Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 42
42 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her. ''What is the matter, Hagar'? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation. " Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt *. The above Biblical passages indicate the following: 1. Abraham had two sons of promise, Ishmael and Isaac, Ishmael being the elder and Isaac the younger. 2. God promised Abraham that He would multiply and bless his progeny. The promise applies to both Isaac and Ishmael. 3. Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran. 4. Land of Canaan was given over to the sons of Abraham. 5. The external sign of the covenant, which God made with Abraham, was circumcision of all males and had to be kept for all times. All these promises were completely fulfilled. The progeny of Isaac multiplied exceedingly; from among them arose the Prophets, Moses, David, Ezekiel, Daniel and Jesus. For two thousand years they ruled over Canaan. Their hold on it was never really abolished, though for a short time it became weak. After the seventh century A. D. , however, the sons of Isaac, and those who observed the letter of the Law of Moses, had to withdraw from Canaan. The sons of Ishmael, instead, became its political as well as its spiritual leaders. The fact that the sons of Israel had to surrender the land of Canaan shows that they had become unworthy of the promise that God had made to them through Abraham. This promise was that Israel would remain in possession of this land until the Last Day, and the promise was true. The Last Day in the divine promise, therefore, cannot mean the day that is to mark the end of the world, but the day on which the Law of Moses was to be superseded by the promulgation of a new Law for the guidance of the world. In the language of Divine revelation the advent of a new Law is often described as the birth of a new heaven and a new earth. Just as a new heaven and a new earth cannot be created without a large-scale upheaval, usually associated with the Last Day, so the establishment of a new Law must entail a large-scale upheaval of the people who receive that Law. Therefore, when the prophecy said that the sons of Israel would retain their hold over Canaan until the Last Day, it meant that their hold would continue until the advent of a new Law-giving Prophet. This issue is discussed later in the Chapter. In the utterances of David there is a hint of this meaning of the prophecy. The promise contained in Genesis that Israel would retain possession of Canaan until the Last Day is expressed differently elsewhere in the Bible: 13 "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever. " * Ishmael’s Egyptian wife hailed from the Royal family of the Pharos and hence the biblical prophecy about him getting twelve princes was literally fulfilled.