Abraham

Abraham is a figure in the Old Testament considered to be the patriarch of the world's three great Western religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, called the Abrahamic religions. The Judaeo-Christian religions exclude Islam. According to the Book of Genesis, God sent Abraham on a mission to heal the divisions between men. His message was that, regardless of differences in language or culture, all men where to be considered as belonging to one human family, dwelling before one God, who sustains all of Creation.

Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was unable to bear children, so he took a second wife; Hagar, an Arab maidservant. Hagar bore Abraham a son, Ishmael. Thirteen years thence, Sarah bore Abraham another son, Isaac. After Abraham’s death, Sarah banished Hagar and Ishmael, and it is at this point that the Semitic race was split into Arab and Jew.

Division

The division between the three religions was compelled by squabbling over which of the various sects, all believing in the same God of Abraham, existed as the truest representation of God’s tradition. The Jews, as a people, traced their traditions back to their prophet, Moses, and, through him, to Abraham and Isaac.

Several hundred years later, Jesus of Nazareth presented his interpretation of the teaching of Abraham, which, while closer to the original message Abraham intended, diverged considerably from the Jewish tradition. As Jesus’ status among his followers developed from Teacher (Rabbi) and prophet to Savior, this division only grew more distinct, and Christianity began to take shape.

A few hundred years later, Muhammad, identifying himself as God’s one true messenger, denounced his predecessors, and proclaimed a return to the foundational teachings of Abraham, as traced to Ishmael. It was with these words that Islam was born.