Eid Mubarak!
Tomorrow evening begins Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of the sacrifice, commemorating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, as commanded by God. So I’ve spent a bit of time refreshing my familiarity with this tale in the Bible and the Qur’an.
Abraham is where Judaism, Christianity and Islam intersect. The “Abrahamic” religions all share a commitment to monotheism and this (to me horrifying) story of supreme faith.
But the story is not identical in all three religions. The five books of Moses (Torah, Old Testament to Christians) say Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac, son of Sarah. The Qur’an says it was Ishmael, son of Hagar, whom Abraham was prepared to sacrifice. The Christians follow the Old Testament version, which has an obvious parallel in the story of Christ–son of God–and his death on the cross.
There is a seldom remembered coda as well, according to the Torah: Abraham’s “sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah,” which today is in Hebron (Tomb of the Patriarchs to Jews and the Sanctuary of Abraham to Muslims). In the Qur’an, too, Ishmael and Isaac are mentioned repeatedly in the same breath.
I like to think there is nothing that would get me to sacrifice one of my two sons, and certainly not some voice inside my head. Apologies to the devout among us, but Abraham would be a nut case in the modern world.
This coda is worth remembering though: it implies reconciliation of Isaac and Ishmael, with obvious parallels in modern times between Jews and Arabs, who regard themselves as descendants of the two sons of Abraham by different mothers. Unlikely as it seems, that is something worth having faith in.
Eid Mubarak!
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