Page 47 - Demo

43to birthright is quite just and legal. The second point is that the Covenant was made between God and Abraham (pbuh) as well as his only son Ishmael (pbuh) before Isaac (pbuh) was born. The Covenant and the institution of the Circumcision would have no value orsignification unlessthe repeated promise contained in the divine words, “Throughout thee all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,” and especially the expression, the Seed “that shall come out from the bowels, he will inherit thee”(Gen. xv. 4). This promise was fulfilled when Ishmael (pbuh) was born (Gen. xvi.), and Abraham (pbuh) had the consolation that his chief servant Eliezer would no longer be his heir. Consequently we must admit that Ishmael (pbuh) was the real and legitimate heir of Abraham’s spiritual dignity and privileges. The prerogative that “by Abraham all the generations of the earth shall be blessed, “so often repeated -though in different forms- was the heritage by birthright, and was the patrimony of Ishmael (pbuh). The inheritance to which Ishmael (pbuh) was entitled by birthright was not the tent in which Abraham (pbuh) lived or a certain camel upon which he used to ride, but to subjugate and occupy forever all the territories extending from the Nile to the Euphrates, which were inhabited by some ten different nations (xvii. 18-21). These lands have never been subdued by the descendants of Isaac (pbuh), but by those of Ishmael (pbuh). This is an actual and literal fulfilment of one of the conditions contained in the Covenant.The third point is that Isaac (pbuh) was also born miraculously and specially blessed by the Almighty, that for his people the land of Canaan was promised and actually occupied under Joshua. No Muslim does ever think of disparaging the sacred and prophetical position of Isaac (pbuh)