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nations, that all the territories he is to traverse shall be
given as an inheritance to his descendants, and that, “by
his Seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed’ !
This wonderful and unique promise in the history of
religion was met with an unshaken faith on the part of
Abraham (pbuh), who had no issue, no son. When he was
led out to look at the sky at night and told by Allah that
his posterity would be as numerous as the stars, and as
innumerable as the sand, which is on the shores of the sea,
Abraham (pbuh) believed it. And it was this belief in God,
that “was counted righteousness,” as the Scripture says.

A virtuous poor Egyptian girl, Hagar by name,
is a slave and a maid in the service of Sáráh. At the
bidding and consent of the mistress the maidservant
is duly married by the Prophet, and from this union
Ishmael (pbuh) is born, as foretold by the Angel. When
Ishmael (pbuh) is thirteen years old, Allah again appears
to Abraham (pbuh) through His Angel and revelation; the
same old promise is repeated to Abraham (pbuh); the rite
of Circumcision is formally instituted and immediately
executed. Abraham (pbuh), at his ninetieth year of age,
Ishmael (pbuh), and all the male servants, are circumcised;
and the “Covenant” between God and Abraham (pbuh)
with his only begotten son is made and sealed, as if
it were with the blood of circumcision. It is a kind of
treaty concluded between Heaven and the Promised
Land in the person of Ishmael (pbuh) as the only offspring
of the nonagenarian Patriarch. Abraham (pbuh) promises
allegiance and fealty to his Creator and God promises
to be forever the Protector and God of the posterity of
Ishmael (pbuh).

Later on - that is to say, when Abraham (pbuh) was
ninety-nine years old and Sáráh ninety, we find that she
also bears a son whom they name Isaac (pbuh) according to
the divine promise.