Page:Judaism and Islam, a prize essay - Geiger - 1898.pdf/121

 ABRAHAM TO MOSES. 103

Ground for this acceptation is given in another passage, 1 when after the dispute about the idols has been related, we read from v. 99 as follows : " Wherefore We acquainted him that he should have a son who should be a meek youth, and when he had attained to years of discre- tion Abraham said unto him : ' 0, my son ! I saw

in a dream that I should offer thee in sacrifice.' " He declared himself ready, on which Abraham heard a voice telling him that he had already verified the vision ; and a noble victim ransomed him. And then the passage con- tinues : 2 " And We rejoiced him with the promise of Isaac, a righteous prophet ; and We blessed him and Isaac ; and of their offspring were some righteous doers, and others who manifestly, injured their own souls." That the announce- ment of Isaac first appears here is a proof that the preceding context 3 refers to Ishmael. It is therefore evident that according to Muhammad's representation the sacrificial action was performed on Ishmael, and further on this will be shown more in detail. But it is not clear that the announcement of the angels refers to him, seeing that in one of the three places where the same word 4 is used of this angelic announcement, it is explicitly applied to Isaac. That the angels had a two-fold mission (1) to Abraham, in order to show him his fatherhood and the destruction of Sodom, and (2) to Lot, in order to remove him from Sodom before the destruction was accomplished, is Biblical and Muhammad follows the Bible narrative. We have already mentioned that Lot is supposed to have

Sura XXXVII. 99-114. 2 Sura XXXVII. 112, 118.

0- 9 f, 9

3 As also &j$&. and U#j 3 i n v.

4 Sura XI. 74 ; Of. other two passages, Sura XXXVII. 99 and 112.