The biblical

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

Isaac ( ar, إسحاق or ') is recognized as a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

and messenger of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

by Muslims. As in

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, Islam maintains that Isaac was the son of the patriarch and prophet

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...

from his wife Sarah. Muslims hold Isaac in deep veneration because they believe that both Isaac and his older half-brother Ishmael continued their father's spiritual legacy through their subsequent preaching of the message of

after the death of Abraham. Isaac is mentioned in fifteen passages of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

. Along with being mentioned several times in the Quran, Isaac is held up as one of Islam's prophets.

Early life

Because of God’s grace and covenant with Abraham, Sarah was gifted with a child in her old age. Isaac was the age of 10 when his half-brother Ishmael went out from Abraham’s house into the desert. While in the desert Ishmael took a wife of the daughters of Moab named ‘Ayeshah.

In the Quran

Isaac is mentioned fifteen times by name in the

, often with his father and his son,

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

(''Yaʿqūb''). The Quran states that Abraham received "good tidings of Isaac, a prophet, of the righteous", and that God blessed them both (37: 112). "And We gave him glad tidings of Isaac, a prophet from among the righteous. And We blessed him and Isaac. And among their progeny are the virtuous and those who clearly wrong themselves" In a fuller description, when

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...

s came to Ibrahim to tell him of the future punishment to be imposed on Sodom and Gomorrah, his wife, Sarah, "laughed, and We gave her good tidings of Isaac, and after Isaac of (a grandson) Jacob" (11: 71-74); and it is further explained that this event will take place despite Abraham and Sarah's old age. Several verses speak of Isaac as a "gift" to Abraham (6: 84; 19: 49-50), and 29: 26-27 adds that God made "prophethood and the Book to be among his offspring", which has been interpreted to refer to Abraham's two prophetic sons, his prophetic grandson

, and his prophetic great-grandson

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

. In the Quran, it later narrates that Abraham also praised God for giving him Ishmael and Isaac in his old age (XIV: 39-41). Elsewhere in the Quran, Isaac is mentioned in lists:

follows the religion of his forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (12: 38) and speaks of

's favor to them (12: 6); Yaʿqūb's sons all testify their faith and promise to worship the God that their forefathers, "Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac", worshiped (2: 127); and the Quran commands Muslims to believe in the revelations that were given to "Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Patriarchs" (2: 136; III: 84).

Burial site

His tomb and that of his wife

Rebekah Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

is considered to be in the

Cave of the Patriarchs , alternate_name = Tomb of the Patriarchs, Cave of Machpelah, Sanctuary of Abraham, Ibrahimi Mosque (Mosque of Abraham) , image = Palestine Hebron Cave of the Patriarchs.jpg , alt = , caption = Southern view of the complex, 2009 , map ...

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, known in Islam as the ''Ibrahim-i-Mosque'' ("Mosque of Abraham"). Alongside Isaac's tomb are those of some of the other Qur'anic/ Biblical patriarchs and their wives: Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and

Leah Leah ''La'ya;'' from (; ) appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel. She is the mother of Jacob's first son ...

Footnotes

* () is the traditional

ic spelling after vocalizing with a super script '' ''. In

Modern Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; occasionally, it also ref ...

, it is normally written (); IPA: .

Bibliography

* C.H. Becker, ''Islamstudien'', i, 47 * ''ZDMG'', xxxii, 359, ii * ''Encyclopedia of Islam'', W. M. Watt, ''Ishak'' * '' Stories of the Prophets'', Kisa'i; Ibn Kathir, ''The Story of Isaac and Jacob''

References