III - Makkah, the Ka‘bah & the Quraish
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and submissive son. When the child grew older, Abrahamas saw in a dream that he was slaughtering that son. Upon this, Abrahamas became prepared to sacrifice his son literally for the sake of God, and the son submitted himself to the command of Allāh. However, just as Abrahamas was about to pass a knife over his child’s neck, an angel of God stopped him from doing so. Then, after this, it is mentioned that Abrahamas was given the glad tidings of the birth of Isaacas.1 From this account, it becomes clearly evident that the son whom Abrahamas was set to slaughter was Ishmaelas and not Isaacas. The Holy Qur’ān has connected the occurrence of the slaughtering with the eldest son of Abrahamas, who was indeed Ishmaelas, and mention of the birth of Isaacas follows subsequently. If Isaacas was the intended sacrificial offering, the occurrence of the slaughtering should have been linked to Isaacas and not to the eldest son of Abrahamas. 2. The Holy Qur’ān also states that when God bestowed upon Abrahamas the glad tiding of his son Isaacas, the glad tiding of his son Jacobas was also given therewith. In other words, the glad tidings of both a son and grandson were given to Abrahamas simultaneously.2 Now, from the very start, if the glad tiding of Isaacas along with that of Jacobas was also present, how is it possible for Abrahamas to have agreed to literally slaughter his son Isaacas, when he clearly knew that his own son’s life is meant to last at least until a son is born to him. 3. I t is mentioned in Ḥadīth that the Holy Prophetsa stated, “I am the son of two sacrificial offerings”.3 Firstly, Ishmaelas, and secondly ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib, whom the grandfather of the Holy Prophetsa wished to sacrifice as an oblation, and who prepared himself to do so. From this Ḥadīth it is at least proven that, to the Holy Prophetsa, the actual fact of the matter was that Ishmaelas was the offering and not Isaacas. 4. It is proven from the Bible that it was a custom of the progeny of Aṣ-Ṣāffāt (37:113) Hūd (11:72) Tārīkhul-Khamīs, By Ḥusain bin Muḥammad bin Ḥasan Dayār Bakrī, Dhikrul-Ikhtilāfi fidh-Dhabīḥ, Volume 1, p. 95, Muwassasatu Sha‘bān, Beirut
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