“BY means of your offspring all the nations of the earth will surely be blessed.” Those words of Jehovah God to Abraham the Hebrew guaranteed that one day the entire human race would be blessed through his line of descent.— Gen. 22:18
Abraham began fathering children at the age of eighty-six. His firstborn son was Ishmael. Today, certain descendants of Ishmael believe that God will bless all of humanity through Ishmael’s line of descent rather than through that of Abraham’s second son, Isaac.
The Muslim holy book, the Qur’an, refers to Ishmael in its Surah (section) 19, verses 54 and 55, saying: “It also mentions in the Book the story of Ishma’il: He was strictly loyal to what he promised, and he was an apostle and a prophet. . . . He was very pleasing in the sight of his Lord.” The Qur’antranslator A. Yusuf Ali commented regarding Abraham’s sons Ishmael and Isaac: “The progeny of the younger son developed the Faith of Israel and that of Christ; the progeny of the elder son perfected the most universal Faith of Islam, the Faith of Abraham the True. . . . in the universality of Islam all nations are to be blessed.”
The Biblical view in this matter is of the utmost importance. The Qur’an refers many times to incidents and characters from the Bible. In fact, its recognition of Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, Jesus and others comes from the Holy Scriptures, which were completed approximately 600 years before the beginning of the Mohammedan era. So what is the Biblical view? Did God intend to bless all of humanity through the line of Ishmael?
Before the birth of Ishmael and Isaac (and therefore before any controversy had arisen regarding them), the Bible foretold an experience that helps us answer the question. What was it? In Genesis 15:13, 14 , God told Abram: “You may know for certain that your descendants will become aliens in a foreign land and will serve them, and they will afflict them for four hundred years. But . . . after that they will come out with many good things.”
Genesis 17:8 predicts the place to which Abraham’s “seed” would “go forth”: “I will give to you and your descendants after you the land of your sojourn, all the land of Canaan, for a possession.” To identify Abraham’s true descendants we must look to the people in whom these two prophecies would be fulfilled.
When Ishmael was thirteen years old, Jehovah God made this additional promise to Abraham: “As for Sarai your wife, . . . I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her . . . and you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him as a covenant forever for his seed after him.” Isaac was born the following year, when Abraham “was one hundred years old.”— Gen. 17:15, 16, 19; 21:1-5 .
Five years later Sarah observed that Ishmael “mocked” Isaac. ( Gen. 21:9 ) This led to the dismissal of him and his mother, Hagar the Egyptian, from Abraham’s house. The matter was unpleasant to Abraham, but Jehovah assured him: “It is through Isaac that what will be called your offspring will be.” ( Gen. 21:12 ) So the biblical view is that Abraham’s offspring would be to bless all mankind.to come through Isaac, not Ishmael.
Later God commanded Abraham to sacrifice “your son, your only son.” ( Gen. 22:2 ) In connection with Abraham’s offering of this son, an angel of God declared the promise of blessing through Abraham’s offspring. The Qur’an also says that Abraham had a “son ready to suffer and leave” whom Abraham “would offer . . . as a sacrifice.” (Sura 37:101, 102) The Qur’an does not specify who the child was. However, some Muslim writers claim that the expression “only son” should apply to Ishmael. Is that what you believe?
It is noteworthy that Isaac was an “only son” in a twofold sense. He was the only son of Abraham’s wife Sarah, and the only son remaining in Abraham’s household at the time God spoke the words found in Genesis 22:1, 2. The Qur’antranslator Ali admits that “Muslim tradition . . . is not unanimous on this point.” Some Muslim writers agree with the biblical account that Isaac was the prospective sacrifice.
God’s promise that Abraham’s seed would be reckoned through Isaac was subsequently confirmed when Isaac’s descendants experienced the foretold 400 years of foreign residence and affliction, after which they came out of Egypt “with much goodness.” ( Gen. 15:14; Exod. 3:21; 12:35; Ps. 105:37 ) The Israelites then began their conquest of the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham’s seed.
Other Bible prophecies reveal that the blessing of all mankind would be centered on a single individual. Genesis 49:10 singled out the Israelite tribe of Judah. Then, out of all Judah, the line of David was chosen. ( 2 Sam. 7:12-16 ) Micah 5:2reveals two important things about Abraham’s coming seed: (1) that he would be born in Bethlehem, and (2) that he had prehuman existence from “early days, from the days of time indefinite.” Daniel 9:24-27 shows that the coming seed, who is called “Messiah the Leader,” would appear in the first century CE, not long before the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Romans in 70 CE.
No descendant of Ishmael appeared as a benefactor of mankind in the first century C.E. But a descendant of Abraham did appear at that time through Isaac. This individual was of the tribe of Judah and the family of David and was born in Bethlehem. He was Jesus Christ.— Heb. 7:14; Matt. 1:1; 2:1 .
In Galatians 3:16 , the Bible connects Jesus with the promise to Abraham: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendants. It does not say, ‘And to descendants,’ as if it were referring to many, but as if it were referring to one, ‘And to your descendants,’ which is Christ.”
Blessings did indeed begin to flow to mankind through Jesus Christ. The countless ages of his prehuman existence in heaven enabled him to ‘fully know’ God and ‘explain Him.’ ( Matt. 11:27; John 1:18 ) In this way others could come to worship God in the manner He approves.
The Qur’an itself highlights another aspect of Jesus’ activity that helps us further to identify him as the promised offspring through whom blessings will come to mankind. In Sura 5:113 we read: “Then God will say: ‘O Jesus son of Mary! . . . you cured those born blind, and the lepers, by My [God’s] permission. And look! you raised the dead by My permission. . . . you showed them [the Israelites] the Clear Signs.’”—Compare John 9:1-41; Luke 17:12-14; John 11:39-44 .
Thus, as the Bible clearly shows, through Abraham’s son Isaac came the true “seed” of blessing, Jesus Christ.