4
The Quran’s Depiction of Abraham in
Light of the Hebrew Bible and MidrashBat-Sheva GarsielThe Quran is a collection of Muhammad’s teachings, aimed at inculcating
the belief in one God and presenting its principles to the nascent Muslim
community (2:185). The Quran integrates figures, among them biblical
ones, into its suras in order to reinforce the subject under discussion and
to exemplify it.^1 Unlike the Bible, therefore, whose stories appear in more
or less chronological order, the Quranic figures may appear in one sura
and reappear in another in varied sermons or in other contexts. Conse-
quently, those who wish to discuss a figure in the Quran must glean infor-
mation from different suras in which the character appears and construct
him like a mosaic, fitting together relevant depictions and characteriza-
tions from various texts.
Abraham and Moses are the most important among the early prophets
to appear in the Quran. The Quran viewed Moses as the prophet sent
to transmit a new religion to his people and Abraham as the father and
founder of Islam. Muhammad is regarded as the conglomerate character
of both of them, as the one continuing their mission and sealing the chain
of all prophets. Similarities between the depiction of Abraham in the early
Jewish traditions and its parallels in the Quran have been noticed by
scholars.^2 Earlier scholars, however, did not fully capture the wide scope
of the parallels; neither did they delve into the reasons for the changes
wrought by the Quran in its adaptations.
This study examines the image of Abraham in the Quran in comparison
with the wide range of Jewish sources that preceded the Quran, including