In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad

2 111 lIN Fl)Ollt(PI Df tht PropINI

throughout history-and even before the laSt Revelation-has wished co
auain G od's peace through the wholeheanoo gift of h im- o r herself to the
Being. In trus sense, Abraham was the deep and exemplary expression of
t.'-Ie Muslim:

He (God] has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in reli-

glon. It is the religion of your father Abraham. H e has named you Muslims,

hoth before and in this [Revelation]; 50 that the 1ksscnger may be a wit-

ness fo r you [the new Muslim community], lnd you may be witnesses for

humankind.^2

Along with this recognition of the One, the figure of Abraham stands
out most particularly among the line of prophets leading up to the
Messenger of Islam for several other reasons. T he book of Genesis, like
th e Quran, rdates the Story of Abraham's servant Hagar, who gave birth
to his first child, Ishmael, in hi s old age.^3 Sarah, Abraham's first wife, who
in turn gave birth to Isaac, asked her husband to send away his se rvant
and her child.
Abraham took H agar and Ishmael away to a valley in the Arabian
Penin sula called Bacca, which Islamic tradition identifies as present-day
Mecca. The Islamic account, like Genesis, relates the questionings, s uffer-
ing, and prayers of Abraham and Hagar, who were compelled to experience
exile and se paration. I n both the J{uslim andJudeo-Christian traditions, this
trial is recounted with the certainty and intimate comfort that the parents
and child were carrying Out a command from God, who will protect and
bl::ss Abraham's descendants born of Hagar. To Abraham's invocations
about his son, God answers in Genesis:

As for Ishmael, 1 have heard you; behold, I will bless him ... and J will

make him a great nation.^4

Then further on, when H agar is helpless and without food and water:

And God heard the voice of the child, and the angel of God called to

Ilagar from heaven, and said [0 her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not;

for God has heard the voice of the child where he is.. Arise, lift up the child,

and hold him f:lSt with your hand; for J will make him a great nation."S