The Prophet Abraham: Father of Three Faiths
Dr. Rafey Habib
The Prophet Abraham in the Three Faiths:
The prophet Abraham (AS) has a crucial role in Islamic belief and practice. The Quran refers to him as the friend of God (4:125) and the father of prophets; Muslims believe that he is one of the ancestors of the prophet Muhammad (S). Indeed, one cannot be a true Muslim without acknowledging the central role of Abraham. The prophet Muhammad and his companions believed in Abraham as the founder of their faith. Muslims regard the prophet Muhammad as the last in a series of prophets, including Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, all of whom appear in the Quran. This central role of Abraham s indicated in many ways. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, and in every single prayer they are required to ask God to send his blessings upon the prophet Abraham and his family. Even more importantly, the direction in which Muslims pray in Mecca is facing a building the Kaabah which they believe was built by the prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael (II, 127). The prophet Muhammad (S) told his followers that the traditions and rituals of the pilgrimage were descended from the prophet Abraham. At the pilgrimage Muslims also commemorate Abrahams wife Hagar in her search for water, and also the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac for the sake of the Lord.
The prophet Abraham is traditionally regarded as the father of the Jewish people, as recorded in the story of Genesis. In the New Testament he is also regarded as the father of Christianity by Matthew who traces the genealogy of Jesus back top Abraham. In the Gospel of John (8: 39) Jesus encourages practising the virtues attributed to Abraham. And St. Paul wrote of all those who have faith being the sons of Abraham (Gal: 3:7).
The Bible and the Quran on Abraham:
The Bible tells us that when Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said: Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations...your name shall be Abraham (17: 4-5). Of the two sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, the Lord says to Abraham: Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael...behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation (17: 19-20)
In the Quran, God is quoted as saying to Abraham: I will make thee/An Imam to the nations (II, 124) [Imam = leader, model, pattern). It also warns that it is folly to turn away from the religion of Abraham (II, 130). The Quran admonishes the prophet Muhammad to say: (I would rather follow) the religion of Abraham the True,/And he joined not gods with God(II, 135).
Here is a passage that is worth quoting in fill. The Quran instructs Muhammad and his followers to say:
We believe
In God, and in what
Has been revealed to us
And what was revealed
To Abraham, Ismail,
Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes,
And in (the Books)
Given to Moses, Jesus
And the Prophets
From their Lord:
We make no distinction
Between one and another
Among them, and to God do we
Bow our will (in Islam)(III, 84)
Muhammad is enjoined to say: God speaks/ The truth: follow/ The religion of Abraham,/ The true in faith; he/ Was not of the Pagans (III, 95). And yet again the Quran says to Muhammad:
So we have taught thee
The inspired (message),
Follow the ways of Abraham
The true in faith, and he
Joined not gods with God(XVI, 123)
These passages from the Quran show clearly that, while the account of the prophet Abraham is not identical in all of its details with that of the Bible, the prophet Abraham occupies a uniquely revered position in Islam, as the father of the three faiths, the distant ancestor of Muhammad himself, and as an ideal or exemplary human being in his submission to the will of God. That is why Muslims regard the prophet Abraham as a Muslim: the word Muslim literally means someone who submits to the will of God, the Most High.
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@Asslamia yes exactly.....preach it brothaa!
yodreamful 3 months ago
he looks like a religious floating head....hehehe XD
yodreamful 3 months ago
@SamuelJoaodaSuica Ok so you say God became Human like a Transformer lol, when instead God can create a human like it has always been. and elect this human as a messenger to spread and warn the people. What's more rational and makes more sense??
ViciousBeats16 5 months ago
@ViciousBeats16
no, it proves that you obey false god. Islam is just a continuation of falsehoods known as "religion". Islam was made by an illiterate psychopathic tyrant named Muhammad. Speaking of Man made of course. God did not die, his human carnation died, and he came back days later. This is not death, this is God conquering sin and death. It is something that someone like you can't comprehend.
SamuelJoaodaSuica 5 months ago
@SamuelJoaodaSuica you have proven to disbelieve in God, and follow vain desires in this man made religion that has no ties with Prophet Jesus (pbuh), how dare u utter such nonsense God died?? how is it contradicting, wheres the contradicting, and the Gospels that were given to Jesus are God's word, not the bible of today, it is corrupt by man ages ago, therefore we shouldnt follow it
ViciousBeats16 5 months ago
@ViciousBeats16
furthermore, God cannot contradict himself. This is why he had to die on the cross and conquer death and sin, so that the new covenant which he promised to his people long before after the fall of the second temple. There was longer a place to offer sin sacrifices, so God loved folk so greatly that he offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice so that sinners could attain salvation simply through repentance and faith in Christ. YES, GOD BECAME MAN. HE HAS THE POWER TO DO THIS!
SamuelJoaodaSuica 5 months ago
@ViciousBeats16
no my friend, yet again you are mistaken. Jesus has said it many times in the Bible. Do you need the verses? No ofcourse not, you don't need them because in your Koran, Allah says his word is eternal and can't be changed, and in another place it says there is light and guidance in the Bible which was also Allah's word. So how can you say the Bible is polluted? If the Bible is polluted, than the Koran must be too, but surly either way, Allah is lying isn't he??? You stop it plz.
SamuelJoaodaSuica 5 months ago
@SamuelJoaodaSuica i thank you for reminding me to repent, as Repentence is extremely important as a muslim, The Creator needs not anyone to die for sin, as he is the Most Forgiving and he loves to forgive. But then you say jesus is God? so in fact you believe God died? ate food, urinated and deficated? is that true? Im pretty sure if Jesus was God, it would have been stressed in the distorted bible of today, not even a unambigious statement of Jesus being God is mentioned. Stop IT.
ViciousBeats16 5 months ago
@ViciousBeats16
No, you are in err, and it is you that needs to repent. Yes, Christianity today is run like a business by men, and it is in complete contradiction to the bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ. However, Islam is yet another trap that developed out of the pollution that is Christianity. Getting to the point. Only through faith in Jesus Christ can one be assured of salvation. The "Lord" and Jesus Christ are actually one in the same They are not TWO but ONE. Jesus is God incarnate
SamuelJoaodaSuica 5 months ago
@SamuelJoaodaSuica thats what you believe. and that your free choice . we believe that God has always been clear that there you should only whorship him alone . christianity is a man made religion ... to be blunt it is a falsehood to say god has a son ... its a falsehood to say you goota whorship a man besides the lord god . no my friend you are the one that must changed before death , the only thing you said that was real is the fact that after death you cant repent , you are in error my friend
josephlongjhonson 5 months ago