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I.e., Abraham's first-born son, Ishmael (Isma'il).
This was in the fertile land of Syria and Palestine. The boy thus born was, according to Muslim tradition, the first-born son of Abraham, viz., Isma'il. The name itself is from the root Samia, to hear, because Allah had heard Abraham's prayer (verse 100). Abraham's age when Isma'il was born was 86 (Gen xvi. 16).
The boy's character was to be Halim, "forbearing". This title is also applied to Abraham (in ix. 114 and xi. 75). It refers to the patient way in which both father and son cheerfully offered to suffer any self-sacrifice in order to obey the Command of Allah. See next verse.
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Lit., "attained to [the age of] walking [or "striving"] with him": evidently a metonym for the child's attaining to an age when he could understand, and share in, his father's faith and aims.
Where did this vision occur? The Muslim view is that it was in or near Makkah. Some would identify it with the valley of Mina, six miles north of Makkah, where a commemoration sacrifice is annually celebrated as a rite of the Hajj on the tenth of Zul-Hijjah, the 'Id of Sacrifice, in Memory of this Sacrifice of Abraham and Isma'il (see' n.2l7 to ii. 197). Others say that the original place of sacrifice was near the hill of Marwa (the companion hill to Safa, ii. 158), which is associated with the infancy of Isma'il.
At what stage in Abraham's history did this occur? See n. 2725 to xxi. 69. It was obviously after his arrival in the land of Cannan and after Isma'il had grown up to years of discretion. Was it before or after the building of the Ka'ba (ii. 127)? There are no data on which this question can be answered. But we may suppose it was before that event, and that event may itself have been commemorative.
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The above interpolation is, I believe, absolutely necessary for a proper understanding of this passage. As pointed out repeatedly in these notes, the verb aslama signifies, in Qur'anic usage, "he surrendered himself to God", or "to God's will", even if there is no express mention of God; hence, the dual form aslama occurring in the above verse might, on the face of it, have this meaning as well. Since, however, the sequence clearly shows that it was not God's will that Ishmael should be sacrificed, his and his father's "self-surrender to God's will" can have in this context only a purely subjective meaning - namely "to what they thought to be the will of God".
Note that the sacrifice was demanded of both Abraham and Isma'il. It was a trial of the will of the father and the son. By way of trial the father had the command conveyed to him in a vision. He consulted the son. The son readily consented, and offered to stand true to his promise if his self-sacrifice was really required. The whole thing is symbolical. Allah does not require the flesh and blood of animals (xxii. 37), much less of human beings. But he does require the giving of our whole being to Allah, the symbol of which is that we should give up something very dear to us, if Duty requires that sacrifice.
Our version may be compared with the Jewish-Christian version of the present Old Testament. The Jewish tradition, in order to glorify the younger branch of the family, descended from Isaac, ancestor of the Jews, as against the elder branch, descended from Isma'il, ancestor of the Arabs, refers this sacrifice to Isaac (Gen. xxii. 1-18). Now Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old (Gen. xxi. 5), while Isma'il was born to Abraham when Abraham was 86 years old (Gen. xvi. 16). Isma'il was therefore 14 years older than Isaac. During his first 14 years Isma'il was the only son of Abraham; at no time was Isaac the only son of Abraham. Yet, in speaking of the sacrifice, the Old Testament says (Gen. xxii. 2): "And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son Issac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah: and offer him there for a burnt offering..." This slip shows at any rate which was the older version, and how it was overlaid, like the present Jewish records, in the interests of a tribal religion. The "land of Moriah" is not clear: it was three days' journey from Abraham's place (Gen. xxii. 4). There is less warrant for identifying it with the hill of Moriah on which Jerusalem was afterwards built than with the hill of Marwa which is identified with the Arab tradition about Isma'il.
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In the Biblical version Isaac's consent is not taken; in fact Isaac asks, 'where is the lamb for sacrifice?' and is told that 'God would provide it'. It is a complete human sacrifice like those to Moloch. In our version it is as much a sacrifice by the will of Isma'il as by that of Abraham.
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I.e., the moral significance of Abraham's dream-vision consisted in a test of his readiness to sacrifice, at what he thought to be God's behest (see preceding note), all that was dearest to him in life.
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I.e., a trial of this severity clearly implied that Abraham would be capable to bear it, and thus constituted a high moral distinction - in itself a reward from God.
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The epithet 'azim ("tremendous" or "mighty") renders it improbable that this sacrifice refers to nothing but the ram which Abraham subsequently found and slaughtered in Ishmael's stead (Genesis xxii, 13). To my mind, the sacrifice spoken of here is the one repeated every year by countless believers in connection with the pilgrimage to Mecca (al-hajj), which, in itself, commemorates the experience of Abraham and Ishmael and constitutes one of the "five pillars" of Islam. (See {22:27-37}, as well as {2:196-203}.)
Allah sent a ram to be sacrificed in place of Ishmael.
The adjective qualifying "sacrifice" here, 'azim, (great, momentous) may be understood both in a literal and a figurative sense. In a literal sense it implies that a fine sheep or ram was substituted. The figurative sense is even more important. It was indeed a great and momentous occasion, when two men, with concerted will, "ranged themselves in the ranks" of those to whom self-sacrifice in the service of Allah was the supreme thing in life.
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See note [30] on verse {78}.
Cf. above, xxxvii. 78-81 and n. 4083.
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The birth of Isaac is announced after the story of sacrifice. So this is a proof that the son who was going to be sacrificed was Ishmael, not Isaac. This is also supported by 11:71, where Sarah is told that she would give birth to Isaac, who would (reach adulthood and) have a son by the name of Jacob.
Isaac was Abraham's second son, born of Sarah, when Abraham was 100 years of age. See n. 4101. He was also blessed and became the ancestor of the Jewish people. See next note.
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I.e., commit evil. With this prediction the Qur'an refutes, as in so many other places, the spurious contention of the Jews that they are "the chosen people" by virtue of their descent from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and therefore a priori "assured", as it were, of God's acceptance. In other words, God's blessing a prophet or a saint does not, by itself, imply the conferment of any special status on his descendants.
Abraham or Ishmael.
So long as the Children of Israel upheld the righteous banner of Allah, they enjoyed Allah's blessing, and their history is a portion of sacred history. When they fell from grace, they did not stop Allah's Plan: they injured their own souls.
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I.e., in consideration of their own merit, and not because of their descent from Abraham and Isaac (see preceding verse and note).
The story of Moses is told in numerous passages of the Qur-an. The passages most illustrative of the present passage will be found in xxviii. 4 (oppression of the Israelites in Egypt) and xx. 77-79 (the Israelites triumphant over their enemies when the latter were drowned in the Red Sea).
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What could have been a greater calamity to them than that they should have been held in slavery by the Egyptians, that their male children should have been killed and their female children should have been saved alive for the Egyptians?
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