How is it believed that Abraham sacrificed Ismail after Hagar and Ismail and been thrown out?
In Judaism, at least, it’s believed that Isaac was “sacrificed”.
“Now, Issac, we don’t have to tell your Mother about this…”
Yes, but Islam believes it was Ismail, so I’m curious.
Islam believes that God told Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael before Isaac was born.
Is that true? In Judaism, Abraham didn’t sever all contact with Ismail; I think he came to Abraham’s funeral. And in Judaism, one major explanation regarding the “young men” (na’arim in Hebrew) that accompanied Abraham and Isaac to the sacrifice is that they were the servant Eliezer and Ismael. So even according Judaism, Ismael was probably present at the time of sacrifice, though he certainly wasn’t its object. So the time question doesn’t really apply.
Mrs. Plant mentioned that Issac rode on Ismail’s back which gives an idea of the difference in their ages.
I heard on NPR today that from according to Islam, Hagar and Ismail were thrown out when Ismail was a baby, but that contradict’s Mrs. Plant’s knowledge of Torah, so it must be mistaken. j;
;j
Dang it.
carnivorousplant:
You should bear in mind that Islam sees the Bible was a corruption of the true revealation, so perhaps they don’t even believe Ishmael had ever been thrown out.
In any case, as Zahava said, traditional Judaism definitely teaches that Ishmael was back in Abraham’s household by the time of Isaac’s sacrificial binding.
In the Muslim story (and the whole thing is where the Haj comes from), God tells Abraham to take Hagar and Ishmael (who’s still a baby) away…to cast them out into the desert. So, Abraham takes them into the desert, and Hagar asks him, “Are you doing this on your own, or did God tell you to do it?”, and Abraham tells her that God told him to do it, so Hagar has faith in God.
After Abraham leaves them, they run out of water, so Hagar, worried about her baby’s life, runs back and forth between these two hills looking for water. At that point, the Angel Gabriel appears, and makes water come out from the ground. This becomes known as the well of Zamzam. They then settle down by the well, and it grows into the city of Mecca.
Then later on, when Ishmael is a teenager, but before Isaac is born, God tells Abraham “Sacrifice your only son, who you love.” Of course, Abraham is devastated, all the more so because he doesn’t believe he will have any more children. But he goes to Mecca to sacrifice Ishmael. At that point, the devil appears to Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael, trying to convince them not to let the sacrifice happen, but they all reject the devil and throw stones at him.
So then Abraham and Ishmael build the Kaaba together, and Abraham gets ready to sacrfice Ishmael on the Kaaba. But then God sends an angel to stop Abraham, and provides a ram to sacrifice instead. God then says, “Since you were willing to sacrifice your son, you’ve proven your obedience to me. So, I’ll give you a second son as well.”, and that’s where Isaac comes from.
When I was a teenager my dad was stationed in Turkey with the USAF, and we got to see a lot of the country. I remember one time we visited an archeological site (I can’t remember what town it was in) and they had a museum there with some of the stuff they had uncovered.
One of the items was an image of a man preparing to sacrifice a young boy. The caption underneath (in English and Turkish) said:
**Abraham and Isaac
Ibrahim ve Ismael**