Allah and Abraham’s Uniqueness
For several thousands of years before Prophet Abraham, Allah sent many thousands of prophets to all the thousands of tribes and nations on the earth, and not one of them were able to establish an ongoing, monotheistic, religious community. So Allah decided to do something different.
Allah decided to make a covenant with a small tribe, and send hundreds of his prophets to this small tribe and work continually for centuries with the people of this tribe until they were able to establish an ongoing community that would always have a core of righteous and loyal believers.
Allah selected Abraham the Hebrew (Genesis 14:13) and the descendants of Prophets Ishmael, Issac, and Jacob to be the first, but not the last monotheistic community. “There is for you an excellent example (to follow) in Abraham and those with him.” [Qur’an 60:4] and “Indeed Ibrahim was a nation obedient to Allah, a Hanif, he was not one of the polytheists.” [Qur’an 16:120].
As far as we know Prophet Abraham is unique in being the biological and religious ancestor of two sons whose descendants become the prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
“Indeed, We chose him (Abraham) as one pure and most distinguished in the world, and he is surely among the righteous in the Hereafter”. (Qur’an 2:130) and “Follow the way of Abraham as people of pure faith.” (Qur’an 3:95)
What makes Prophet Abraham, “whom God chose to be His friend” (Qur’an 4:125 & Isaiah 41:8) so special? For Jews and Christians Abraham is the first monotheist. But for Muslims, Adam was the first of many thousands of prophets of God each of whom called upon the people of their own tribe or nation to worship only the One God. A narration from Abu Dharr relates that one day he asked the Messenger of Allah:
How many prophets are there in all? He replied: 124, 000.. He then asked: How many of them were messenger prophets? He replied: 313 from the above group. He asked: Who was the first of them? He replied: Adam. The first prophet among Bani Israel was Musa and the last of them was Isa and they were in all 600.” (Biharul Anwar, Vol. 11, Pg. 32.)
Yet none of the Messengers prior to Prophet Abraham were able to establish an ongoing monotheistic community that lasted. “And when there came to them a Messenger from Allah, confirming what was with them, a party of the people who were given the Book threw away the Book of Allah behind their backs, as if they did not know it!” (Qur’an 2:101)
And “Those who disbelieve are steeped in arrogance and defiance. How many generations have We destroyed before them? They cried out when it was too late to escape. And they marveled that a warner had come to them from among them. The disbelievers said, “This is a lying magician.” “Did he turn all the gods into one God? This is something strange.” The notables among them announced: “Go on, and hold fast to your gods. This is something planned. We never heard of this in the former faith. This is nothing but a fabrication. (Qur’an 38:2-7)
All prophets Divinely inspired by the one and only God are of course monotheists. Pious believers of any individual prophet should not “discriminate between anyone of His prophets” (Qur’an 2:285 & 4:152) This is why Prophet Muhammad said, “Prophets are brothers in faith, having different mothers. Their religion is, however, one.” (Muslim, book #030, Hadith #5836) All prophets have the same father, who is the One God whose inspiration gives birth to their prophethood.
However, each prophet has a different mother i.e. a mother tongue, a motherland, and a target audience that he speaks to at a specific time in history. Thus prophets are brothers in faithfulness to the One God but their Divinely inspired message differs because it must be appropriate for their motherland, their mother tongue, their own people and the historical circumstances of the prophet’s lifetime.
Therefore, not all monotheistic prophets are the same. The Qur’an declares: “We have exalted some above others. To some (Moses) God spoke directly (4:164)); others He raised high in rank (4:163-6); to “Jesus, Mary’s son, We gave clear signs and supported him with the Holy Spirit.” (2:253). Also, “We have exalted some prophets above others (see 38:41-48) and gave the Zaboor (Book of Psalms) to David.” (17:55) Abraham (57:26), Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad all received a Divine book.
Prophet Abraham was the first of those we know to receive a Sacred Scripture. All of the other messengers were among Abraham’s descendants. Is being ‘the first’ what makes Prophet Abraham so special that his name appears 69 times in the Qur’an, second only to Moses (136 times)? I do not think being ‘first’ is why Abraham plays such an important part in all three Abrahamic religions.
The Qur’an states in Surah 3:67: “He (Abraham) was not Yahuudiyyan, “a Jew”, nor Nasraaniyyan, “a Christian”, but rather a Haniifan.” i.e. “a monotheistic Hebrew believer submitting (Islam) to the one imageless God who created all space and time; and who made Prophet Abraham’s descendants through the Prophets Isaac and Jacob (Israel), into a great and well known multitude of monotheists called the People of Israel-Banu Israel.
The term Hebrew comes from the verb to go over a boundary, like the Euphrates or Jordan river, or to be a migrant. Many generations later the Philistines in Canaan used the term “Hebrews” to refer to the 12 tribes of Israel: “The Philistine commanders asked, “What about these Hebrews?” (1 Samuel 29:3); and Prophet Jonah identified himself to non-Jewish sailers as “a Hebrew” (Jonah 1:9).
The term ivri (the Hebrew) first appears in the Torah, when Prophet Abraham is called “the Hebrew: “And it was told to Abram the Hebrew” (Genesis 14:13) And Prophet Joseph uses the name as both a geographical and an socio-ethnic term: “I was kidnapped from the land of the ivrim” (Genesis 40:15), and “The Egyptians could not eat with the ivrim, since that would be an abomination” (Gen. 43:32)
Prophet Abraham is famous for the numerous ways God tested him, especially the two terrible tests of; banishing Hagar and his first born son Ishmael (Qur’an 2:124 & Genesis 9:9-21); and calling on Abraham to make each of his sons an offering to God. (Qur’an 37:100-113 & Genesis 22:1-24)
Prophet Abraham (the first person referred to as a ‘Hebrew’) lived about 1600 BCE—so the Hebrew language is at least 3600 years old. ‘Hebrew’ was the same western Canaanite language spoken by many other Canaanite groups and a variety of northwestern Semitic [which included Arabic].
Prior to Prophet Abraham none of Allah’s Prophets was able to establish an ongoing for centuries monotheistic community. “When We sent to them two [messengers] but they denied them, so We strengthened them with a third, and they said, “Indeed, we are messengers to you.” They said, “You are just human beings like us, and the Most Merciful has not revealed a thing. You are only telling lies.”
They [the three messengers] answered, “Our Lord knows that we are messengers to you, and we are not responsible except for [your] clear notification.” “They [the polytheists] said, “Indeed, we consider you a bad omen. If you do not desist, we will surely stone you, and there will surely touch you, from us, a painful punishment.” (Qur’an 36:14-18]
But Abraham’s descendants were able to establish three ongoing monotheistic religious communities that are still with us today.
All of the prophets descended from Prophet Abraham spoke a Semitic language: Hebrew, Aramaic or Arabic. So why is the New Testament written in Greek. Because the original Unitarian Gospels which were written in first century Hebrew and Aramaic, were replaced by the Trinitarian Greek gospels in the second century.
The final words of Prophet Jesus were uttered in Hebrew and Aramaic as he was dying on the cross, are recorded in both Matthew’s gospel 27:46 and Mark’s gospel 15:34 as a quote from an Aramaic translation of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken/abandoned me?
Although the Qur’an denies that Prophet Jesus died on a cross; the Greek Gospels proclaim he did. Perhaps the Hebrew and Aramaic gospels disappeared because they offered a different non-crucification ending.
Abraham’s test with his son became an iconic sign of faith and trust in God’s will; for Jews, Christians and Muslims. In addition to the test of his two sons, Abraham is unique in the numerous prophets God chose from among his descendants, whose names are recorded in the Bible and the Qur’an. With the exception of Balaam (and perhaps Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18), all Biblical prophets and most of the 25 prophets named in the Qur’an, are descendants of Abraham. “We did grant the Family of Abraham the Book, the Wisdom and a mighty (spiritual) kingdom.” (Qur’an 57:26)
The belief in many prophets for many peoples, is the best support for the belief in religious pluralism as the product of God’s will, as it is written in the Qur’an, “For every one of you did We appoint a law and a way. If God had pleased He would have made you one people, but [He didn’t] that He might test you in what He gave you. Therefore compete with one another to hasten to virtuous deeds; for all return to God, so He will let you know [after Judgment Day] that in which you differed.” (5:48)
Therefore: Say, “We have believed in Allah and in what was revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Descendants, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are Muslims [submitting] to Him.” (3:84)
And: “Indeed, they who have believed and done righteous deeds and humbled themselves to their Lord – those are the companions of Paradise; they will abide eternally therein.” (11:23)
One of the most insightful verses relating the special virtue of Abraham states, “Abraham was a community”. (Qur’an 16:120) How can one person be an umma, an ongoing people/community?
Because Prophet Abraham was unique in being the biological and religious ancestor of two sons whose descendants become all the prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. As Anas b. Malik reported;, a person came to Allah’s Messenger and said: O, the best of creation; thereupon Allah’s Messenger said: That is Ibrahim. [Muslim, Book #30, Hadith #5841]