In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

God never ordered Abraham to kill his son, Ismail

Traditional Muslim Scholars have been teaching the Muslims that God inspired Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismail by slaughtering him with a knife. This is completely against what the Quran states.

While this gross crime of a father slaughtering his own son is mentioned in the Bible, it is not supported by the Quran. These teachings of the traditional Muslim scholars are only a reflection of the outside corruption and Jewish influence on the early Muslim scholars. Jewish influence could not affect the word of God in the Quran but found its way into the Hadith books that were written 250+ years after the death of the prophet. The prophet was not around to defend all the false teachings in them.

Instead of teaching the Quran, these scholars tried to explain the Quran by using the Bible, despite the information given to them by God in the Quran. Quran teaches that the Bible had been corrupted and should be viewed only in light of the Quran and not vice verse. The Bible teaches that God ordered Abraham to sacrifice his only son by slaughtering him with a knife. However, that is not what the Quran teaches.

This teaching of the Bible (and of the Muslim Scholars) is against the teaching of the Quran. The true believers in the Quran will uphold the truth in the Quran over any other book and over the opinion of any scholar.

Why is this teaching against the Quran and Islam?

  1. Quran teaches us that God never advocates evil. See 7:28 and 16:90. It is Satan who advocates evil and vice (24:21). For a father to slaughter his son, is an evil act that cannot and is not from God. It can only come from Satan.
  2. The Quran never said that God told Abraham to kill (sacrifice) his son. Instead, the Quran teaches us that Abraham had a dream in which he saw himself slaughtering his son. Abraham believed the dream and thought that the dream was from God (The Quran never said the dream was from God). The choice of the wording in the Quran is crucial. No word was chosen by accident or out of control. Every word and expression was deliberately chosen by God.
  3. Islam never advocated human sacrifice. God would not contradict Himself an order Abraham to commit what he prohibited even as a test.
  4. Prophets are human beings also and as much susceptible to the tricks of Satan as everyone else. God never left this issue unsolved. See 22:52

    [22:52] We have not send before you a messenger nor a prophet without having the devil interfere with his wishes. But God nullifies what the devil has done, and God perfects His revelation. God is, Omniscient, Most Wise.

  5. Because Abraham thought the dream was from God and he proceeded to sacrifice his son Ismail, God sent him the lamb to be sacrificed instead, and to save the son, and the father-son sacred relationship.
  6. No where in the Quran does God say that it was God who told Abraham to sacrifice his son. No where in the Quran does God say He gave Abraham that dream. God does not forget and does not choose His words except for a specific reason. Those who know God and appreciate Him, know that God would not ask any of us to do evil and commit the gross crime that is severely punishable by God and the human communities.
  7. It was the fairy tales and sick imagination of some historians under the influence of the scholars of the previous scriptures in Islam who tried to get the public to reject the teaching of the Quran and accept the corrupted teaching of the Bible.
  8. It is time to go back to the Quran and see the truth. It is time to reject the corrupted teaching of the scholars and to teach the truth of the Quran. God never ordered Abraham to kill his son Ismail
  9. It is time to believe GOD instead of believing the man-made or man-corrupted books.

The Quran's account

[37:102] When he grew enough to work with him, he said, "My son, I see in a dream that I am sacrificing you. What do you think?" He said, "O my father, do what you are commanded to do. You will find me, GOD willing, patient."
[37:103] They both submitted, and he put his forehead down (to sacrifice him).
[37:104] We called him: "O Abraham.
[37:105] "You have believed the dream." We thus reward the righteous.
[37:106] That was an exacting test indeed.
[37:107] We ransomed (Ismail) by substituting an animal sacrifice.
[37:108] And we preserved his history for subsequent generations.
[37:109] Peace be upon Abraham.
[37:110] We thus reward the righteous.
[37:111] He is one of our believing servants.

The Bible's account (Genesis)

22;1 And it came to pass after these things, that God tempted Abraham, and said to him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, [here] I [am]. 22;2 And he said, Take now thy son, thy only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will name to thee. (Genesis).