60 r Bat-Sheva Garsiel
to the biblical and midrashic Abraham. In the Quran, Abraham’s image is
modified according to different outlooks. The Quran mentions Abraham’s
deeds and events of his life, but molds them and links them to similar
situations in Muhammad’s life. At times, however, the Quran deliber-
ately deviates from this path and changes motifs in the stories concerning
Abraham. Sometimes Muhammad conceals national motifs dealing with
the people of Israel such as the promise of a multiplicity of descendants
of Abraham, inheritance of the Land of Canaan, or the promise of supe-
riority over enemies. Consequently, the stories of Abraham in the Quran
differ from those in the Bible and midrashim. Abraham is portrayed in
the Quran especially as a prophet, the founder of a universal religion.
This approach is evident in the description of his departure from his fa-
ther’s house to go to a new land, in the story of the Covenant between the
Pieces, and in the episode of the binding. Muhammad regarded himself as
analogous to Abraham, but he added that he was the last of the prophets
and thus superior to all his predecessors including Abraham. For he re-
stored the original and true religion that had been corrupted by the other
monotheistic religions, and he himself was the final transmitter of the true
religion.
Notes
- Cf. Angelika Neuwirth, “Myths and Legends in the Qur’ān,” Encyclopaedia of the
Qur’ān (Leiden: Brill 2003), 3:477–97. - The first to discuss the issue was Geiger. See A. Geiger, Judaism and Islam (1898;
translated from German by F. M. Young; reprint, New York: Ktav, 1970). Significant
scholarly contributions to our topic were made by R. Firestone in the following pub-
lications: R. Firestone, “Abraham’s Son as the Intended Sacrifice (al-dhabih, Koran
37:99–113): Issues in Koranic Exegesis,” Journal of Semitic Studies 34, no. 1 (1989): 95–131;
R. Firestone, Journeys in Holy Lands: The Evolution of the Abraham–Ishmael Legends
in Islamic Exegesis (Albany: SUNY Press, 1990); R. Firestone, “Comparative Studies in
Bible and Koran: A Fresh Look at Genesis 22 in Light of Surah 37,” Judaism and Islam:
Boundaries, Communications, and Interaction (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 169–74; R. Firestone,
“Isaac,” Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 2:561–62; R. Firestone, “Merits,
Mimesis, and Martyrdom: Aspects of Shi ̔ite Meta-historical Exegesis on Abraham’s Sac-
rifice in the Light of Jewish, Christian, and Sunnite Traditions,” in The Faith of Abraham,
ed. M. Hallamish, H. Kasher, et al. (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 2003), 93–112
(Hebrew). See also U. Rubin’s studies: “Hanifiyya and Ka‘ba: An Inquiry into the Arabic
Pre-Islamic Background of the Din Ibrahim,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 13
(1990): 85–112; Between Bible and Koran: The Children of Israel and the Islamic Self-Image
(Princeton: Darwin, 1999).