Enter Abraham Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob

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Enter AbrahamAbraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob
Joseph
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Abrahams Story

• Gazes at the sky and grasps truth of God
• Confronts father Azar rejects idols
• What are these idols that you worship? They
  said, We found our fathers worshiping them. He
  said, Indeed you and your forefathers have
  clearly gone astray. (2151-4)
• Destroys all idols except the biggest, he blames
  it so they will admit that idols cannot speak
• Abraham is saved from the fire.
• Promise of a sonand destruction

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Abraham

• Quran describes his as the one who fulfilled
• He fulfilled his duties to God (2124), like in
  Genesis he founds sacred shrines this time in
  Mecca
• He is made a leader (imam) for mankind his
  legacy is David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses,
  Aaron, Zachariah, John, Jesus, Elijah, Ishmael,
  Elisha, Jonah, Lot, everyone of them we favored
  about the worlds. (686)
• Established the House of God for pilgrimage
  (and purify it) with his son
• He prays that God make this land safe and
  prosperous for the believers (Mecca as the
  sacred land)
• Abraham and Ishmael invoke God to make them
  Muslims to him, and to raise from their
  descendents a Muslim nation (2128)

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Warning to the People of the Book

• God tells Abraham submit (aslim) and he
  submits, saying Ive submitted to the Lord of
  all the worlds, and then Abraham and Jacob tell
  their descendents not to die except as muslims.
  (2132)
• Remember the Audience! Jacobs children promise
  him to worship the one God of Abraham, but Now
  those people have passed away when people urge
  you to be Christians or Jews say that you follow
  the God of Abraham

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Sacrifice

• And he said Lo! I am going unto my Lord who
  will guide me. My Lord, grant me of the
  righteous. So We gave him tidings of a noble
  son. And when the son was old enough to strive
  with him, he said, O my dear son, I have seen in
  a dream that I sacrifice thee. So what thinkest
  thou? He said, O my father, do that which thou
  are commanded, God willing you shall find me one
  of the patient (sabirin). Then, when they had
  both surrendered to God and he had flung him down
  upon his face, We called unto him, O Abraham!
  Thou hast already fulfilled the village. Lo,
  thus do we reward the good. Lo, verily that was
  a clear test (al-bala al-mubin). Then We
  ransomed him with a tremendous victim. And We
  left for him among the later folk peace unto
  Abraham! (3799-110).. And We gave him Isaac
• Who was almost sacrificed?
• the Quran never mentions who the son was
• early Muslim exegetes thought the son was Isaac
  (attributed to Ibn Umar and others), after the
  10th century the prevailing opinion was that it
  was Ishmael (Ibn Abbas).
• Why? One answer is that Abraham had been given
  certainty of God

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Ismail vs. Isaac in the Quran

• Abraham thanks God for bestowing Isaac and Ismail
  on him in his old age as he settles his
  descendents in a uncultivated valley
• Isaac (Ishaq)
• mentioned 17 times (mostly in lists of other
  prophets)
• promised to Abraham and his wife (1171)
• Ishmael (Ismail)
• mentioned 12 times, once as truthful of promise
  (sadiq al-wad)
• he is mentioned with Abraham raising the
  foundation of the Kaba

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The Best of Stories - Joseph

• Dream and the Envy of brothers
• Advances of Zulaykha Josephs beauty
• Interpretation of things
• Jacob is able to interpret dreams because his
  Lord taught him this is the bounty of God unto
  us and unto mankind, but most men give not
  thanks. ? true faith has tangible fruit
• Vs. falseness O my fellow prisoners, are many
  lords better or the one God, the almighty? Those
  whom you worship beside Him are but names you
  have named, you and your fathers. God has
  revealed no sanction for them.

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Morals

• Sabr (patience) and steadfast faith Jacob knows
  what the brothers know not a dream fulfilled
• Faith and Gratitude O my Lord, thou hast given
  me sovereignty and taught me the interpretation
  of events Creator of the heavens and the earth!
  Thou art my Protecting Friend in this world and
  the hereafter make me die submissive unto thee,
  and join me among the righteous! (12101)

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Joseph and Muhammad

• This is the tidings of the Unseen with which
  we inspire thee. Thou wast not present with them
  when they fixed their plans and schemed. And
  thou thou tryest much, most men will not believe.
  Thou asketh them no fee for it. It is naught
  else but a reminder unto thy people. How many a
  sign is there in the heavens and in the earth,
  which they pass by with face averted. And most
  of them believe not in God without attributing
  partners to Him.

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• And We sent not messengers before thee
  except men that We inspired from amongst their
  folk of the townships. Have they not traveled in
  the land and seen the nature of the consequences
  of those before them? And verily the best abode
  is the Hereafter, for those who ward off evil
  Have you then no sense? Till, when the
  messengers despaired and thought that they were
  denied, then came unto them Our help, and whom We
  willed was saved. And Our wrath cannot be warded
  off from the guilty. In this story verily there
  is a lesson for men of understanding. It is no
  invented story, but a confirmation of the
  scripture, and a detailed explanation of
  everything and a guidance and mercy unto those
  who believe. (12 final verses)

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Compared to Bible

• Omissions ex. Benjamin as brother, a brother of
  yours from your father
• Details in the Quran, he is found and sold for
  a few silver coins, in Genesis the brothers sell
  him for 20 silver coins
• Jacob and the Dream here Jacob knows the meaning
  and berates Joseph
• Cause of Josephs Imprisonment king does not
  believe his wife
• Jacobs Reaction despair vs. Sabr