'Ishmael'

The story of Hagar and Ishmael is told differently in Islam than it is in the Book of Genesis. Muslims believe that Hagar was Abraham’s wife and that, at God’s command, Abraham took Hagar and Ishmael to Mecca when Ishmael was a child. They believe that it was Ishmael, not Isaac, whom God commanded Abraham to take to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed, a location associated with the present-day Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Islamic tradition also teaches that Abraham later returned to Mecca and that he and his son Ishmael built the Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam to this day. Millions of Muslims make pilgrimages to Mecca each year based on this narrative of Hagar and Ishmael, which forms an important foundation of their faith. How do competing narratives about Abraham and his sons contribute to current unrest in the Middle East? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #391.