The Convergence of Judaism and Islam. Religious, Scientific, and Cultural Dimensions

The Quran’s Depiction of Abraham in Light of the Hebrew Bible and Midrash r 61

3. Abraham is mentioned in the following suras of Mecca: 6:74–83, 11:69–76, 14:35–41,
   15:51–60, 16:120–23, 19:41–50, 21:51–73, 26:69–89, 29:16–18, 37:83–113, 38:45, 42:13, 43:26–
   27, 51:24–37, 53:37, and 87:19.


4. For further discussion, see A. Guthrie, “The Significance of Abraham,” Muslim
   World 32 (1955): 113–20, and F. E. Peters, Muhammad and the Origins of Islam (Albany:
   SUNY Press, 1994), 118–21.


5. The English translation of the Quran is from A. J. Arberry (New York: Macmillan,
   1983).


6. Ibid., 67. It is noteworthy that the expressions “Abraham’s creed,” “Abraham was a
   Hanif,” and “he was not one of the idolaters” appear in the Quran ten times: suras 2:135;
   3:67, 95; 4:125; 6:79, 161; 12:38; 16:120, 123; and 22:78.


7. Baba Bathra 15a.


8. See Bereshit Rabba, Wilna edition (reprint: Jerusalem, 1994), 64:4 (Hebrew). In the
   Albeck edition there is a small difference.


9. Bereshit Rabba, ed. J. Theodor and Ch. Albeck (Berlin, 1912), 56:12 (Hebrew).


10. Cf. J. D. Levenson, “Abraham among Jews, Christians, and Muslims: Monotheism,
    Exegesis, and Diversity,” Arc: The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies 26 (McGill,
    1998): 5–29.


11. D. Z. Baneth, “The Original Meaning of Aslama,” Israel Oriental Studies 1 (1972):
    185–89.


12. D. Waines, An Introduction to Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
    1996); Ya ̔qubi, Ta’rikh, 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1969), 13–14.


13. Suras 2:128, 131, 133; 3:65–67; 4:125; 6:161; 12:38; and 16:120–23.


14. Ibn Hisham, Sirat al-Nabi (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al- ̔Arabi, 1937), 2:179.


15. Genesis 20:7.


16. Bereshit Rabba (Albeck and Wilna), 40:2.


17. Genesis 22:1, 12.


18. Menah ot 53: 2.


19. Midrash Tanaim, Deuteronomy (Tel Aviv: Hoffman ed., 1963), 33:12.


20. Cf. Levenson, “Abraham among Jews, Christians, and Muslims,” 27.


21. When he says, “A Messenger one of them,” Muhammad means that he is the mes-
    senger who was sent to the people of Mecca. It also means that Abraham mentioned
    Muhammad as his follower.


22. The Quran stresses the fact that the temple in Mecca was built before the temple
    in Jerusalem.


23. Rubin, The Quran (Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press, 2005), 2:26–27 (Hebrew).


24. Most of the exegeses identify “Abraham’s Station” with the “Holy Stone” in Mecca
    that bears the same name. They explain that the stone is called “The Station of Abra-
    ham” because Abraham stood on it when he built the Ka ̔ba, or when he came to visit
    Ishmael and put his feet on the stone for Ishmael’s wife to wash them, and the footprints
    remained on the stone.


25. R. Bell, A Commentary on the Qur’ān, ed. C. E. Bosworth and M. E. Richardson
    (Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1991), 2:23.