Abrahamic Religion and Eid al-Adha
It is often said that Islam is one of the great Abrahamic religions. But why?
Muhammad’s claim to Abraham came more than 2,500 years after Abraham. It is based on Muhammad’s declaration that the angel Gabriel spoke to him. Is that enough to make Islam an Abrahamic religion?
No, because:
- An Abrahamic religion traces its genealogy back to Abraham. This is one reason why the biblical genealogy of Jesus is important (Matthew 1:1). 1Muhammad’s genealogy was not included in the Quran. This is further evidence that Islam is not an Abrahamic religion, and the Quran is not an Abrahamic document. Biographies of Muhammad trace his genealogy back to Abraham, but the historical credibility is lacking; in fact, some early Islamic sources admit that Muhammad’s genealogy could not be traced that far back.
- An Abrahamic religion traces its Scriptures back to Abraham as recorded by Moses. Islam’s scripture, the Quran, does not include the books of Moses.
- The only real historic roots of the Quran are the 23 years it was revealed to Muhammad. This is problematic because there is no historic continuity with previous revelation; in fact, the Quran contradicts or does not affirm major events that happened prior to the time of Muhammad.
- Jesus taught that not every claim to the fatherhood of Abraham is legitimate, and those who have Abraham for their father believe in the covenant God made with Abraham and was fulfilled by Jesus (Genesis 15; 22; John 8:39-59).
It could be argued that Islam is an Abrahamic religion because it is monotheistic. However, as I have shown above, there is more to Abrahamic religion than monotheism (cf. Genesis 15:13-16; Exodus 2:24; James 2:19-23).
Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice
I mention the above things about Abrahamic religion and Islam because today Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice. Eid al-Adha is a remembering of Abraham and his offering his son (Quran 37:107). Which son did Abraham offer, Isaac or Ishmael. Christianity and Judaism agree that it was Isaac. The Quran is not clear leading Muslim interpreters to argue for either Isaac or Ishmael. 2Early Quranic interpreters were divided. Reuven Firestone collated more than two hundred medieval Islamic commentaries and concluded that one hundred thirty named Isaac as the son, one hundred thirty-three named Ishmael. Yet over time Ishmael prevailed over Isaac. Islam now rejects the biblical teaching that Abraham offered Isaac (Bruce Feiler, Abraham [William Morrow: New York 2002], 101-107).
This highlights that the Abraham Muslims are remembering is not the Abraham of history. Muslims are not remembering the Abraham of Genesis 22 as recorded by Moses. The Abraham of Islam is not the Abraham of history.
Muslims do not include the Torah in their Scriptures. This effectively cuts them off from history. They are left with the historic roots of the Quran which spans a mere generation in the 7th century AD.
To illustrate: suppose a person discussed the Holocaust using only Islamic documents from the 21st century and rejected historical documents from the 20th century that did not agree with the 21st century documents. That’s not longer history. That is historical revisionism.3“’Revisionism’ is obliged to deviate from the standard methodology of historical pursuit because it seeks to mold facts to fit a preconceived result, it denies events that have been objectively and empirically proved to have occurred, and because it works backward from the conclusion to the facts, thus necessitating the distortion and manipulation of those facts where they differ from the preordained conclusion (which they almost always do). In short, “revisionism” denies something that demonstrably happened, through methodological dishonesty.” (McFee, Gordon. “Why ‘Revisionism’ Isn’t”, The Holocaust History Project, May 15, 1999. Retrieved September 27, 2011).
Abrahamic religion is rooted in history. However, the historic roots of Islam are shallow and do not reach to Abraham.
Related Posts
Jesus died on the cross for sin
Eid al-Adha and Abraham
References
