Son of Abraham and Hagar, Revered in Islamic Tradition as Ancestor of the Arabs
The Hebrew Bible records that Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn, driven into the wilderness with his mother Hagar after Sarah bore Isaac, and promised by God that his descendants too would multiply into a great nation, traditionally seen as ancestor of the Arab peoples. Islamic tradition further holds that it was Ishmael, not Isaac, whom Abraham took up Mount Moriah to offer, and who together with his father built the Kaaba in Mecca — differing from the Hebrew Bible and Christian record, an important point of divergence between the two traditions on the same ancestral story, already noted in the [[abraham]] entry and not re-adjudicated here.
A messenger of God comforted Hagar in the wilderness, "God has heard the boy’s voice... I will make his descendants a great nation." Ishmael grew up in the wilderness, became an archer, and married an Egyptian woman; Islamic tradition holds that his descendants multiplied into the Arab tribes.
Islamic tradition holds that Ishmael, not Isaac, was the son Abraham took up the mountain to offer, and who together with his father built the Kaaba in Mecca — differing from the Hebrew Bible and Christian record, an important point of divergence between the two traditions on the same ancestral story; see the abraham entry.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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