Sanders' Religion Thread, Begun @ LC Forum Options

[Sanders]

e-Dog and I have decided to re-constitute this from LC. It is a thread about the 3 major religions of the world. The goal was to follow the path of each from their common origins to the present day. We (a number of LC posters and I) got as far as the begining of the First Crusade while the thread was active.

What becomes of this thread when all the copying is done is not clear. It may be just a read-only thread for the Religion topic. Or it may be left open to posting, so we can finish the journey.

[Guest_librarian_*]

Posted by: Sanders Jul 28 2006, 11:21 PM

As for Abraham, he was one of the most important prophets of God ever, and is the only one in the Qur'an mentioned as a Friend of God. His firstborn was Ishmael (who is considered Father of the Arabs) and Ishmael's mom was Hagar, who was Abraham's second wife. Islamic belief holds that Abraham married Hagar, the mother of Ishmael. As a result, Ishmael was the first legitimate son of Abraham. Islam asserts that he was the one nearly sacrificed, not Isaac. Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God is celebrated by Muslims every year as Eid ul-Adha. As for Isaac, he is consider the Father of the Israelis. Isaac was the second son of Abraham by his first-wife Sarah. It is recorded that she laughed when God gave her good tidings of the birth of Isaac (14:39)(11:71-72)(37:112-113). Islamic tradition holds that he was born nine years after Ishmael who was Abraham's son from his second-wife Hagar. He was born after Abraham attempted to sacrifice Ishmael. As for Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael, all are revered and significant prophets. Isaac went on to have twins who were Esau and Jacob. Jacob became a prophet and had twelve sons and a daughter. His sons would go on to father the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Among his sons was another prophet named Joseph. 

Interesting - I had never heard Abraham and Hagar were married - (I'm not a religious guy, don't read the Bible so you'll have to forgive me). Would it be fair to say that Islam teaches that they were married while Judaeism and Christianity teach that they were not?