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Isaac ben Abraham (PUT)
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His mother is Sarah the daughter
of Bethuel ben Nahor which is by turn the brother of Terah and the
uncle of Abraham (PUH), so she is the daughter of the cousin of Abraham
and also his maternal cousin, as it was mentioned before, and Isaac was
born after his brother Ishmael by five years, and this is the most
famous for us, and in Torah it is mentioned that he was born and
Ishmael was fourteen years old, and as Al-Mas`udi mentioned, that
Ishmael was born and Abraham was eighty six years old or eighty seven
and Isaac was born while he was one hundred and twenty years old, and
the angels brought the happy tidings to Abraham about his son Isaac,
and Sarah heard the tidings and laughed for it was weird for her to
have children from an old man and an old barren woman, so the angels
said to her: Do you wonder from the commandments of God? In other
phrases God said: And we gave him tidings of the
birth of Isaac, a prophet of the righteous(Al-Sâffât:112).
Also God said: And We blessed him and Isaac. And of their seed are
some who do good, and some who plainly wrong
themselves(Al-Sâffât:113), and: We gave him Isaac
and Jacob. Each of them We made a prophet. And
we gave them of Our mercy, and assigned to them a high and true renown(Maryam:49-50).
God also said: and gave him tidings of (the
birth of) a wise son. Then his wife came forward,
making moan, and smote her face, and cried: A barren old
woman!(Al-Ðariyat:28-29).>
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Apparently, in quran there was nothing about Isaac
much more than tidigins brought about him, and about him being a
prophet. Yes, and we've mentioned befoer that in Torah and the Bible,
the one that was to be slained was Isaac and not Ishmael, and we've
mentioned a lot of details about this in the previous section when we
talked about the conditions of Abraham (PUH) and explained what is true
and explained that the one that was to be slained was Ishmael and not
Isaac. It is mentioned that Isaac (PUH) lived for one hundred and
eighty years and was buried in Jirun (Hebron), and it is the city of
Al-Khaleel, in the cave of Al-Makfeelah (Machpelah). Isaac got married
after his father as in some tales by a woman called Youmhâ' the
daughter of Bethuel, and she born him Al-`Ays (Esau) and Jacob as
twins, but Esau came first then followed by Jacob, and when they were
born Isaac was sixty years old and went blind, this is what was
mentioned. He prayed for his son Jacob to have the leadership of his
people and the prophecy in his descendants, and prayed for his son Esau
to get the kingdom and power and in his descendants as well. He was one
hundred and righty five years old when he died and was buried with his
father and the places for their toms is famous and they are placed
almost like eighteen miles away from Jerusalem in a mosque there called
the mosque of Abraham [Arabic: Masjid Ibrâhim], and this is all
mentioned in Muruj Al-Ðahab for Al-Mas`udi.>
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What is mentioned in
Torah about his marriage, in summary, is that when Abraham became old
and were not able to work anymore, he commanded his servant, Elazar,
and told him to work on the marriage of his son Isaac and pick for him
a wife from his own tribe and lands in Iraq, and told him to be aware
from letting him get married to a daughter of the Canaanites that were
in Palestine, and told him to never let Isaac get back again to the
land that went out from which is Iraq, and never let him go back there
even if his wife denied coming with him to his lands in Palestine. Then
Elazar got ready for the travel and took with him everything applicable
for the wife and her family, and went to Iraq, to the lands of the
family. When he reached that land he stopped his camels before the town
which is Padan-Aram and it is the town in which Abraham used to live,
and his father there was a carpenter, as it is mentioned in the book of
Barnaba, and it is the town in which his tribe lives with his relatives
and there lives the desired man which is Nahor ben Terah, the brother
of Abraham, but he was dead at that time, and none are left there
except his children and their leader was Bethuel ben Nahor, and when
Elazar stopped his camels before the city and wanted to get in, he saw
a beautiful girl getting out of the city and carrying a jar, so Elazar
said to her: get me some water, and so she did and welcomed him, then
he asked about her family and he knew she is the daughter of Bethuel
ben Nahor, so then when he knew her and her family he became so happy
about it and asked about her father and wether he has a place for
hospitality, and she said yes, then he presented himself as the servant
of Abraham and he wants to take a wife for Isaac, and she is the one
desired for this and no one else, then he made her wore some jewels and
golden bracelets and she walked in front of him telling her family
about the happy tidings and the dear guest from her uncle Abraham, and
the girl's name was Refqah (Rebekah). When the girl told her family
about the messenger from Abraham their uncle and about his living
place, immediately Lâbân ben Bethuel (Laban) went to his
place and welcomed him and came with him to his own place and they were
all happy for the visit of the messenger of Abraham, their uncle. Then
after he stayed for a while with them he told them why he is here and
he wants Rebekah for the son of his master and so they answered him
with what he desires, then Elazar, Abraham's messenger, gave her
vessels made of gold and silver with some clothes and ornaments, and
also gave to her brother Laban ben Bethuel and to her mother and
destributed the rest over her family, and after the rest he asked them
to get her prepared, so they answered his request and made her prepared
for such an occasion, and Rebekah then agreed for his request to leave
in a hurry, and so he picked her to the lands of his master, and when
they arrived and Isaac looked at her, he got so happy for her and she
had been a joy for him after the death of his mother Sarah.
Then Rebekah gave birth to a twin, and they are `Eesu (Esau) and
Ya`qoob (Jacob), and she born first Esau then Jacob. We say, we can
agree on both stories, this and the one before, as one story. The
difference are in the names of `Eesu and Al-`Ays and that might be
because of expressing in Arabic and Hebrew, and also in wether the
marriage was during the life of Abraham or after his death, and in the
different names of the wife of Isaac, Youmhâ' [could not trace
this name back to any source] and Rebekah, and might be that one is a
name and the other is a title, but the story in Torah is more
believable for what it contains and it is more closer to reality, and
only God knows.
As attributed to Al-Râawandi in his tales, there is one tale that
has a connection somehow with out subject, and that is there was at the
time of Abraham (PUH) a man called Mâriyyah ben Aws, and he was
six hundred and sixty years old and he used to live in a place like a
peninsula surrounded by waters and swamps, and he used to go out for
people once every three years and live in the desert, and he had a
mosque and he used to pray to God there and guide people to the
religion of God and teach them the goodness, so one day he went out to
the desert as he used to do and he saw a cattle and as if they had fat
upon them, and he was amazed for that, and saw a young man with it and
his face was like the face of the moon, so he asked him about the
cattle and about their owner, so he answered: they are for Abraham,
then he asked him about himself and he answered: I am his son Isaac.
Then Mâriyyah said for himself: O Lord let me see your friend
Abraham before I die. Isaac then told his father Abraham about what
happened between him and Mâriyyah ben Aws and about his
conditions, then after three years he went out as he used to be and
found a man in that place that he never saw before and the man asked
him about his conditions and his place, so Mâriyyah ben Aws
answered him and described his place for him, then the man showed the
passion for staying with Mâriyyah to look at his way of living
and Mâriyyah answered him that he can't pass over to his place,
so then the man asked: why? have you not a bridge? He said: No, but I
walk over water, so the main said: maybe the One that exploited water
for you will exploit the water for me as well, so then they walked
together until they reached the water, then Mâriyyah said: By the
name of God, and he passed over the water surface, then the man said:
By the name of God, and passed over the water surface, then
Mâriyyah looked at him while walking and he was amazed, then they
reached the residence of Mâriyyah and the man stayed with him for
three days, and Mâriyyah used to live on fruit and dries out some
of them for winter season. So when the man wanted to leave him he
(Mâriyyah) asked him about his name, so the man said: I am
Abraham, the friend of God, and Mâriyyah before that used to pray
to God to see His friend, so when he heard his name and knew who he is,
he went to him and hugged him adn thanked God for answering his prays,
and there are other long matters that no need to mention here and what
we've mentioned is enough for now and God knows His servants and
creations, and He knows everything.
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