Page 45 - Demo

41nations, 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.