human being to be dressed on the Day of Resurrection will
be [the Prophet] Abraham Al Khalil [Beloved Friend of
Allah].’’[8] Presumably he has this honor because, despite
Muslim claims of prophetic status for Adam and Noah as
well, Abraham enjoys a status as the father of the faith in
Islam that is similar to his position in Judaism and
Christianity. Also, another Hadith has Muhammad speaking
of his journey to Paradise. He meets the prophets and
describes them to his companions, noting that ‘‘I saw
Abraham whom I resembled more than any of his children
did.’’[9]
On the basis of all this, it has become customary to call
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam the ‘‘three great Abrahamic
faiths.’’ In reality, however, there is no genuine historical or
theological connection between Abraham and Islam.
- Don’t Muslims trace their ancestry to Abraham’s
son Ishmael?
Yes. Muslims believe that after Sarah expelled Hagar
and Ishmael from Abraham’s house, Hagar and Ishmael
settled in Mecca. Islam portrays Ishmael as adhering to the
monotheism later preached by Muhammad.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Muslims believe that Ishmael,
not Isaac, was Abraham’s sacrificial son. They maintain
that, in the course of their corruption of the Scriptures, the
Jews changed the story of Abraham’s sacrifice to suit their
own purposes by claiming Isaac was the sacrificial son.
Curiously, though the son to be sacrificed is not mentioned
by name in the Koran, Isaac is mentioned right after the