For this Eid, newly-revised post on the story of prophet Ibrahim’s test of sacrificing his son Isma’il (Ishmael). We examine the amazing equality between father and son, reflected in word and letter counts, as well as a more complete answer to the question of why did Allah ask Ibrahim to sacrifice his son.
The story of Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) being commanded by God to sacrifice his son, whose slaughter was Divinely replaced by a sacrificial animal, is one of the most famous narratives in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, found in the Quran, the Bible, and the Torah. Although the basic tale is the same, there are major discrepancies between the narratives, which alter what message one takes away from it.
In the Quran, the son in question is Ismael (Ismail in the Quran, Ishmael in the Bible, this being a spelling that reflects both), the first-born son, not Isaac as in the Bible. And he was specified as an adult willing participant, not a child, eliminating the issue of “the binding of Isaac”. Ismael is not named in the relatively short narrative, but the story begins with Abraham’s prayer for a righteous son (Quran 37:109), then Allah’s response in the form of a “forbearing” son (37:101) who would be his first, and only son at the time of the “test”. Then, when that son reached the “age of exertion,” meaning maturity, Abraham tells him of a dream in which he saw himself ritually slaughtering him, asking what he thought. Ismael replied that this was Allah’s command to slaughter him, and he, the father, should definitely do what Allah ordered, and for the son’s part, he (Ismael) was willing and able.
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