“Quran teaches us that God never advocates evil. See 7:28 and 16:90. It is Satan who advocates evil and vice (24:21). For a father to slaughter his son, is an evil act that cannot and is not from God. It can only come from Satan. The Quran never said that God told Abraham to kill (sacrifice) his son. Instead, the Quran teaches us that Abraham had a dream in which he saw himself slaughtering his son. Abraham believed the dream and thought that the dream was from God (The Quran never said the dream was from God). The choice of the wording in the Quran is crucial. No word was chosen by accident or out of control. Every word and expression was deliberately chosen by God.” (www.submission.org, 2011)
In the Holy Qur’an, consistent the the leniency thesis of this essay, Isaac is assigned the status of an Imam – someone who has mystical powers. Supporting evidence for the thesis can also be found in the divergent accounts of Abraham’s relation to his nephew Lot. For example, the Bible says that Lot is a homosexual and that his eccentric indulgences in Sodom and Gomorrah are condemnable acts. In the Qur’an on the other hand, Lot is described as a prophet of the same pedigree as his illustrious uncle Abraham. On the other hand, Bible does not deem him to be of that stature, as he was tormented perpetually by the improper sexual acts he witnessed in Sodom. The evidence for this could be gathered from Genesis (19:1-29).
Although, the two accounts do converge in that they state that Abraham prayed and pleaded to God to have mercy on his nephew, the similarities end there. For example, in the Bible, God promises to spare Sodom of its impending destruction, if only ten men of proper conduct could be found there. Upon failing to find these ten men, God goes on to initiate a spell of fiery rain of stones upon the cursed city. In the Qur’annic account, God orders Abraham to not plead for his nephew’s case, as events were already pre-ordained. The fate of Lot’s wife is told differently in the two Holy books. Passage 19:26 of the Genesis has it that upon disobeying God’s orders to not turn around to see the city’s destruction, Lot’s wife will be turned into a pillar of salt. On the other hand, this fate was anticipated by Lot, as he was informed by angels of the same prior to the event. Consistent with the thesis argued in this essay, the Bible says that an incestous relationship between Lot and his two daughters transpired after the loss of his wife. Passage (19:30-38) of Genesis depicts this event, whereby his two daughters lie beside their father so as to get impregnated by him and carry his seed. In the Qur’an, on the other hand, this occurance is conspicuous by its absence, underscoring the thesis that it underplays sexual digressions and deviations compared to the Holy Bible.
Works Cited:
God Never Ordered Abraham to Sacrifice his Son, Islamic Scholarly Article, retrieved from <http://www.submission.org/Ismail.html> on 14th February, 2011.
‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali. The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an. Amana Press 1991 (1st ed. 1946).
Robert Alter. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. W.W. Norton & Co., 2004.