Ishmael was the son of Hagar. She planned to leave him in the desert to die but God told her no. I believe Ishmael is the patriarch of the muslim line.
Ishmael is also a character in Moby Dick
and if the guy was an English major,
that’s another possibility.
Ishmael in Islam
Main article: Islamic view of Ishmael
In Islam, Ishmael is known as the first-born son of Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) from Hagar, and as an appointed prophet of God.
Although Ishmael’s name was not mentioned in the Qur’an as the son who was supposed to be sacrificed, nevertheless the sacrifice tale in the Qur’an (As-Saffat [37:112]) clearly states that God gave Abraham the good news of Isaac and who he will be (a prophet, and one of the Righteous) after the sacrifice tale has finished which means that Isaac was not yet born at the time of the sacrifice[2]. In Islamic beliefs, Abraham had prayed to God for a son (’Isma’ in Arabic means ‘to listen’, i.e., answer prayer, and ‘ell’ is derived from the Hebrew word ‘elle’, meaning ‘God’). God delivered this child to Abraham, and later tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his only son at the time. However, just as Abraham was to kill his only son, God halted him, praised him for his loyalty, and commanded him to sacrifice a ram instead. This leads to the Muslim practice of sacrificing domesticated animals such as sheep, goats or cows, on the celebration to mark this event known as Eid ul-Adha.
According to The Oxford Companion To The Bible, “Because Ishmael was circumcised (Gen. 17:25), so are most Muslims. And, analogous to Paul’s reversal of the figures of Isaac and Ishmael (Gal. 4:24-26), Muslim tradition makes Ishmael rather than Isaac the son Abraham was commanded to sacrifice.”[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael
I think the whole thing is Rosie O’Doughnut’s fault because she made fun of asians.
I haven’t done an in depth study of this ... but I have been told the Biblical lineage backs this up. And another reason WHY Islmaist HATE JEWS and Christians. Jews and Christians recognize Isaac as the LEGITIMATE heir to God’s promises to Abraham and Sarah.
Ishmael is the biological progenitor of the Arab people, or “race” (for want of a better term), according to the Biblical account. That does not make him, or his father Abraham, spiritual progenitors of the religion called Islam, the “sacred” precepts of which were not revealed to Mohammed until centuries later, long, long after the lifetimes of Abraham and Ishmael. Islam is not, I repeat not an “Abrahamic” religion, whatever that is, despite the fallacious claim that a mutual belief in monotheism is sufficient to establish a substantive spiritual commonality between and among Judaism, Christianity and Islam.