The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 6
Abraham had two sons -Ishmael and Isaac-from his two senior wives. Ishmael was the first born and Isaac the second son. Abraham had received Divine promises regarding both these sons. Promises about Ishmael are embodied in Gen. 16:10-12; 17:18, 20, while prophecies foretelling the future of Isaac are to be found in Gen. 17:19-21. There is, however, a joint prophecy about both Ishmael and Isaac in Gen. 22:17, 18. When these verses are read in conjunction with Gen. 17:21, it becomes quite clear that while the covenant with Abraham was to have begun with Isaac it was to have found its consummation in the progeny of both the brothers. The inference is patent that the final manifestation of the covenant was to have taken place in the progeny of Ishmael. But because the full implementation of the covenant required its transfer from the progeny of Isaac to that of Ishmael and because this transfer was bound to cause severe disappointment to the progeny of Isaac, it was essential that the transfer should have taken place gradually and in stages. It is to this important fact that verses dealing with the birth of Jesus refer. It is hinted in these verses that persistent violation of "the covenant" on the part of Jews brought the Divine decree into operation that henceforward the covenant shall be fulfilled through the progeny of Ishmael. The procedure adopted for bringing about this consummation was this: A virgin was made to give birth to a child who subsequently became the last Successor of Moses. This fact constituted a final warning to Jews that by the birth of Jesus, their last Prophet, without the agency of an Israelite father the covenant with the progeny of Isaac had become reduced to half, but inasmuch as the blood of no Israelite father ran in the veins of Jesus, only that part of the covenant which subsisted through the mother who was an Israelite remained in operation. Thus the exceptional manner chosen for Jesus' birth implied that the period allotted to the progeny of Isaac for the fulfilment of the divine covenant had terminated, half of it having ended with Jesus' fatherless birth and the other half with his followers having given up the practice of circumcision which was the physical sign and mark of that covenant (Gen. 17:23). Thus completely and forever the progeny of Isaac became deprived of "the covenant". Then the Quran proceeds to relate some incidents in the life of Jesus and with arguments based on truth and reason exposes the untenability of the false claims that his followers have attributed to him. After this a reference to the fulfilment of the covenant through Isaac 1920