Tradition II.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Hughes, Thomas Patrick
Abraham brought with him his wife (Hagar) and his son (Ishmael),
Whom she (Hagar) suckled.
And they both placed the child close by the spot where the Kaaba now stands under a bush.
Near the well of Zamzem, near the lofty side of the temple—and in those days Mecca was uninhabited and without water—and they deposited the child in the above place.
And Abraham placed beside them a bag full of dates,
And a skin full of water.
Then returned Abraham, and Ishmael’s mother ran after him,
And said, “Abraham, whither goest thou, and wherefore leavest thou me here?
“In this wilderness, where there is no one to pity me, neither is there anything to eat?” This she repeated several times, but Abraham hearkened not unto her. Then she asked him, “Has God commanded thee to do this?”
He answered, “Yes.”
“Then,” said she, “God will cause no harm to come unto me.”
Thereupon she returned back.
And Abraham went away, and when he reached Saneoa, he could not see those he had left behind him.
Then he turned towards Mecca, and prayed thus: “O Lord, I have caused some of my offspring to settle in an unfruitful valley, near thy holy house, O Lord, that they may be constant in prayer. Grant, therefore, that the hearts of some men may be affected with kindness towards them; and do thou bestow on them all sorts of fruits, that they may give thanks.”
And the mother of Ishmael began to suckle her child, and to drink water out of the skin until it was emptied.
And she and her son felt thirsty. And when she saw that her child was suffering from thirst, she could not bear to see it in such a plight, and retired, and reached the mountain of Safā, that was near, and ascending it, looked at the plain, in the hope of seeing someone; but, not perceiving anyone, she came down from the mountain.
When she reached the desert, she girded up her loins and ran as one mad, until she crossed the desert, and ascended Mount Marvā; but she could not see anyone.
She repeated the same seven times.
It is related by Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Prophet said that this was the origin of the custom of true believers running between these mountains during the Haj.
And when she ascended the Marvā mountain, she heard a voice.
She was startled thereat; and upon hearing it again, she said, “Wherefore callest thou on me? Assist me if thou canst.”
She then saw an angel near the Zamzem.
He (the angel) made a hollow place, either by his foot or with his wing, and the water issued forth; and the mother of Ishmael commenced widening it.
She filled the skin with water, which came out of it as from a fountain.
It is related by Ibn ʿAbbās that the Prophet said, “May God bless the mother of Ishmael. Had she left the Zamzem as it was, or had she not filled her skin with water, then the Zamzem would always have remained an overflowing fountain.”
Then she drank the water, and suckled her child.
The account as given in the Bible, Genesis xxii. 9, is as follows:—
“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. 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. And this thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight, because of his son. 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. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. 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. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and set 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 lifted up her voice, and wept. 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. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation. 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.
And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.”
With reference to the above account, as given in Holy Scripture, Syud Ahmad K͟hān remarks:—
“Notwithstanding the perfect coincidence of the facts taken from the Scriptures with those from the Koran, as above shown, there are, nevertheless, three very important questions which suggest themselves respecting Ishmael’s settlement.
“First. Where did Abraham leave Ishmael and his mother after expelling them from his home?
“Secondly. Where did Ishmael and Hagar settle after their wanderings in the desert?
“Thirdly. Was it in the very spot where they had rested for the first time, or in some other place?
“The Koran mentions nothing on the subject; but there are some local traditions, and also a few Hadeeses, which treat of it, the latter, however, by reason of their not possessing sufficient authority, and from their not being traced up to the Prophet, are as little to be relied on as the former. The local traditions being deemed unworthy of credit, from their mixing up together occurrences that had happened on various and different occasions, we do not think it necessary to dwell on the first question more than has been done by the Scriptures themselves, which say that ‘He (Abraham) sent her (Hagar) away; and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.’
“As for the two remaining questions, although the language of Scripture is not very clear—since, in one place it says, ‘And he (Ishmael) grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer’ (Gen. xxi. 20), and in another, ‘He (Ishmael) dwelt in the wilderness of Paran’ (Gen. xxi. 21), passages which would certainly lead us to infer that Ishmael had changed the place of his abode; yet, as no Christian commentator represents him as having removed from one place to another, and as, moreover, neither the religious nor the local traditions of the Mohammedans in any way confirm the above, it may be safely asserted that Ishmael and his mother did not change the place where they dwelt, and that by the word ‘wilderness’ alone the sacred writer meant the wilderness of Paran. The solving of the whole question depends, therefore, upon ascertaining and fixing the position of the said wilderness of Paran, where Ishmael is said to have settled.
“Oriental geographers mention three places as known by the appellation of Paran. First, that wilderness wherein the city of Mecca now stands, and the mountains in its vicinity; secondly, those mountains and a village which are situated in Eastern Egypt, or Arabia Petræa; and thirdly, a district in the province of Samarcand.”
(6) Al-Baiẓāwī says it was Ishmael, and not Isaac, whom Abraham was willing to offer up as a sacrifice; but this view is neither supported by the text of the Qurʾān nor by the preponderance of traditional testimony. If we compare Sūrah xi. 74: “And We announced Isaac (as the child of promise) to her,” with Sūrah xxxvii. 99: “We announced (as a child of promise) to him a youth of meekness; and when he became a full-grown youth, his father said to him, ‘My son, I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice thee’ ”—there can be no doubt in any candid mind that, as far as the Qurʾān is concerned, Isaac and not Ishmael is intended. [ISAAC.]
The two commentators al-Kamālān quote a number of traditions on the subject. They say Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ḥasan, and ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Aḥmad, relate that it was Isaac; whilst Ibn Masʿūd, Mujāhid, ʿIkrimah, Qatādah, and Ibn Isḥāq say it was Ishmael. But whatever may be the real facts of the case, it is certain that popular tradition amongst both Sunnīs and Shīʿahs assigns the honour to Ishmael, and believe the great Festival of Sacrifice, the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā, to have been established to commemorate the event. [ʿIDU ʾL-AZHA.]
The author of the Shīʿah work, the Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb (Merrick’s ed. p. 28) says: “On a certain occasion when this illustrious father (Abraham) was performing the rites of the pilgrimage at Mecca, Abraham said to his beloved child, ‘I dreamed that I must sacrifice you; now consider what is to be done with reference to such an admonition.’ Ishmael replied, ‘Do as you shall be commanded of God. Verify your dream. You will find me endure patiently.’ But when Abraham was about to sacrifice Ishmael, the Most High God made a black and white sheep his substitute, a sheep which had been pasturing forty years in Paradise, and was created by the direct power of God for this event. Now every sheep offered on Mount Minā, until the Day of Judgment is a substitute, or a commemoration of the substitute for Ishmael.”