One of the
prime differences of beliefs existing today among some
Jews and some
Christians vs. standard
Muslim argument is the story of
Abraham sacrifice toward his only son. Jews and Christians maintain it was Isaac to be sacrificed. Muslims retain it was Ishmael to be sacrificed. Who is precise and who is at fault? Such a problem is best answered with coherence.
The Bible is a
tainted book transliterated from
Aramaic to
Greek to
Latin to
English (several editions in print) to a multitude of languages. Furthermore,
scribes had a tendency to
distort the Bible either through lack of knowledge or through intentional
fraud. That being said, Muslims only
corroborate parts of the Bible apparently in direct parallel with Quran.
Quran regularly contain summarized biblical stories in poetic graceful form. Condensed story of the sacrifice is recorded in
Quran beginning from
Safat (ranks) 37:100 and ending at 37:111. However, nowhere in these verses do we see an explicit statement calling for Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael by name. Nonetheless, it can be implicitly reasoned it was Ishmael to be sacrificed because after sacrifice event, Quran continue afterward in 37:112 and 37:113 that
Allah promised to offer
Isaac as a second son to Abraham.
Bible has a longer story to offer as per
Genesis. Only essential points will be extracted from Genesis for
scrutiny. Abraham was 75 when he arrived in
Cannan.(1) Abraham was married to his half sister
Sarah.(2) Abraham is 10 years older than Sarah.(3) Sarah can not bear children. As a result, she gave her handmaid
Hagar as a wife to Abraham.(4) Hagar became pregnant when Abraham was 86. Hagar was twice driven away by Sarah, before the child was born and after the child was born.(5) Abraham took his only son to be sacrificed.(6) Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90.(7)
The biblical statement, "take your son, your only son Isaac." is paradoxical. According to both Genesis and Safat, Isaac was not born yet when Abraham took his only son to sacrifice. It is possible that Isaac was inserted in place of Ishmael. It is also possible that Isaac was added after your only son. There are abundant justifications offered by Jews and Christians to the illogical statement, "take your son your only son Isaac." None of these validations are strong enough or relate to each other to support this illogical statement.
Today, without a doubt in their mind, Muslims celebrate
Eid Al Udha (festival of sacrifice) in remembrance of Abraham near sacrifice to Ishmael. Moreover, it has caused a spin in recent time between the three religions on who rightfully own the land of Canan.
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1 Genesis (12:11-16)
2 Genesis (20:12)
3 Genesis (17:17)
4 Genesis (16:3)
5 Genesis (16:4-12) Genesis (21:9-20)
6 Genesis (22:2-12)
7 Genesis(21:5)