Part 1

GENESIS 21, VERSES 14 – 21
“14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.”

Ishmael is Abraham’s first son and the older brother of Isaac. God sent his angel to save Ishmael and to tell his mother Hagar, that God is going to make Ishmael a great nation, and then God made Ishmael a well of water in the middle of the desert to drink from. Ishmael grew and lived in that desert, the desert of Paran.

DEUTERONOMY 33, VERSES 1 – 3
“1 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.”

The blessing that Moses shared with the children of Israel before his death gives us a lot of information, but since we are only discussing the “brothers of the children of Israel” at this point, we will not go through all the details of this blessing.

Moses told about a great light of God, with glowing law, that will be shining forth from the mount of Paran, and with him will come thousands of saints that God will love, and they will all worship God and submit to him.

Paran is where Ishmael, the first son of Abraham and the older brother of Isaac, was saved by God, promised to engender a great nation and where he grew up.

Isaac is the father of Israel, and the children of Ishmael are the brothers of the children of Israel.

THE QURAN 14, VERSE 39
“Praise be to Allah, Who hath granted unto me (Abraham) in old age Ishmael and Isaac: for truly my Lord is He, the Hearer of Prayer!”

God granted Abraham two sons in his old age, Ishmael and his younger brother Isaac.

THE QURAN 14, VERSE 37
“O our Lord! I (Abraham) have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Thy Sacred House; in order, O our Lord, that they may establish regular Prayer: so fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them, and feed them with fruits: so that they may give thanks.”

Abraham’s first son Ishmael lived in a desert where God’s sacred house is.

THE QURAN 2, VERSE 127
“And remember Abraham and Ishmael raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): “Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the Allknowing.”

Abraham and his son Ishmael raised the foundation of God’s house in that desert.

THE QURAN 2, VERSE 129
“Our Lord! send amongst them (the children of Ishmael) an Messenger of their own, who shall rehearse Thy Signs to them and instruct them in scripture and wisdom, and sanctify them: For Thou art the Exalted in Might, the Wise.”

This verse refers to Abraham praying to God asking him to send the children of Ishmael a messenger issued from their own who shall teach them the law of God.

THE QURAN 62, VERSE 2
“It is He (God) Who has sent amongst the Unlettered a messenger from among themselves, to rehearse to them His Signs, to sanctify them, and to instruct them in Scripture and Wisdom,- although they had been, before, in manifest error;-“

God answered Abraham’s prayer and sent the children of Ishmael a prophet from their own to teach them the law of God, as before then, they were lost. It is God who sent the prophet of Islam Mohammad to teach the Quran.

We need to stop here on other few expressions we discussed earlier that were kept in the original language of the Quran even in the translation of its meanings, to be understood correctly when read later in this part.

The word “We” and the word “Us” in the Arabic language can be used to refer to oneself as an expression of great glory. For example a king can say: “we approved this rule”, referring to himself as “we” to show power and glory.

God; who has all the power and glory, used these majesty plural expressions in the Quran to refer to his own majesty and greatness.

As we learned from the previous verses of the Quran, God is referred to as “He” when others are talking about Him, and also when God is talking about Himself in the third person term, for example (It is He Who has), but in other verses of the Quran, when God is talking about his own self-greatness, God uses these majesty plural expressions, which in the Arabic language are used to glorify oneself. In the Quran, God used the majesty plural to glorify himself, as we will see in some of the Quran verses.

THE QURAN 2, VERSES 125 & 126
“125 Remember We (I God the great, the glorified) made the House a place of assembly for men and a place of safety; and take ye the station of Abraham as a place of prayer; and We covenanted with Abraham and Ishmael, that they should sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or use it as a retreat, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer). 126 And remember Abraham said: “My Lord, make this a City of Peace, and feed its people with fruits,- such of them as believe in Allah (God) and the Last Day.” He (God) said: “(Yea), and such as reject Faith,-for a while will I grant them their pleasure, but will soon drive them to the torment of Fire,- an evil destination (indeed)!”

God answered Abraham’s prayer in making the desert, where his son Ishmael lived and dwelled, a safe place, yet God made it a place of prayer to those that believe, and commanded Abraham and Ishmael to purify God’s house for those who come to worship God.

THE QURAN 95, VERSES 1 – 3
“1 By the fig and olive, 2 By Mount Sinai, 3 And by this city of security.”

God is swearing by the three places where God revealed his messages from, the fig and olive, which refers to Jesus Christ’s message and the Gospel, Mount Sinai which refers to Moses message and the Torah, and last the city of security which as we learned refers to the prophet of Islam Mohammad and the Quran.

As we can see, the above verses from the Quran relate to the blessing, which Moses gave to the children of Israel before his death.

DEUTERONOMY 33, VERSES 1 – 3
“1 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.”

So, to answer our second question, yes the prophet of Islam was from the brothers of the children of Israel, he was from their brothers; the children of Ishmael. Ishmael dwelled in the desert of Paran where God saved him and promised to make a great nation of him, and where Moses prophesized about a great light of God that will be shining forth with a new glowing law, the prophet Mohammad was sent from that desert and with a new glowing law (the Quran). The prophet of Islam, Mohammed, was on a mountain in Paran when the Holy Spirit revealed the first verses of the Quran to him, and told him, he had been chosen to be God’s prophet.

Prophet Mohammad was illiterate, he didn’t know how to read or write. The first verse of the Quran the Holy Spirit taught Mohammad, when he was sent down to him on the mount of Paran, to start the revelation of the Quran to Mohammad was:

THE QURAN, 96 VERSE 1
“read! in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created-“

The Holy Spirit started the revelation of this first verse of the Quran by saying to Mohammad: “Read!” Which is the first word of the first verse of the revelation of the Qur’an, Mohammad answered the Holy Spirit and said “I cannot read!” The Holy Spirit once again told Mohammad: “Read!” Mohammad answered again and said “I cannot read”. The Holy Spirit and for the third time told Mohammad “Read!” and Mohammad answered “I cannot Read”. Then the Holy Spirit revealed to Mohammad the rest of the verse plus few more verses, which are the first verses of the revelation of the book (The Quran).

THE QURAN 96, VERSES 1 – 5
“1 read! in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- 2 Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: 3 read! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- 4 He Who taught (the use of) the pen,- 5 Taught man that which he knew not.”

Then the Holy Spirit told Mohammad that God chose him to be his prophet to the world.

The Bible told us about the revelation of the Quran to Prophet Mohammad on mount Paran. The Bible told us that he is illiterate, and even told us what he will be answering.

ISAIAH 29, VERSE 12
“And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.”

Mohammad was from the children of Ishmael, Ishmael lived all his life in that desert which was called then Paran and died there, where his grave is still there to this day next to the house of God (which we described in some of the above verses); this city of security, the desert of God’s shining forth light is now known as the city of Makah. Makah is the city of worship for the Muslims. The well of water that God made to Ishmael in the middle of the desert, to save him is still there and very rich of pure water to this day.

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Part 2

Ishmael in the Bible

Before we move to the next section, we should take a look at Ishmael in the Bible and go over some of the verses that were perverted in the Old Testament.

Since this is not our main subject, we’re not going to go into details, and will leave it for another time, God willing. But it is important to stop and reflect on this important subject, in order to attain complete understanding of this topic.

GENESIS 16, VERSES 15 & 16
“15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.”

Abraham’s first son was named Ishmael; Abraham was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.

GENESIS 17, VERSES 23 – 26
“23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. 24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.”

In these verses we learn that Ishmael, the first son of Abraham, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.

At that time Abraham’s second son Isaac was not yet born!

GENESIS 18, VERSES 9 – 14
“9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

God told the good news to Abraham and Sarah that she shall have a son.

GENESIS 21, VERSES 1 – 5
“1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.”

Sarah conceived Abraham’s second son, Isaac, Abraham was hundred years old when Isaac was born.

We learn from the verses that Ishmael was fourteen years old when Isaac was born.

GENESIS 21, VERSES 9 – 21
“9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son. 12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. 14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.”

If that is what really happened, and the truth was not perverted, then Abraham’s first son Ishmael would have been at least fourteen years old, when Sarah asked Abraham to cast him and his mother Hagar out, because as we learned Ishmael was fourteen years old when Isaac was born.

But the above verses tell us that Abraham took some bread, a bottle of water and his child Ishmael and put them all on Hagar’s shoulder! How and why would Abraham put a fourteen years old son on the shoulder of his mother?

Well, Abraham didn’t put a fourteen years old son on Hagar’s shoulder, but he put a newborn child on her shoulder. Abraham didn’t cast out his first-born Ishmael and his wife Hagar because his first wife Sarah told him; she doesn’t want Ishmael to be raised with her son Isaac. Abraham didn’t do that after the birth of Isaac, but Abraham did that long before the birth, and even long before the news about Isaac imminent birth reached his ears. Abraham took his first and only son and Hagar to the desert of Paran when Ishmael was still a newborn, and he did that to answer God’s command, as God wanted to create a great-blessed nation from the children of Ishmael, that would be different from the nation of the children of Israel.

Ishmael was a newborn, that’s why Hagar put her newborn down when she got to the desert of Paran, and prayed! She didn’t put a fourteen years old son down from her shoulder; if he was fourteen years old, he himself would have looked for water for his mother instead!

Ishmael was a newborn, that’s why the Angel told her to hold her newborn, not to hold her fourteen years old grown son! That’s why God saved him and made him a well of water in the middle of the desert, to drink from, and stayed with him and promised to make a great nation of him.

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