Shri Abraham - Stories in the Holy Bible (Genesis) and in the Qu'ran.
Shri Abraham
Abraham lived between the XVIII and XVI century BC and grew up in Ur (Mesopotamia). Stories about his life are narrated both in the Bible (Genesis) and in the Qu'ran.
So Abraham left and moved, with his wife and his nephew Lot, towards the promised land that was Canaan (located in the current Israel). As a period of famine came, he and his wife went down to Egypt where they lived for some years and then returned back in Canaan.
As the time passed, the promised progeny was not yet arriving: Abraham and Sarah were already old and have not born any child! So they agreed to have a child from a servant, Hagar, and this son was called Ishmael (who is considered one of the patriarchs of the Islamic religion).
Even if Sarah had passed the age of childbearing, still God was promising a child to them and the child finally arrived (when they were more than 80) and was called Isaac.
Later, the faith of Abraham was once more tested by God, as He, the Almighty, asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac. The devoted Abraham made up an altar and was there about to kill his son, when an Angel of God stopped him as he passed the test. He died that he was 175 years old.
The belief of a unique, eternal God
We need to empathize with the people of Abraham's time to comprehend the value of his belief and faith. Idolatry was the common practise at that time, which could flow into vicious and inhuman practices: certainly it had nothing to do with Pure Inner Devotion towards God. Abraham reached this understanding in his young age and tried with many difficulties to convert his people to this new, more evolved belief.
This aspect of Abraham is mostly reported in the Qu’ran:
It is interesting to dwell upon the word YHVH (God), the Holy Tetragram that is formed by four unutterable consonants, thing that shows that God is beyond every definition and qualification.
Abraham lived between the XVIII and XVI century BC and grew up in Ur (Mesopotamia). Stories about his life are narrated both in the Bible (Genesis) and in the Qu'ran.
At that time, people believed in idols and made sacrifices to them and primitive rituals that could flow into collective hysteria; in spite of this belief, a strong faith in a only one God grew up inside him since his childhood.
An anecdote: while investigating the origin of the creation, he looked for his father's advice (he was just working in an shop selling idols) who promptly replied: “This idol created the world!”; surely Abraham did not believe his father and asked his uncle who told him: “the moon and the stars created the world”. Abraham was not quite sure if that was true, but he got an idea that there might be an almighty up in the heavens who created the world: Yahvè.
And one day, finally, God talked to him:
And one day, finally, God talked to him:
«Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you».
So Abraham left and moved, with his wife and his nephew Lot, towards the promised land that was Canaan (located in the current Israel). As a period of famine came, he and his wife went down to Egypt where they lived for some years and then returned back in Canaan.
As the time passed, the promised progeny was not yet arriving: Abraham and Sarah were already old and have not born any child! So they agreed to have a child from a servant, Hagar, and this son was called Ishmael (who is considered one of the patriarchs of the Islamic religion).
Even if Sarah had passed the age of childbearing, still God was promising a child to them and the child finally arrived (when they were more than 80) and was called Isaac.
Later, the faith of Abraham was once more tested by God, as He, the Almighty, asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac. The devoted Abraham made up an altar and was there about to kill his son, when an Angel of God stopped him as he passed the test. He died that he was 175 years old.
The belief of a unique, eternal God
We need to empathize with the people of Abraham's time to comprehend the value of his belief and faith. Idolatry was the common practise at that time, which could flow into vicious and inhuman practices: certainly it had nothing to do with Pure Inner Devotion towards God. Abraham reached this understanding in his young age and tried with many difficulties to convert his people to this new, more evolved belief.
This aspect of Abraham is mostly reported in the Qu’ran:
“And Abraham when he said to his people, ‘Serve God and fear Him, which is better for you if ye did but know. Ye only serve beside God idols and do create a lie. Verily, those whom ye serve beside God cannot control for themselves provision; then crave provision with God, and serve Him, and give thanks to Him; unto Him shall ye return!...’
But the answer of his people was only to say ‘Kill him or burn him!’. But God saved him from the fire. Verily, in that are signs unto a people who believe.”
It is interesting to dwell upon the word YHVH (God), the Holy Tetragram that is formed by four unutterable consonants, thing that shows that God is beyond every definition and qualification.
The male letter ‘I’ represents the unity, the Absolute;
the feminine letter ‘H’ corresponds to the Eternal Feminine,
the Heavenly Mother and its Hebrew meaning is ‘blow’;
the male letter ‘V’ represents the son, the eternal Word base of creation.
YHVH represents the complete manifestation of God, the Trinity of which God Father is only a component. (ref. Cabala)
The immeasurable faith
His life is a clear demonstration of his faith. Even under the most unbelievable requests he was ready to trust and follow God's will.
He abandoned his native land to accomplish his Divine task to start afresh in the Promised Land. And he agreed to sacrifice his beloved only son in order to respect Gord's will.
The sense of sacrifice and submission
His deep faith gave him a strong sense of sacrifice and submission. The sacrifice (from Latin ‘to do sacred’) was not intended to be a simple ritual like those performed by many people at that time, but a way of manifesting his true devotion and his deep comprehension of personal sacrifice.
The immeasurable faith
His life is a clear demonstration of his faith. Even under the most unbelievable requests he was ready to trust and follow God's will.
He abandoned his native land to accomplish his Divine task to start afresh in the Promised Land. And he agreed to sacrifice his beloved only son in order to respect Gord's will.
The sense of sacrifice and submission
His deep faith gave him a strong sense of sacrifice and submission. The sacrifice (from Latin ‘to do sacred’) was not intended to be a simple ritual like those performed by many people at that time, but a way of manifesting his true devotion and his deep comprehension of personal sacrifice.
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