Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 201
201 13 Pilgrimage ABRAHAM, PATRIARCH AND FRIEND OF God (4:126) saw in a vision that he was offering his only son Ishmael as a sacrifice to the Lord. * He said to the boy: “Son of mine, I have seen in a dream that I am slaughtering thee. So consider what thou thinkest of it. ” The boy replied: “Father, do as thou art commanded; thou wilt find me, if Allah please, of those who are steadfast. ” Abraham made the necessary preparations. When all was ready and he was about to proceed to the fulfilment of what he thought he had been commanded to do, he received the revelation that he had indeed fulfiled his dream (37:103 ⎯ 107). The true meaning of the dream was not that he should sacrifice his son in the manner in which he had seen himself doing in the dream, but that both he and his son should be ready to make a great sacrifice to win the * The Bible makes mention in this context of “thine only son, Isaac” (Gen. 22:2). Later in the same chapter, vss. 12 and 16, the “only son” is mentioned without any name. But the truth is that Isaac was never the “only son” of Abraham. His only son, up to the birth of Isaac, was Ishmael (Gen. 16:15).