Note 45 — DICTIONARY OF ISLĀM. (continued 14)

The Qurʾān states that the angels whom Abraham received appeared as ordinary Arabs, and he was astonished when they declined to eat. According to the Talmud, they also “appeared to him no more than Arabs;”45 but another passage adds: “The angels descended and did eat. Are they, then, said to have really eaten? No! but they appeared as if they did eat and drink.” As a proof of Muḥammad’s uncertainty respecting the history of Abraham, we add, that the doubt regarding their having a son in their old age is expressed in the Qurʾān by Abraham instead of Sarah, and she is made to laugh at the promise of a son, before it was given. Again, the command to offer his son is given to Abraham before Isaac is born or promised, so that the son who was to be offered up could be none other than Ishmael, who was spoken of immediately before as the “meek youth!” Muḥammadan divines are, however, not agreed whether Ishmael was to be offered up, although it is reported by some that the horns of the ram, which was sacrificed in his stead, were preserved at Makkah, his dwelling-place! [ISHMAEL.] We may account for Muḥammad’s reckoning Ishmael among the prophets and patriarchs, from his being considered the patriarch of the Arabs and the founder of the Kaʿbah.