Home > Surah 37 - Those Who Set the Ranks
Introduction to the Verse:
This segment details the famous narrative of Abraham being commanded to sacrifice his son as a test of faith.
The Quran Verse
Surah 37:101–112:
So We gave him good tidings of a forbearing boy. And when he reached with him the age of exertion, he said, 'O my son, indeed I have seen in a dream that I [must] sacrifice you...' ... And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice... And We gave him good tidings of Isaac, a prophet among the righteous.
The text notably does not name the son who was almost sacrificed.
The Biblical Contradiction:
Genesis 22:2 explicitly names Isaac as the son of promise whom Abraham was commanded to offer.
Classical Islamic scholarship is deeply split on this issue. Early companions like Ibn Abbas, along with early commentators, initially argued it was Isaac, matching the Judeo-Christian record. However, later Islamic tradition shifted the identity to Ishmael to solidify Mecca's theological centrality over Jerusalem.
Scribal Clues: The text itself provides a strong internal contradiction to the Ishmael narrative. Verse 112 says, "And We gave him good tidings of Isaac." Critics point out that if Isaac is introduced as "good tidings" after the sacrifice narrative is resolved, it reveals a clumsy literary structure where the author tried to adapt a known story about Isaac but added an ambiguous framing that allowed later theologians to completely alter the historical identity of the victim.