Ishmael and His Temple
Chapter 9, part 2 of The Blessings of Abraham:  Becoming a Zion People
By E. Douglas Clark

A few years hence, ^[1] to celebrate the weaning of Isaac, Abraham put on what Genesis calls “a great feast” (Gen. 21:8) or “a great banquet” (NJB Gen. 21:8). It was a sumptuous spread, a lavish offering open to all and attended by a great multitude, including, as Jasher reports, “all the great people of the land” who “came to eat and drink and rejoice.” ^[2]

The event was also a harbinger, says Jewish tradition, of things to come, for “the Holy One ... will make a great feast for the righteous on the day He shows his love for Isaac’s descendants.” ^[3] It is the same feast that Latter-day Saints look forward to as foretold in latter-day revelation (D&C 27:5–14).

The festivities that day for young Isaac were a summit of joy for the aged Abraham, who now had two sons whom he loved profoundly and, as Jewish sources say, equally. ^[4] As Abraham interacted with both during the celebration, Jubilees reports that he “rejoiced and blessed God because he had seen his sons and had not died childless. And he remembered the words [God] had spoken to him on the day Lot parted from him. And he rejoiced because the Lord had given him offspring on the earth to possess it, and he blessed and praised the creator of all things.” ^[5] For Abraham it was, to date, the greatest and most fulfilling day of his life.

Then, suddenly, in the midst of the joyous celebration, one brief communication from Sarah turned Abraham’s intense joy to intense grief. She had seen Ishmael doing something, which the King James translators rendered as “mocking” (Gen. 21:9). The translation is as inaccurate as it is unfortunate, as shown by noted biblical scholar E. A. Speiser, ^[6] and is corrected by modern translations which read “playing” ^[7] or “laughing,” ^[8] a translation required by the Septuagint, which adds here: “with Isaac her son.” ^[9]

Jubilees describes the scene as follows: “Sarah saw Ishmael playing and dancing, and Abraham rejoicing with great joy.” ^[10] Her reaction, as reported in Genesis, was to declare to Abraham: “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac” (JPST Gen. 21:10).

Sarah has received endless criticism through the ages for this seemingly harsh and heartless demand. But one Jewish tradition tells a different story: “God looked into Sarah’s heart and saw no hatred for Ishmael there,” but saw that she was motivated solely by “her passion to nurture Isaac to his full potential.” ^[11] And not merely motivated, but actually inspired, according to Jewish sages. Her words to Abraham arose not out of impulse or anger, but she was “acting under Divine inspiration,” so that, according to the learned Rashi, “Sarah’s voice is the voice of prophecy.” ^[12]

Sarah well knew of God’s promises to Abraham, repeated over decades, about the covenant race that would bless the world, and knew that her son, Isaac, was appointed to be their progenitor. She had even foreseen the history of her covenant descendants, ^[13] on whose behalf she now acted. And as the instrument of God, what she was proposing would also be for the benefit and blessing of Ishmael and his descendants, whose destiny had already been prophesied to Hagar.

Even so, Sarah’s words came as a thunderbolt to Abraham, who, as Genesis tells, was “greatly distressed,” ^[14] or “troubled ... very greatly.” ^[15] He was “tormented,” says Ephrem the Syrian, for he loved Ishmael just as he loved Isaac. ^[16]

In fact, Jewish tradition remembers that “of all the trials that Abraham had to undergo” up to that time, “none was so hard to bear as this.” ^[17] “How could he drive out people who were part of him, who were dear to him, who were dependent on him and helpless without him?” ^[18]

That troubled night, as Genesis reports, God told Abraham to implement Sarah’s wish (Gen. 21:12–13), but tradition gives a slightly expanded version of the incident: “In that night the Holy One ... said to him: Abraham! Dost thou not know that Sarah was appointed to thee for a wife from her mother’s womb? She is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant ... All that Sarah has spoken she has uttered truthfully,” ^[19] for she “also is a prophetess.” ^[20] Therefore, “let it not be grievous in thine eyes.” ^[21]

Genesis records that Abraham simply arose the next morning and expelled Hagar and Ishmael into the desert, parsimoniously providing them with only a little bread and a bottle of water ^[22] — for which Abraham has been severely criticized. But other Jewish sources insist that the highly abbreviated Genesis account fails to communicate the reality that Abraham provisioned them well with necessities for their journey, including gold and silver, and then actually escorted them on their way. ^[23]

Islamic sources, from the descendants of Ishmael who was being “expelled,” unanimously remember that Abraham did in fact accompany Hagar and Ishmael to the place that God directed and where he would protect and prosper them — the site of the future city of Mecca. ^[24]

Islamic tradition describes what transpired when the moment came for Abraham to return and Hagar and Ishmael to remain in what was then the wilderness. Seeing that Abraham intended to depart, Hagar asked Abraham if God had commanded him to do this. When he answered in the affirmative, this remarkable woman declared her faith in God and God’s servant Abraham by courageously stating that she knew that God would take care of them. ^[25]

She was, in the words of a modern Muslim scholar, “willing to do this for God,” while for his part, Abraham “is enough of a believer to say, ‘I will submerge myself and rely on God.’” ^[26]

It was yet another irony in the life of Abraham, that although he would have instantly given his life for these loved ones, he was now forced to leave them behind in the wilderness in obedience to God, to whom, according to the Qur’an, he prayed fervently for their protection: “Fill the hearts of some among men with love for them.” ^[27]

It was a prayer of faith borne of personal experience, recalling the time when as a young man himself, he had been imprisoned without food and water, but miraculously provided for. Hence “Abraham is only providing them an experience that he himself has already lived through.” ^[28] Abraham then expressed his own love for both of his sons: “Praise be to God who has given me Ishmael and Isaac.” ^[29]

Abraham obediently left, although, as Cyril of Alexandria reports, he “took it very hard.” ^[30] Hagar obediently remained, but wept. When the provisions ran out, God sent an angel to protect and provide for them (see Gen. 21:15–19). Genesis recounts that “God was with the lad” (Gen. 21:20), and the Genesis Rabbah adds that the blessing of God rested upon him and all his household. ^[31]

They were prospered, ^[32] says Jewish tradition, in answer to Abraham’s continuing prayer: “Abraham prayed to the Almighty on his son’s behalf, and Ishmael’s house was filled with every good thing and every blessing.” ^[33] The Qur’an describes Ishmael as one who was “truthful in promise, and he was a messenger, a prophet. And he enjoined on his people prayer and almsgiving, and was one in whom his Lord was well pleased.” ^[34] An early Jewish text likewise pays to Ishmael the ultimate compliment of being one of the righteous. ^[35]

As Ishmael’s descendants remember, Abraham returned to visit Ishmael many times. On one of those occasions, according to the Qur’an, Abraham enlisted Ishmael’s help to build “the Temple,” or Ka’ba, a place “to which people might repair again and again, and a sanctuary.” ^[36] The pattern for this Temple was shown to Abraham, says Islamic tradition, by an angel, ^[37] while the site itself was divinely designated to Abraham by a cloud or wind. Abraham and Ishmael worked together ^[38] as described by the Qur’an:

Thus did we command Abraham and Ishmael: “Purify My Temple for those who will walk around it, and those who will abide near it in meditation, and those who will bow down and prostrate themselves in prayer.” And, lo, Abraham prayed: “O my Sustainer! Make this a land secure and grant its people fruitful sustenance — such of them as believe in God and the Last Day.” ... And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the Temple, they prayed: “O our Sustainer! Accept Thou this from us ... Make us surrender ourselves [or, “make us both submissive” ^[39] ] unto Thee, and make out of our offspring a community that shall surrender itself [or, be “submissive” ^[40] ] unto Thee, and ... impart unto them revelation as well as wisdom, and cause them to grow in purity. ^[41]

The temple at Mecca would share a number of similar motifs with the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. ^[42] But it is the temple at Mecca — the holy Ka’ba — which remains to this day the longing of Muslims worldwide, who are expected at least once in their lifetime to make the sacred pilgrimage in which men don sacred robes, women cover their heads, Satan is cast out, and all walk seven times the circuit around the Ka’ba — all following the pattern, according to Islam, of that set by Abraham and Ishmael in order to attain purity and prepare for the very presence of God. ^[43] The seven circuits recall the seven ages of the temporal earth (D&C 77:7) in the Lord’s “one eternal round” (1 Ne. 10:19).

Islam further tells that God commanded Abraham to summon all mankind to the Ka’ba; and still today when faithful Muslims go there, they do so in response to Abraham’s summons as they arrive at the “famous place of prayer, the Place of Abraham, [which] is situated near the Ka’ba.” ^[44]

Three different times the pilgrims raise their hands to heaven and say, “Here I am, Lord.” Near the Ka’ba they also see the famous black stone with the footprint, believed to be that of Abraham. In their most sacred of all ceremonies, Muslims literally believe themselves to be following the footsteps of their father Abraham.

The seven circuits echo the architectural pattern of the “cosmic city” of the ancient Near East, often constructed with seven circuits or with seven-tiered temple towers made in the “image of the seven cosmic spheres.” ^[45] Seven is also, of course, the number of days of creation, as well as the number of millennial periods of the earth’s temporal existence — all of which Abraham had seen in vision. And as to the shape of the circle itself, it is the shape of Facsimile 2, representing what Hugh Nibley called “One Eternal Round.”

Muslim tradition holds that in erecting the Ka’ba Abraham was also laying the foundations of a sacred city. “When Abraham offered the [dedicatory] prayer, there was no town existing near the Ka’ba. There existed only the House of God. So Abraham prayed that in that wildest of wildernesses there might grow up a town, and that that town might become a place of security, affording peace to mankind,” for “he wished [it] to be the abode of the righteous only.” ^[46]

If Ishmael must grow to manhood far removed from Abraham, Abraham could not be content without first establishing his son and laying the foundation for a Zion community with a temple at its center. Abraham would return frequently, ^[47] for “he longed for his son Ishmael.” ^[48]