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Pastimes : Religion on SI -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chris land who wrote (1416)	10/18/1998 10:39:00 PM
From: Raymond James Norris	Respond to of 1542

Hagar was not called Abraham's wife any where in the bible. In Genesis 16 it says that Sarai gave her to Abraham to be his wife but it's not what you think. Sarai was barren and since that was a shameful thing to most women during that era It doesn't matter if Sarah was barren or not. Genesis 16:3 still reads that Hagar was given to Abraham as his wife. Or do you accuse Abraham of being an adultress? The real question here is not whether Hagar is a legitmate wife of Abraham. It is whether Ishmael is a legitmate son of Abraham. According to Genesis, God promises to establish a coventant with Abraham's seed: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God..” Genesis 17:7-8. So was Ishmael part of Abraham's seed? “And also of the son of the bondwoman......he is thy seed.” According to the above verse in Genesis 21:3, he was. This establishes that Ishmael was part of God's covenant. While Genesis 16:3 may be the only place Hagar is referred to as the wife of Abraham, there are many places where Ishamel is referred to as being the son of Abraham. “And Abraham took Ishmael his son.” Genesis 17:23 “Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full [of years]; and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah” Genesis 25:8-9 So Ishmael was Abraham's son per the Bible and per Deuteronomy, in these circumstances, the first born son received double inheritance of the second. Now, here's what you must understand: The writers of these book that we have today were Israelites and not of the Ishmaelites. They did not want a God who would be partial to both their cousins and themselves. So they decided that they did not want Ishamel to be part of the covenant God created by merely manipulating the text. How so you ask? Well, it's clear from the above that Ishamel was Abraham's son and that he was of Abraham's seed. But if you read this next verse, you're left with a problem: “And he (God) said, 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 upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” Genesis 22:2 What? When was Isaac ever Abraham's only son?? Never. Isaac was born after Ishmael and therefore he could not have ever been Abraham's "only" son. To understand this verse, we need to go back to the Qur'anic version of this story. In the Qur'an we are told that Abraham (pbuh) was deprived children until his old age whereupon he was given Ishmael, his first born son. Up until this point the Qur'an and the Old Testament are in agreement. It stands to reason that after having been deprived an heir for so long Abraham would become extremely attached to his only begotten son Ishmael. For all he knew then he very likely might not be blessed with any more children before his death. We are now told in the Qur'an that Allah (God) Almighty decided to test Abraham's faith. He therefore decided to set up a test for Abraham in the one thing which he held most dear to his heart in all of this world: His only son. When Ishmael reached the age of striving, God Almighty showed Abraham a vision wherein he was to sacrifice his only son Ishmael to God. Abraham went to Ishmael and asked his opinion on this matter. This was not an attempt by Abraham to escape the command of God, but only an attempt to better prepare his son. Ishmael replied to his father: “O my father, Do as you are commanded. You shall, by Allah's will, find me to be among the patient.” Abraham took his son Ishmael and placed him on the ground facing down so that he would not have to look at him. Just when he was about to sacrifice Ishmael God sent an angel to Abraham to stop him and to provide him with a ram as an alternate sacrifice in place of his son as a reward for his sincere intentions. He then further rewarded Abraham with Isaac, a great and pious prophet as a second son. We notice that the major difference in the Qur'anic and Biblical versions is that the Qur'an affirms that it was Ishmael (The father of the Arabs) who was to be sacrificed, while the Old Testament claims that Isaac (The father of the Jews) was the one to be sacrificed. However, if we study the verse of Genesis 22:2 we will find the words “thy son, thine only [son].” Isaac was never Abraham's only son. As we have seen, Ishmael was born before Isaac and remained (according to the testimony of the Bible) the legitimate son of Abraham until AFTER his death. The only son of Abraham who was ever Abraham's “only” son was Ishmael. This was during the fourteen year period after the birth of Ishmael but before the birth of Isaac. Notice how by changing this one word from “Ishmael” to “Isaac” an entire branch of Abraham's descendants (the Arabs) are conveniently excluded from God's covenant and it becomes exclusive to the Jews. Once Ishmael is reinstated as the one mentioned in Genesis 22:2 then the stories in the Bible begin to make sense once again. In Encyclopedia Judica Jerusalem, volume 9, under the heading “Ishmael,” we read: “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, but they concealed this out of jealousy.” Peace be unto you, Norris