Question #29 – Does the conduit of blessings pass through Abraham ➜ to Ishmael ➜ to Muhammad? OR is it through Abraham ➜ Isaac ➜ Jacob ➜ Jesus Christ?
Answer – It is through Isaac ➜ Jacob ➜ Jesus Christ! Not through Muhammad.
Explanation: The Torah (5 books written by Moses = Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy) is accepted by Muslims as a book from God. The Gospel account is also accepted by Muslims.
Please observe the following passages that prove our stand.
Genesis 16:1-16 – Sarai knew well she was past the age of childbearing and thought that God’s promise to Abraham to have an heir is not through her. It might be through their Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, she thougth. Semitic culture at that time says that the offspring of a handmaid could be counted as the child of the first wife. So Sarai suggested that Abraham sleep with Hagar so that he would have an heir. This Abraham did and Hagar became pregnant and bore him a son they named Ishmael. Hagar started to sneer at Sarai for being childless.
Genesis 17:15-17 – God tells Abraham that Sarai will change name into Sarah. And God promises to give Sarah a son. God’s promise for Sarah is this: “And I will bless her and also give you a son by her, then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations, kings of peoples shall be from her.”(v. 16)
Genesis 17:18-21 – “And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before you!’ God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you, behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.” NOTE: Abraham thought that Ishmael would be his heir, but Yahweh said NO. Not Ishmael. God promises that Sarah, Abraham’s wife, will give birth to a son and will be called Isaac. That name means “laughter” because Sarah will be about 90 years old, while Abraham will be 100 years old when the child arrives. When the promise was made, Sarah was about 88 years old. Isaac’s birth happens in Genesis 21.
Genesis 18:1-15. In chapter 18, Yahweh with 2 angels appeared as human beings (men or males, v. 1-3) to visit Abraham and Sarah. Yahweh who is God asks where Sarah is and Abraham says she’s inside the tent. God says that Sarah will have a son the following year which statement she heard and she laughed knowing that she’s past the age of childbearing being 89 years old.
Indeed, Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to Isaac. At the time of weaning the young boy Isaac, Abraham prepared a feast. Sarah saw Ishmael scoffing or perhaps making fun at the much younger boy. Isaac was younger by about 14 years. Sarah did not like the sight of her son being annoyed by Hagar’s son, so she told Abraham to send away Hagar and Ishmael saying that Ishmael would never share any inheritance from the wealth of the family. Abraham objected but God told him to follow Sarah’s desire.
Genesis 21:10-14, “Therefore she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.’ And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.” NOTE: Ishmael is also called “seed” of Abraham. Singular in number. Genesis 17:19 is clear that the blessing is through Isaac not Ishmael. Fulfillment of this is confirmed by Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:14-16. Same confirmation is given by Apostle Peter in Acts 3:16-26. And Christ’s genealogy is traced via Isaac says Galatians 4? 26-31. Not through Ishmael!
Regarding Jacob, the son of Isaac, we have God’s promise in the Torah (Genesis 35) which is accepted as inspired scripture by Islam.
Genesis 35:9-13, “God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob, no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name, So he called his name Israel. And God said to him, ‘I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you. Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.”
Galatians 4:21-31. Please read section of Paul’s Epistle. Apostle Paul and his generation understood that not Ishmael and the Arabians did God’s blessing flow through. God’s blessings through the Mosaic Covenant ceased at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. God’s blessings is now through Jesus Christ, son of Abraham, the final seed of Isaac and Jacob. The recipient is not physical Israel of Canaan, but the new Israel of God, the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:16).
Conclusion: Gospel is called Injil by Muslim kababayans and the Gospel story is another book the Qurán recognizes coming from God. The genealogy of Jesus and Mary is traced in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. God’s promises and blessings are through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus of Nazareth who is the Messiah. Our Lord directly identified himself as the expected prophet and Messiah in John 4:25-26, “The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ), ‘When He comes He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’” (NKJV)
When we strike a conversation with a Muslim friend, I suggest that you remember these verses and this line of reasoning. Maraming salamat.