Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/135

89 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

89

his rfligion from theirs, and to turn the faces and thi)Ui;hts of his followers from .Tcnisalcm to Mecca. Ill order that the eliaiii;e miirlit lie elTected with as little friction as possible, Jloliamnied eonnccted Mecca and its holy house, the Kimlia. with the hisIt tory of Abraham, the real founder of his Islam. is here that Ishniael comes for the first time promiIn one of the latest suras (ii. 118 nently forward. ft fif/.) a passajre reads: "And when we made the house a place of resort unto men. and a sanctuary, and (said) take the station of Abraham for a place of prayer; and eovenaiiled with Abraham and Ishhouse for those niael. saying. Dove two cleanse who make the circuit, for those who jiay devotions for those who bow down, and for those. too. there, who adore. . .' And when Abraham raised up the foundations of the house with Islimael, 'Lord, receive it from us. Verily, Thou art hearing and

my

"

.

Thou

dost know.

Lord, and

make

us, too, resigned

unto Thee and of our seeil also a nation resigned unto Thee, and show us our rites, and turn toward us; verily. Thou art easy lobe turned and merciful. Lord, and send them an ajiostle from amongst theniread to them Thy signs and teach them Book and wisdom, and to purify them; verily. Thou art the miglitv and the wise " (compare suiiis si'lves. to

the

'

ST-ai). There is no local tradition connecting Abraham with Mecca; and we are forced to i)ut tliis down as a pure invention on the part of the i)rophet, based on jiolitical as well as on theological reasons. According to Shahrastani (Arabic text, p. 430), this Kaaba was the reproduction of the one in lieaven. The • ^lakam Ibrahim." or Station of Abraham, is -lill pointed out within the sjiered enclosure at .Mecca; and the footsteps of the patriarch are believed l)y the worshipers still to lie there (.Snouck nurgroujc,"IIet .MekkaanseheFeest," p. 40; Mekka, iii.

i.

'.IIMJ3, ..ii,

11).

The stories in regard to Abraham, told in a fewin the Koran, naturally form the basis for furlher midrashic expansion among Moham- the Arabs. The likeness of the history of Abraham to certain features in the medan Midrasb life of their own prophet made him a on favorite .subject in the hands of com-

words

Abrahain. menlators and

historians.

.Mohamme-

dan writers had t wo s( lurces from which thcydrcw their know ledge of the Hil)leand of its midrashic interpretation: verbal information from the it/./ihiir ("rabbis"), and a study of the text of the Bible itself, and oceasionally of |ilier of history, Ibn Klialdiin others, howiver. are less crilieal. as Tabari, Masudi, Hainza. Biruni, ^lakrizi, Ibn alAtliir. Abu al-Fida (compare Goldzihei, " Cber Mohamiiiedaiiiselie Polemikgegeii die Ahl al Kilab." iii"Z I). M.(i." .x.xii. i')'). They have much to s!iy about the trials that Abraham un<lerwent in tighting idolatry. They dilate upon the great furnaee thai Ninirod had built in Kullia for this purpose, and how the furnace was changed into a garden. Kurd named llayiin, llaizar. or llaizan. is said to have advised Xininxl to have Abraham burnt. Abndiain's father is suid to have rash

upon

it.

aet, as Ibii



A

Abraham

been a carver of images; and Abraham, in selling his father's wares, attempted to convert the people by crying out, "Who wi.shcs to buy that which neither hurts nor betters?" Large midra.shic additions are made in order to bring Nimrod into connection with Abraham. It is sjiid that the stargazers warned him that a boy would be bom that would in the future break all the idols; that Ximrod gave orders to put to death all children bom; but

when Abraham was bom his mother hid him cave in wliieli. during a few days, he giew to man's estate, and thus foiled the ]>urposeof the king. The incongruity of Mohamnieti's connecting Abraham with the building of the Kaaba was evidentlj* clearly felt, and it is therefore added that his going to Slecca was due to the rupture between Sarah and Hagar, God told Abraham to take the bondmaid and her cliiUl, Ishmael, into Arabia; and it was at that

in a

the Zemzeni well within the sjiered enclosure that the water rose up which slaked the thiret of the boy. On two occasions Abraham is sjiid to have paid a visit to Lshmael's house in his absence; and, by the answers which each wife gave to her fatherin-law, Abraham advises his son. in the one case, to .send his first wife away, and in the other to keep his second wife. In the building of the Kaaba, Abraham was assisted by the Shekinah (rU'St?); others say by a cloud or by the angel Gabriel. Abraham acted as muezzin, delivered all the necessary prayers, and made the various circuits demandetl by the later ritual. It was he also who first threw stones at Iblis (the devil) in the valley of Miua, a procedure which still forms part of the ceremonies connected with the /injij. It is natural that in these later accretions Ishmael should take the place of Is;iac. Some authors even stale that it was Ishmael who was to have been otl'ered up: and that he therefore bears the name AlDliabih |" Slaughtered One "). The place of the 'Akedah is also transferred to Mina, near Mecca. The ram ofl'ered uy} in lieu of the son is said to have been the same as the one offered by Abel. The slaughtering of Lsaac is dwelt upon at length, as well as the firmness of Abraham in resisting the enticement of Iblis, who placed himself directly ill his path. This is Siiid to have been one of the trials (sura ii. IIS) which Abraham underwent. Arabic commentators, however, speak of three trials only, and not of ten, as does the Jewish Ilaggadah. Many of the religious obsi»rvances that are nowfound in Islam arc referred to Abraham; parallels to which, as far as the institution of certain prayers is coiKerned, can be founil in rabliinical literature. Abraham is often called by Arabic authors the "fatherof hospiiality "; and longaecounlsare given of the visit of the angels. He is also sjiid to have been the first whose hair grew white. Of his death an Arabic Midrash has the following: When GihI wished to take the soul of Abraham He sent the Angcl of Death to him in the form of a decrepit old man. Abraham was at table with some guests, when Ik- saw an old man walking in the heat of the sun. He .sent an ass to carry the man to his tent. The old man. howevir. had hardly suflicieiit strength to put the food .set before him to his mouth: and even then he had the greatest iliflieulty in swallowing it. Now, a long time bcfon- this. Abraham had asked God not to lake away his .soul until he(.M>rahain) should make the reciinst. When he .saw the actions of this old man 111- asked him what ailc<l liiin. "It " he answered. is the result of old age. O Abraham! "How oUl are you. then?" asked Abraham. The old man gave his age as two years more than that of Abraham, upon which the patriarch exclaimed. " In two years' time 1 shall Ih- like him! OGo<i!lake