A Glance Back in History

 WHEN EARLY PROPHETS

are mentioned, one often thinks of Abraham - not because he was the first Prophet, for according to Islamic tradition he was not, but because God honoured him by placing prophethood in his seed. Yet when Abraham was advanced in years he was still childless and his wife Sarah, whom he loved and cherished, was beyond the age of childbearing. With unshakeable faith that God was always able to do what He willed, Abraham still hoped that one day he would have a child who would give him pleasure and happiness in his old age. 

Sarah had a maid called Hagar whom she had brought from Egypt. She gave that bondswoman to Abraham and said: ´´I am now an old woman, well beyond the age of childbearing. I am giving you my bondswoman, Hagar, and hope that God may give you a child through her.´´ Before long Hagar was pregnant. She gave birth to a son, who was named Ishmael.

Abraham´s joy was great, and so was Hagar´s She felt now that her position in the house was no longer that of a bondswoman. She was the mother of the only child of the family. As Sarah watched Hagar looking after her newborn son, her feeling of jealousy grew stronger every day. Especially when she noticed that Abraham was now looking after Hagar and Ishmael, showing them great love and tenderness.

Yet Abraham was very eager to keep Sarah happy. After all, she was his wife with whom he had shared his life for many years. He felt that the only way to keep both women happy was to separate which settled matters for him. A perfect model of a believer who was always ready to carry out God´s orders, Abraham travelled eith Hagar and Ishmael, along unfamiliar routes and deep inside the Arabian pensinsula, until he arrived in the area where Makkah now stands. At that time the place was barren, with no vegetation or water. Nobody lived there. But Abraham was commanded by God to leave his son Ishmael with Hagar in that place. Since Abraham never disobeyed a command from God, he left his son there with his mother, giving them a sack of dates and whatever little water he had with him. He started on his way back to Palestine where he had left Sarah.

Hagar asked him how he could leave them in that barren valley. Abraham did not answer. He could not even look back, for he was so sorry to leave them there. It is easy to imagine that his eyes were full of tears as he moved away and left them alone. Desperate to be reassured, Hagar shouted to him: was he abandoing them there on God´s orders? When he answered in the affirmative, she said ´´He who has ordered you to do that will not abandon us.´´

Travelling back on his long, lonely hourney, Abraham must have experienced all the feelings of an old father abandoing his onlu child, very younger, alone with his younger mother in the desert. As a firm believer in God´s wisdom, however, he felt that he could neverheless entrust them to the care of God. He raised his hands and repeated this heartfelt prayer: ´´Our Lord, I have settled some of my offspring in a valley where there is no vegetation, close to Your sanctified House, so that, Our Lord, they might devote themselves to prayer. Cause You, therefore, people´s hearts to incline towards them and provide them with all sorts of fruits, so that they may have cause to be grateful.´´ (14:37) With the feeling that God would not abandon those two helpless souls who were so deat to Him, Abraham continued his journey with a new sense of relief.