the difference between isaac and ishmael

In the Koran, the followers of Mohammed are instructed to say:

"We believe in God, and that which has been sent down on us, and sent down on Abraham and Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes, and in that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and the prophets, of their Lord; we make no division between [distinction among] any of them, and to Him we surrender."

Surah III (1)
Fast students of the Bible will recognize the subtle introduction of Ishmael into the lineage of those who received the covenant of God. They will recall that Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar --- the handmaid, or bondswoman, of Sarah. They will remember that, concerning Ishmael, it was prophesied through the angel of the Lord: "he will be a wild man (or, closer to the Hebrew, "a wild *beauty* of a man"); his hand will be against every man, and every man's against him" (Genesis 6:12). And they will remember that it was through Isaac that God was to establish His Covenant, not through Ishmael (see Genesis 17:18-22). In reality, Ishmael and Hagar were to become outcasts --- banished by Abraham with God's approval (Genesis 21:9-12). That Ishmael was disinherited is reaffirmed when God later commands Abraham to take his "only son" Isaac (Genesis 22: 2, 12, and 16). After banishment, Ishmael is mentioned little more than in genealogies (Genesis 25:9-17 and 1 Chronicles 1:28-31) and in his alliance with the disinherited son of Isaac, Esau --- which alliance is signified through the marriage of Esau to Mahalath, Ishmael's daughter (Genesis 28:9).

God said plainly: "I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH HIM (Isaac) FOR AN EVERLASTING COVENANT, AND WITH HIS SEED AFTER HIM" (Genesis 17:19); "MY COVENANT WILL I ESTABLISH WITH ISAAC" (Genesis 17:21); and, "LET IT NOT BE GRIEVOUS IN THY [Abraham's] SIGHT BECAUSE OF THE LAD [Ishmael], AND BECAUSE OF THE BONDWOMAN... FOR IN ISAAC SHALL THY SEED BE CALLED" (Genesis 21:12). Yet, in spite of all that is recorded, Mohammed attempts to vindicate and elevate Ishmael's status:

"And we [the word 'we' in the Koran is often used to denote Allah speaking] made covenant with Abraham and Ishmael . . ."

Surah II (2)
"And mention in the Book Ishmael; he was true to his promise, and he was a Messenger, a Prophet. He bade his people to pray and give alms, and he was pleasing to his Lord."

Surah XIX (3)
Today, partly because of such false justifications, all Moslems proudly call upon Abraham as their progenitor through Ishmael. They have accepted the teaching of Mohammed that:

"No; Abraham in truth was not a Jew, neither a Christian; but he was a Muslim and one pure of faith . . ."

Surah III (4)
"O men, bow you down and prostrate yourselves, and serve your Lord, and do good; haply so you shall prosper; and struggle for God as is His due, for He has chosen you, and has laid on you no impediment in your religion, being the creed of your father Abraham; He named you Muslims aforetime and in this, that the Messenger might be a witness against you, and that you might be witnesses against mankind."

Surah XXII (5)
Hear now what the Apostle Paul had to say concerning Isaac and Ishmael:

"For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar [Hagar]. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above us is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freeman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."

Galatians 4:22-31
I believe that the allegory which Paul cited is a far greater figure of things than most people think. I believe it not only helps us to understand such things as spiritual freedom and bondage and the persecution which the spiritually-minded must suffer at the hand of the carnally-minded, but that the allegory also provides Christians with the key to a final separation amongst the children of men, --- a separation between those who believe on the one who came in the Father's name and those who believe on the one who came in his own name.

The entirety of Islam is but a parody of the truth --- a parody that both literally and figuratively tries to tear down the structure which God has built and rebuild another in its place. For what reason? So the foundation He laid and the cornerstone He established, that lost souls might be returned to Him, could be obscured from their view. Consider what has happened in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah.

Mount Moriah is the place where Abraham, as a test of faith, was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac instead of a lamb as a burnt offering (see Genesis 22:1-14), --- the same place where King David was instructed by an angel (through the seer Gad) to "set up an altar unto the Lord" (read 1 Chronicles 21:18-30; 22:1-11; and, 2 Samuel 24:18-25), --- the very same place where "Solomon began to build the house of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 3:1).

Islam has tried to pervert and subvert the selection of the site for the establishment of God's Temple in two ways: First, Moslem tradition has it that prior to Abraham's above-mentioned test with Isaac he was similarly tested with Ishmael at Mecca (6) and that after passing the test both he and Ishmael built the Kaaba, which structure Islam claims is the first house ever made for the worship of God (such house now contained within the court of the Great Mosque of Mecca in Saudi Arabia). Second, Moslems claim the site of Solomon's Temple as their own holy place. In fact, the Dome of the Rock (the so-called Mosque of Omar) was built in 691-692 A.D. over the rock that is believed to have been a part of the great altar, used for burnt offering, within the first Jerusalem Temple.

Concerning this matter of the house of the Lord, the Apostle Paul further helps us to identify Islam as a major component in the great "falling away" by stating that in the latter times Satan would be revealed as he "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4). True, the Temple of God today is His Church and His Church is the Body of Christ, but also true is that in this world darkness tries to hide even the vestiges of Truth; it seeks to confuse us and the issue as much as possible. For that reason is the site of Solomon's Temple important to the Devil.

It is evident to me that the Devil, --- "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), has attempted to usurp the light within the Old and New Testaments by rewriting history and Scripture through the appearance of Mohammed as a prelude to the appearance of the Antichrist in the end times.

Concerning Islam's claim that Abraham travelled with Ishmael to Mecca, Alfred Guillame (a noted Professor of Arabic and Islamic studies) states that: ". . . there is no historical evidence for the assertion that Abraham or Ishmael was ever in Mecca, and if there had been such a tradition it would have to be explained how all memory of the Old Semitic name Ishmael (which was not in its true Arabian form in Arabian inscriptions and written correctly with an initial consonant Y) came to be lost. The form in the Quran is taken either from Greek or Syriac sources." (7)

Dr. Guillame adds that many words in the Koran do not yield a meaning unless they are traced back to their Hebrew or Syriac sources, and that this is especially important in view of the fact that the Koran purports itself to have been written in pure, unadulterated Arabic.

For proof that Mohammed tried to rewrite Scripture, all we need do is compare a few central teachings in the Bible with those in the Koran:

1) Christ Jesus said to his followers: "In the world ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:33). Mohammed says: "Those who believe and are godfearing --- for them is good tidings in the present life" (8) and "The present life is naught but a sport and a diversion." (9)

2) The Apostle Paul wrote: "By grace are ye saved through faith . . . not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9). Mohammed writes that God created this world " --- that He might try you, which one of you is fairer in works." (10)

3) The Bible teaches that we are responsible for our own failings. Mohammed says: "And my sincere counsel will not profit you, if I desire to counsel you sincerely, if God desires to pervert you." (11)

4) Compare the Bible's "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man" (James 1:13) to the Koran's "God leads astray whomsoever He will" (12) and "We try you with evil and good for a testing." (13)

5) Christians understand that demons have nothing in common with God and that they are beyond reclamation. According to the Koran, however, God not only created unclean spirits ("the jinn") to serve Him, He also provides for the redemption of such devils.

6) Compare these words of Christ Jesus concerning the woman taken in adultery: "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone" (John 8:7) with these words of Mohammed: "The fornicatress and the fornicator --- scourge each one of them a hundred stripes, and in the matter of God's religion let no tenderness seize you if you believe in God and the last Day; and let a party of believers witness their chastisement." (14)

7) Christ Jesus said: "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). Mohammed, however, testifies of a sensuous heaven wherein are "the houris" --- beautiful nymphs which are among the rewards of faithful Moslems. He says: "Surely for the godfearing awaits a place of security, gardens and vineyards and maidens with swelling breasts, like of age, and a cup overflowing." (15)

8) Finally, Christ Jesus said that in heaven we "neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels of God in heaven" (Matthew 22:30). Yet Mohammed says that "the inhabitants of Paradise today are busy in their rejoicing; they and their spouses, reclining upon couches in the shade." (16)
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