Allah had promised the great Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) a son in the previous Sign. And Allah had kept his promise. In fact, the Taurat continues the account of Ibrahim (PBUH) to describe how he got two sons. In Genesis 16 the Taurat tells how he got his son Ishmael with Hagar. Then later Genesis 21 tells how he got his son Isaac with Sarai about 14 years later. Unfortunately for his household, this resulted in a great rivalry between the two women, Hagar and Sarai. It ended with Ibrahim sending Hagar and Ishmael away. You can read here how this happened and how Allah blessed Hagar and Ishmael in another way.
The sacrifice of the Prophet Ibrahim: Basis for Eid al-Adha
So with only one son left in his household Ibrahim (PBUH) encounters his greatest test. But it opens for us a greater understanding of the Straight Way. Please read the account from Taurat and Qur’an concerning the test of the sacrifice of his son here. This account from the Books forms the basis for the Eid al-Adha celebration. But this is not just a historical event. It is more.
We can see from the account in the Books that this is a test for Ibrahim (PBUH). But it is also more than that – since Ibrahim is a prophet, this is also a sign for us, so we could learn more about God’s care for us. In what way is this a sign? Notice what happened just as he prepared to sacrifice his son.
But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Genesis 22:11-13
At the last moment, his son was saved from death and Ibrahim saw a male sheep, sacrificing it instead. Allah had provided a ram (male sheep or goat) and the ram took the place of his son.
Now let’s ask a question. At this point in the story is the ram dead or alive?
Why do I ask? Because Ibrahim will now give a name to the place, but many miss its importance. The story continues…
So Abraham called that place ‘The LORD Will Provide’. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
Genesis 22:13-14
Another question: Is the name that Ibrahim gave to that place (“The Lord Will Provide”) in the past, present or future tense?
Looking to the Future, not the Past
It is clearly in the future tense. Many people assume that Ibrahim PBUH, when naming that place, was thinking of the ram. Allah provided the ram by getting it caught in the thicket. Then Ibrahim sacrificed in place of his son. But when Ibrahim gave the name that ram was already dead and sacrificed. If Ibrahim was thinking of that ram – already dead and sacrificed – he would have named it ‘The LORD has provided’. He would have named it in the past tense. And the Prophet Musa (PBUH) would have commented, ‘And even now people say “On the mountain of the LORD it wasprovided”’. But the name looks to the future, not the past. Neither Ibrahim nor Musa were thinking of the already dead ram. They named it for something else – in the future.
But what?
Where was the Sacrifice?
Notice where Allah told Ibrahim to go for the sacrifice.
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
Genesis 22:2
This happened in ‘Moriah’. Where is that? It was a wilderness area in Ibrahim’s day (2000 BCE). But a thousand years later (1000 BCE) the famous King Dawood (David) established the city of Jerusalem there. Then his son Suleiman (Solomon) built the Temple there. We read in the Zabur that:
Then Solomon (Suleiman) began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David (Dawood).
2 Chronicles 3:1
In other words, ‘Mount Moriah’ in the time of Ibrahim (and Musa) was an isolated mountain top in the wilderness. But 1000 years later with Dawood and Suleiman, it became Jerusalem (Al Quds). This was the central and capital city of the Israelites where they built the Temple to the LORD. And to this very day, it is a holy place for the Jewish people.
The LORD chose Mount Moriah, not Ibrahim PBUH. As Surah Al-Jinn (Surah 72 – The Jinn) explains:
“And the places of worship are for God (alone): So invoke not any one along with God;
Surah al-Jinn 72:18
So, the places of worship are chosen by the LORD. We find out why Allah chose this location.
Isa al Masih and the sacrifice on Mount Moriah
Here we find that the sacrifice is directly connected to Isa al Masih (PBUH) and the Injil. We see this connection when we know about one of the titles of Isa. Isa had many titles given to him, but perhaps the most well-known is the title ‘Masih’ (which is also ‘Christ’). But he also received another very important title. We see this in the Injil when the prophet Yahya (John the Baptist in the Injil) says:
The next day John (i.e. Yahya) saw Jesus (i.e. Isa) coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I meant when I said ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me’”.
John 1:29-30
An important, title of Isa (PBUH), given to him by Yahya was ‘The Lamb of God”. Now consider the end of Isa’s life. Where was he arrested and sentenced to execution? It was in Jerusalem (which as we saw is the same as ‘Mount Moriah’). The Injil states very clearly during his arrest:
When he [Pilate] learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time.’
Luke 23:7
In other words, the arrest, trial and sentencing of Isa happened in Jerusalem (= Mount Moriah).
Back to Ibrahim: why did he name that place in the future tense ‘The LORD will provide’? He was a prophet and foreseeing the future knew that something would be ‘provided’ there. In his test, his son was saved from death at the last moment because a lamb died in his place. Two thousand years later, Isa is called the ‘Lamb of God’ and is arrested and sentenced to death on the same spot!
The Sacrifice: Ransomed Ibrahim from death
Is this important to us? Notice how this sign of Ibrahim ends. The Qur’an says of Ibrahim (PBUH):
And We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice
Surah al Saffat 137: 107
What does it mean to be ‘ransomed’? To pay a ransom requires making a payment for someone held as a prisoner in order to set the prisoner free. For Ibrahim (PBUH) to be ‘ransomed’ means that he was a prisoner of something (Yes even a great prophet!). What held him as a prisoner? He was a prisoner of death. Even though he was a prophet, death held him as a prisoner. We saw in the Sign of Adam that Allah had made Adam and his Children (everyone – including the prophets) mortal. They were all now prisoners of death. To this day everyone, good or bad, rich or poor, male or female, believer or not, dies.
But in this drama of the sacrificed lamb Ibrahim (PBUH) was ‘ransomed’ from death.
Review the sequence of signs (Adam, Cain & Abel, Noah, Ibrahim 1) to see that prophets always sacrificed animals. They knew something about this that maybe escapes us. Because Ibrahim uses a name pointing forward into the future we know that Isa ‘the Lamb of God’ plays the central role in this ransom.
The Sacrifice: A Blessing for Us
The sacrifice of the lamb on Mount Moriah is important for us as well. After the sacrifice, Allah declares to Ibrahim that:
“…and through your offspringall nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me”
Genesis 22:18
If you belong to one of the ‘nations on earth’ (and you do!) this has to concern you because the promise is that you then can get a ‘blessing’ from Allah himself! Is that not worthwhile?! How does this connection of Ibrahim’s story with Isa make a blessing to us? And why? Our clue is that Ibrahim (PBUH) was ‘ransomed’, but apart from that, the answer is not readily apparent here. For an advanced look at the conclusion of the Injil see this. Otherwise, we will continue with the Signs of Musa and they will clarify these questions for us.
But here I just want to point out that the word ‘offspring’ here is in the singular. It is not ‘offsprings’ as in many descendants or peoples. The promise of a blessing was through an ‘offspring’ from Ibrahim in the singular – singular as in a ‘he’. The blessing does not come through many people or a group of people as in ‘they’. This reminds us of the ‘offspring’ in Sign of Adam. The Passover Sign of Musa helps us understand further.