abraham

A literal reading of the 'Great Sacrifice' (The Holy Quran, Sura al-Saffat [37]: 107) refers to a ram brought in from the heavens instead of Ishmael (Arabic Isma`il) to be sacrificed. There is yet another view in that its metaphorical meaning alludes to Imam al-Husayn. This paper elaborates on this question.

Accurate knowledge of Orientalists' views on Islamic teachings and scientific critique of their views is an undeniable necessity; Therefore, in the present research, an attempt has been accomplished to introduce and analyze Firestone's article about Prophet Ibrahim (A.S.) in an analytical-descriptive manner with a critical approach. Firestone, although has relatively acceptable potencies in the authoritative Islamic sources related to Abraham (A.S.); But due to lack of access to or comprehensive studies of Shiite sources and one-sided reference to Sunni sources, he makes unforgivable mistakes. He has put forward doubts in this regard; Among them is attributing polytheism and idolatry to the father of Ibrahim (A.S.) and the ancestors of Mohammad (A.S.), while the infallibility of Ibrahim (A.S.) had been proved by many narrations and many historical evidences. Another doubt is that in the Qur'an, Abraham (A.S.) and Moses (A.S.) are the only prophets who are explicitly mentioned as the holders of the book, while in some verses and hadiths, in addition to Abraham (A.S.) and Moses (A.S.), the other prophets are introduced explicitly as the holders of the book; Among them, Prophet David (A.S.), Jesus (A.S.) and the Last Prophet (P), etc. .; There are also other doubts to which this article has mentioned appropriate answers.

Considering the importance of Prophet Ibrahim as the founder of three monotheistic religions, orientalists in various works have addressed various aspects of the life of this prophet. Sprenger pointed out for the first time to the difference between the figure of Abraham in the Meccan and Medinan chapters, and the relation between Abraham and Mecca is myth. Hurgronje inspired by him, expanded this idea and by reconstructing Abraham's story in the Qur'an based on the historical sequence, the transformation of Abraham's figure into these surahs, In particular, the emphasis on the "mila’t Ibrahim", "Abraham's relationship with the construction of the Ka'bah and the ritual of Hajj," "the connection of Abraham with Ishmael and the victim's story" in medinan chapters, is a political trick to attract the opinion of the Mecca from the disappointment of the Prophet with the support of the Medinan Jews. In serious and ancient controversy over the sacrifice, despite the Qur'anic and biblical evidence that Ishmael was cursed, two important points raised from the teachings of the prophets are noteworthy in this story: The main purpose of the victim's trial is to test the ultimate command of Abraham and his son in the context of the divine command and the other is the effect of this incident in restoring the evil culture of human sacrifice in ancient times. In this paper, we will criticize this theory by explaining these theories and referring to its effects in later studies.

According to the Abrahamic religions, God has spoken to his prophets, and the prophets have spoken to him. In some sacred books of these religions, the talks of God and prophets have been mentioned. Some of these books are the Quran and the Old Testament. What are the similarities and differences between the words and conversations between God and the prophets in these two books of the Holy Quran and the Old Testament? Exploring the issues of similarities and the differences between them is the result of the effort that we are discussing in this article. Studying the comparative issues between the two holy texts can lead to a better understanding of the two religions and pave the way for dialogue between the religions and the approximation between them. Conversations between God and the prophets (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, and Moses) in these books, in some aspects are similar and in some aspects are different. The conversations between God and these prophets are very different in the Quran and the Old Testament. Each of the conversation will be explored according to the verses of that same book. Even if there is a verse in the Quran or the Old Testament with similar content, it will have a different meaning according to the position of verses in each book. In many verses of the Quran and the Old Testament, where the conversations of God and prophets included, the goals of the Quran and the Old Testament are seen in them. The Quran is a book that claims to be sent to guide all human beings, and this claim can be seen in the conversations of the prophets as well. The Old Testament also describes the history of the sons of Israel and is a book which is dedicated to the sons of Israel and the conversations of the prophets are also about sons of Israel. Therefore, Islam is a religion that claims to be globalized and Judaism is a tribal religion.

Occurrence and license of invocation were found out through studying Sunnite sources and documents as apparent tradition in messengers’ life. The occurrence of multiple cases of invocation to messengers and God Almighty’s friends is the sign if invocation history and is the strongest evidence for its legitimacy. This study tries to express some invocation cases which consist of both messengers’ invocation to God Almighty and the people invocation to the messengers in their life through descriptive analysis method according to Sunnite documents. The great part of these cases belongs to invocation to the holy Prophet (p.b.a.h.). Unlike Shia tradition, Sunnite tradition narrates few invocation cases in messengers’ life. However, several cases of invocation to the holy Prophet (p.b.a.h.) have been narrated and also some valuable studies and efforts to answer to the raised questions on various aspects of invocation have been conducted.

There is a disagreement among scholars over the meaning of Abraham’s leadership mentioned in the Quran, 2, 124. In this connection, AllamaTabatabaee presents an innovative opinion and interprets leadership as guidance by the command (al-Hidaya bi’l Amr) since Imam is qualified by guidance by the command as if the qualification is to describe the meaning of leadership (imamat). In Allama’s opinion, guidance by the command is the very inner, existential guidance mentioned in some other verses. That theory is based on the commonness of meaning of the word “command (amr)” in those two groups of Quranic verses. However, no proof can confirm that commonness. On the contrary, there are some proofs which negate that.

Abraham is on of the great prophets, selected to convey message of monotheism to others. According to Old Testament, Abram, then named as Abraham, is the descendent of Noah, whom God commended to leave his hometown and travel to Egypt. According to his divine testament, God blessed him and his family and willed his descendant to spread all over the world. On the route, he was tested and trialed in different ways, in which he was completely elate. However, there are some quotes in Old Testament which are not compatible with Abraham's characteristics. The image of Abraham in Quran is the one of a perfect man, who achieved the highest divine degree. Abraham is an innocent prophet, a distinguished Imam who revolted against cruelty and reconstructed Ka'ba as a safe site for monotheists. On the way, Abraham was elated in many different trials as son-sacrifice, and burning in fire. These made him an ideal sample of knowledge, monotheism, and submission for all monotheists. Hanif, Khalil, Muslim, Avvah, Abd, Halim, and distinguished are Abraham's adjectives cited in Holy Quran.

“Imam” is one of the articles of Encyclopedia of Quran. It is a short report of the different meanings of the word Imam, the number of its usage in Quran and some of different Islamic sects’ viewpoints regarding Imam and Imamat. The writer while pointing out to the symbolic appointment of Abraham as Imam, discusses the perspectives of Khawarej, Ismailias, Nazaria, Mustalavia and Shiia (Twelve Imami) in regard to Imam and Imamat and points out some of their differences of opinion in this respect. Later he mentions that the Sunnis do not believe in the divine position of Imam and only use this word for the leader of congregation and scholarly figures. The critic of this article who has offered to different sources while completing and explaining the topics by offering a better report of perspectives and difference of opinions, believes that this article contains not only a great number of shortcomings, but also lacks impartiality and principles of trusteeship. The author of the article has also failed to pay attention to the main root of the Shiia-Sunni difference in regard to Imam and Imamat. The critic, while defending the Shiia perspective in relation to Imam and introducing some sources, mentions negligence and mistakes of the writer and explains each one of them.