Comparison

Abraham in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Why Judaism, Christianity and Islam are called the Abrahamic religions: the story of Abraham in the Bible and the Qur’an, the sacrifice of his son, and what Abraham means to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

In brief

I.Jews, Christians and Muslims all look to Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) as a father of faith in the one God.
II.Genesis tells how God called Abraham to leave his homeland and promised him land and countless descendants.
III.Jews trace their covenant through Isaac and Jacob; Muslims honour Ishmael, ancestor of the Arabs; Christians see Abraham as the model of faith.
IV.The story of the near-sacrifice of his son is recalled at Rosh Hashanah, in Christian teaching and at Eid al-Adha.

More than half of humanity belongs to a religion that honours Abraham. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are often called the Abrahamic religions: each tells his story, and each sees in him a model of trust in the one God. But they tell it differently, and each claims him in its own way.

Chapter I

The story

In the Book of Genesis, God calls Abram to leave his country and his father’s house, promising to make of him a great nation through whom “all the families of the earth shall be blessed”. Abram, renamed Abraham, “father of many nations”, travels to Canaan with his wife Sarah. Childless into old age, he has a son, Ishmael, with Sarah’s servant Hagar; then, as God promised, Sarah bears Isaac.

The most famous episode is the test: God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son, and at the last moment an angel stops his hand and a ram is offered instead. The Qur’an tells many of the same stories and adds others, such as Abraham breaking his people’s idols and building the Kaaba in Mecca with Ishmael.

Judaism
Christianity
Islam

Chapter II

In Judaism: the covenant

For Jews, Abraham is the first patriarch, Avraham avinu, “Abraham our father”, with whom God made the covenant sealed by circumcision. The promise of the land and of descendants passes through Isaac to Jacob, also called Israel, and to the twelve tribes.

The binding of Isaac, the Akedah, is read in synagogues at Rosh Hashanah, and the ram’s horn, the shofar, recalls the ram caught in the thicket. Jewish tradition also praises Abraham’s hospitality, as when he welcomed three strangers to his tent.

Covenant
The ram’s horn

Chapter III

In Christianity: the father of faith

The apostle Paul presents Abraham as the model of faith: he “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”, before the law was given. For Paul, all who share Abraham’s faith are his children, whether Jews or Gentiles.

Christian interpreters have long read the near-sacrifice of Isaac as a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus, the beloved son, on the cross.

Faith

Chapter IV

In Islam: the friend of God

In the Qur’an, Ibrahim is khalil Allah, “the friend of God”, and a hanif, a pure monotheist who was “neither Jew nor Christian” but submitted to God. Muhammad is seen as restoring the religion of Abraham.

Abraham and Ishmael raised the foundations of the Kaaba, and the rites of the hajj recall his family: Hagar’s search for water between the hills of Safa and Marwa, and the sacrifice commemorated at Eid al-Adha. Muslims mention Abraham in every daily prayer, asking God to bless Muhammad as he blessed Abraham.

The House

Questions people ask

Is Abraham a historical figure?

There is no evidence outside the scriptures. Historians debate whether the stories preserve memories of real people; for believers, Abraham’s importance lies in the faith his story expresses.

Where is Abraham buried?

Tradition places his tomb, with Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, in the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron, holy to Jews and Muslims.

Sources and further reading

Jon D. Levenson, Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Princeton University Press, 2012)
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Abraham”

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