Khyberwatch.com allows this thread but no one has yet commented

[George L. Singleton]

The following "article" I will call it was posted by me after a drawn out exchange of polite and respectufl e-mails with several Pakhtuns on line during December and early January on their Pakhtun website KHYBERWATCH.COM over what Christmas means both to Christians and to Muslims. I started the discussion by wishing everyone a Merry and Blessed Christmas "on line."

Please understand I did not write this four part article, but found and copied it off the Internet as it tied together the compariative religious issues between Islam and Christianity I wished to focus for discussion.

Remember former President Jimmy Carter's book THE BLOOD OF ABRAHAM? Even though I am a practicing "Republican" I find and found his book of great value. Read it if you have not already done so, to improve religious understanding. The peace treaty in the 1970s between Israel, Jordan, and Egypt was Carter's key success in foreign policy. His failures were obvious and bear no time here as far as I am concerned.

KHYBER WATCH.COM
#1 01-30-2007, 07:17 AM
Singleton
Malgarey Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 57


Part I - Abraham and the Child of Sacrifice - Isaac or Ishmael?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found this article on the Internet and am posting it for discussion and dialogue purposes. To be clear, the article favors the Christian point of view of religion, but it is inoffensive in it's style and content and still looks like to me a good "vehicle" with which to get constructive, peaceful religious dialgue or disussion started on this web site.

The article is too long for a single submission, so I am breaking it into four parts. You would have to read all four parts to then have a basis to critique and discuss in a total "big picture" sense.

George Singleton
USA


Jews, Christians and Muslims agree; Abraham, the friend of God, is an example of pure and unconditional righteousness and faith. The love that Abraham displayed towards God is clearly seen in Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only beloved son. All three religions do not dispute this fact. Where they do disagree on, however, is the identity of the sacrificial child. The Bible states that this child was Isaac:

"After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’." (Genesis 22:1-2, R.S.V.).

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son ..." (Hebrews 11:17, R.S.V.).

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up his son Isaac upon the altar?" (James 2:21, R.S.V.).

Muslims on the other hand feel that Ishmael was the one offered up by Abraham. They believe that the Holy Bible supports this by its declaration that Abraham offered his only son (see above verses). Ishmael was Abraham's only son for over 13 years, which would make it impossible for Isaac to be the chld of sacrifice. (Cf. Genesis 16:16, 21:5).

Muslims believe that scribes later corrupted the original reading from Ishmael to Isaac.

Since this idea stems from the Muslim misunderstanding of the phrase "only son", it becomes necessary to explain what this phrase exactly means in relation to Isaac. A careful reading of the Holy Bible shows that the phrase is used to affirm Isaac's unique status, a status based on the following:

Isaac was the only promised child of Abraham, a fact which the Quran agrees with (cf. Genesis 17:15-21; Surah 11:69-73, 37:112-113, 51:24-30). Ishmael was never a promised child.

Isaac was conceived miraculously to a barren mother and a very aged father, with the Quran likewise agreeing (cf. Genesis 17:15-17, 18:9-15, 21:1-7; Galatians 4:28-29; Surah 11:69-73, 51:24-30). Ishmael was conceived normally without the need of any miraculous intervention.

God promised that it would be Isaac's descendants who would inherit the land given to Abraham. (Genesis 13:14-18, 15:18-21, 28:13-14). Ishmael had no part in the inheritance and promise given to Isaac through Abraham.
It is for these reasons that Isaac is called Abraham's only son since God himself reckoned him as the child of promise and blessings, an honor never bestowed upon Ishmael.

Even more amazing is the fact that the Quran never mentions the name of the sacrificial child; amazing indeed considering how overzealous some Muslims have been in their attempts to prove that Ishmael, not Isaac, was that son:

"He said: `I will go to my Lord! He will surely guide me! O my Lord! Grant me a righteous (son)!' So we gave him the good news of a boy ready to suffer and forbear.

"Then, when (the son) reached (the age of) (serious) work with him, He said: `O my son! I see in a vision that I offer thee in sacrifice: Now see what is thy view!' (The son) said: `O my Father! Do as thou art commanded: Thou will find me, if God so wills one practicing patience and constancy!'

"So when they had both submitted their wills (to God), and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (for sacrifice), we called out to him, `O Abraham! Thou hast already fulfilled thy vision'- thus indeed do we reward those who do right. For this was obviously a trial - And we ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice ..." (Surah 37:99-106).

The ambiguity of the text has left many Islamic scholars guessing as to whether the child was Isaac or Ishmael. Yusef Ali makes a note of this in his commentary:

"This (i.e. the child promised to Abraham and later commanded to be sacrificed) was in the fertile land of Syria and Palestine. The boy thus born, was, according to Muslim tradition (which however is not unanimous on this point), the first-born son of Abraham, viz Ishmael ..." (1: p. 1204, f. 4096).

Muhammad H. Haykal, in his classic biography The Life of Muhammad, wrote:

Who Was the Sacrificial Son?

PARTS II, III, AND IV FOLLOW THIS PART I.