Ishmael

From the Hebrew name יִשְׁמָעֵאל (Yishma’el) meaning “GOD hears”, from the roots שָׁמַע (shama’) meaning “to hear” and אֵל (‘el) meaning “GOD”. In the Old Testament this is the name of a son of Abraham. He is the traditional ancestor of the Arab people. Also in the Old Testament, it is borne by a man who assassinates Gedaliah, the governor of Judah.

There are six men named Ishmael in the Bible:

• The most famous is Abraham’s son with Hagar. Because of the rivalry between Hagar and Abraham’s wife, Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away and ended up in the Sinai Desert where Ishmael became an archer. He also married an Egyptian wife that his mother had chosen for him (Genesis 21, 20-21) and thus Ishmael became the father of a nation that existed of twelve tribes, just like Israel (Genesis 25:16). The Ishmaelites are known collectively as ישמעאלי (Genesis 37, 25).
• A descendant of Jonathan (1Chronicles 8, 38)
• The father of Zebadiah (2Chronicles 19, 11)
• An officer under Joash (2Chronicles 23, 3)
• The murderer of Gedaliah, the Babylonian governor over the rest of Judah (2Kings 25, 25)
• A priest who divorced his foreign wife (Ezra 10, 22)

Note that the proper ethnonym ישמעאלי (Ishmaelite) recurs only once (1Chronicles 2, 17), and is accompanied by a shorter version ישמעלי, which recurs only once (1Chronicles 27, 30). The collective plural (ישמעאלים) recurs six times (Genesis 37, 25 ; 37, 27 ; 37, 28 ; 39, 1 ; Judges 8, 24 & Psalm 83, 6).

The son of Abraham

Ishmael figures in the Tanakh and the Koran, he was the first son of Abraham according to the Bible (the story is reported in the Koran). Ishmael was born to Abraham and the Egyptian woman Hagar (Hājar) (Genesis 16, 3). According to the Genesis account, he died at the age of 137 (Genesis 25, 17).

The book of Genesis and the Christian and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael as the ancestor of the Ishmaelites (Hagarenes: Arabs or Muslims) and patriarch of Qaydār. According to Muslim tradition, the patriarch Ishmael and his mother Hagar are buried next to the Kaaba in Mecca, under the area bounded by the semicircular Hijr Ismail wall.

In Islam

(Corano 2, 127–129) e Abramo ringrazia DIO per avergli concesso Ismaele e Isacco nella sua vecchiaia (Corano 14, 35–41). Ismaele è ulteriormente menzionato accanto ai patriarchi che avevano ricevuto delle rivelazioni ( Corano 2, 136) e i figli di Giacobbe hanno promesso di seguire la fede dei loro padri, “Abramo, Ismaele e Isacco”, quando testimoniano la loro fede. (Corano 2, 133) Nella narrazione coranica del quasi sacrificio del figlio di Abramo, (Corano 37, 100–107) il figlio non è nominato e, sebbene l’interpretazione generale affermi che si trattasse di Ismaele, Tabari (“Isaac”, Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4) sosteneva che si trattasse di Isacco, coerentemente con le Scritture Ebraiche. La maggior parte dei commentatori moderni, tuttavia, considera l’identificazione del figlio come meno importante in una narrazione data per la sua lezione morale. (Glasse, C., “Ishmael”, Concise Encyclopedia of Islam)

Ishmael is mentioned more than ten times in the Qur’an, often alongside other patriarchs and prophets of ancient times. He is mentioned along with Elisha and Dhul-Kifl as one of the “patient and righteous men whom GOD has brought into His mercy” (Qur’an 38, 48). It is also said about Lot, Elisha, Jonah and Ishmael that GOD gave each of them a “preference above the Worlds.”(Qur’an 6, 86) These references to Ishmael are, in each case, part of a larger context in which other prophets are mentioned. In other chapters of the Qur’an, however, dating from the Medina period, Ishmael is mentioned in connection with his father Abraham, and alongside him in their attempt to set up the Kaaba in Mecca as a place of monotheistic pilgrimage (Qur’an 2, 127-129) and Abraham thanks GOD for granting him Ishmael and Isaac in his old age (Qur’an 14, 35-41). Ishmael is further mentioned alongside the patriarchs who had received revelations (Qur’an 2, 136) and the sons of Jacob promised to follow the faith of their fathers, “Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac,” when they testify to their faith. (Qur’an 2, 133) In the Qur’anic narrative of the near-sacrifice of Abraham’s son, (Qur’an 37, 100-107) the son is not named, and although the general interpretation states that it was Ishmael, Tabari (“Isaac,” Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4) held that it was Isaac, consistent with the Hebrew Scriptures. Most modern commentators, however, regard the identification of the son as less important in a narrative given for its moral lesson. (Glasse, C., “Ishmael,” Concise Encyclopedia of Islam)