In answer to the video "The Quran, Abraham, Zarathustra and the Furnace"
Sure, this verse 21:72 doesnt mention Ismail, which is appropriate. When the messengers gave Ibrahim the good news of "A" (a single) son
15:53"surely we give you the good news of a boy, possessing knowledge".The name of the boy was not directly divulged by the messengers but God informs us that it was Isaac who was meant 11:71. This was a reward from Allah for Ibrahim's patience and obedience, following the successful passing of the trial with the binding and near sacrifice of Ismail
14:39"Praise be to Allah, Who has given me in old age Ismail and Ishaq; most surely my Lord is the Hearer of prayer".Ibrahim thanks God in this Meccan verse (almost all verses relating the stories of the prophets are Meccan) for granting him only 2 sons as a result of a prayer at a very advanced age, Ismail and Ishaq. No mention of Jacob. Ibrahim praised God for the grant of only 2 sons, and Jacob came as a nafila/addition. This is what is meant in the verse 21:72 brought up by this youtuber. Jacob came as a nafila/addition from Isaac, which is why this same verse does not mention Ismail. That is how precise the Quran is, for had it mentioned in one breath Ismail, Isaac and Jacob it would have given the impression that Jacob was Ibrahim's son but by purposefully excluding the firstborn Ismail from the list, it implies that the list of names is not meant to be about his direct sons specifically. Further, it is common in classical Arabic to speak of the grand children as coming from one's own wife in order to convey the sense of longevity of lineage 16:72.
From a linguistic point of view, it is interesting to note the intricate manner in which the Quran places words in a context. The name of Ismail is missing from the list of Ibrahim's known, righteous descendants in some verses, such as 21:72. Each context has its own peculiar reason for omitting his name and in 19:49-50, the reason transpires even more.
Ibrahim's progeny is followed by a mention of their honoring, elevating by their own people. This Meccan sura contrasts the Arabs' behavior towards their forefather Ismail with the behavior of the descendants of the Israelites towards their main prophetic figures. Although Ismail was known to the Arabs as their forefather, his spiritual path had been neglected and disfigured. He was only praised and recognized hundreds of years later when Muhammad came and restored his pure monotheistic way, honoring him. It is important noting that the stories of the biblical, and Arabian prophets are all already found in the Meccan suras. Had the prophet in Mecca, been extracting these stories from the previous traditions, he could not have passed over the central figure of Abraham and his progeny. Simply, in this period his primary addressees were the Arab pagans, who already knew of their Ishmaelite ancestry and the Kaaba's Abrahamic connection. The knowledge they lacked however was in regards to Ismail's eminence and righteousness, after centuries of baseless and prejudiced calumnies towards his character, as is amply found in Judeo-Christian traditions.
The Quran thus in this earlier period focuses on honoring Ismail by mentioning him and his virtues aside from Abraham and his known descendants 38:48,21:85,19:54. During that earlier phase the Quran paves the way (through the implicit mention of Ismail as the near-sacrifice instead of Isaac in sura 37) for a revision, in Medina, of the traditional Judeo-Christian exclusivist spiritual worldview (through the Quran's emphatic connection of Abraham to the Kaaba and the change of qibla from Jerusalem to Mecca).
This textual separation of Ismail in the Meccan chapters also points to another reality; the lack of recognition of Ismail by his people and those that followed them, as compared to the others among Ibrahim's progeny, doesnt mean that God Himself is unappreciative of his merits
19:54-55"And mention Ismail in the Book; surely he was truthful in (his) promise, and he was an apostle, a prophet. And he enjoined on his family prayer and almsgiving, and was one in whom his Lord was well pleased".Herein lies a lesson for all times, the fact that God knows every humble person's worth regardless of that quality being exposed or not in this world, and He will manifest it and reward the person for it, sometimes in this world but always in the hereafter. It is also to be noted that the passage starting at 19:51 likewise mentions several prophets separately and prior to citing Ibrahim, including Moses, showing that the purpose isnt to establish a chronological descendency. This is further seen by the statement concluding the passage, that all previously mentioned names (Ismail, Musa, Harun etc) descend from one or more of the following
19:58"These are they on whom Allah bestowed favors, from among the prophets OF the seed of Adam, and OF those whom We carried with Nuh, and OF the seed of Ibrahim and Israel, and OF those whom We guided and chose".
When verses such as 19:49 speak of Allah giving/wahabna Jacob to Ibrahim that giving does not only signify the giving of a son, for of Moses it is said a few verses further on,
19:53"We gave him his brother Aaron, a prophet"though Aaron was older than Moses and his brother. It literally means the giving without taking, implying making a favor. Also, in 2:133 Jacob, in a context where he is stressing to his progeny the universality of his forefaters' religion (see 12:38), is quoted as praising his "fathers" Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq. The often mention of Jacob among Ibrahim's descendants is done as a reminder of God favoring Ibrahim with a righteous posterity, even among his grandchildren, and Jacob was a grand child whom Ibrahim particularly affectioned.
The Quran even quotes Ibrahim as including him among his own sons when issuing his final spiritual instructions, although the Quran, in introduction to the quote, clearly separates between Jacob and Ibrahim's direct progeny
2:132"And Ibrahim instructed his sons and Yaqoub: O my sons! Indeed, Allah has chosen for you the religion, so do not die except while you are submitters".Hebrew scriptures on the other hand are oddly silent on Abraham's relationship with his own sons after Isaac's marriage to Rebecca. Contrary to the above Quran verse depicting his affection for his grandchildren, the HB says nothing about that part of his life. This is definitely odd considering that he lived 175 years and was 100 when Isaac was born. Isaac married when he was 40, 20 years later, when he was 60, his twins Esau and Jacob were born Gen21:5,25:7. Abraham had thus lived on 15 after his grandchildren's birth. For a scripture that spends chapters and long passages listing useless names of people and places and genealogies, to omit any mention of how the main patriarchs interacted is strange. Only the confused and muddled way in which Torah was transmitted can explain this neglect, from various sources containing different informations, as seen from the fact that Abraham's death is recorded in Gen25:8 and the birth of his grandchildren later on, thus contradicting the above data.
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