. Hebrews 11:17-19.
Qur’an
The Qur’an tells the story of how Abraham prayed for a righteous son:
So We gave him the good news that he would have a patient son.
When the boy was old enough to work with his father, Abraham said,
“My son, I have seen myself sacrificing you in a dream. What do you think?” He said, “Father, do as you are commanded and, God willing, you will find me steadfast.” When they had both submitted to God, and he had laid his son down on the side of his face, We called out to him, “Abraham, you have fulfilled the dream.” This is how We reward those who do good – it was a test to prove [their true characters] – We ransomed his son with a momentous sacrifice, and We let him be praised by succeeding generations: ‘Peace be upon Abraham!’
(Q 37:101-109)
It is notable that the name of the son is not given. Muslims generally identify the son to be sacrificed with Ismael. This is because the passage continues:
We gave Abraham the good news of Isaac – a prophet and a
righteous man – and blessed him and Isaac too (Q 37:112-113).
There is too the fact that the son had reached the age of being able to work with his father, whereas Isaac would have been new-born.
Another passage reads:
When Abraham’s Lord tested him with certain commandments, which he fulfilled, He said, ‘I will make you a leader of people.’ (Q 2:124).
The ‘commandments’ (literally ‘words’) are taken as referring to the order to sacrifice his son. The word translated here as ‘leader’ is, in the Arabic text, Imâm. This becomes important for the Shi’ites who believe in a series of Imams whose role was to interpret the Qur’an.
For further reading see Bradford E HINZE and Irfan A. OMAR (eds),
Heirs of Abraham, Maryknoll New York, Orbis books 2015
(reflections and responses by Reuven Firestone [Jewish], Michael L. Fitzgerald [Christian], Mahmoud M. Ayoub (Muslim).
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