Call Me Ishmael, Then Again, Maybe Not Carol Bakhos

Hagar und Ismael by Emanuel K. Liska. Reprinted from Illustrierter Katalog der internationalen Kunstausstellung im Königle. Glaspalaste zu München 1883 (München, 1883), 4.

t is no exaggeration to say that the figure from his father’s household, to say nothing of struggle with Isaac. In fact, there is no mention of Ishmael evokes a variety of associations later Jewish and Christian depictions of him, is of competition or warfare between them. Ifrom nomads to Moby Dick, from Arab to problematic and does little to further mutual Furthermore, rivalry between Ishmael Islam. When discussed in terms of his younger understanding and appreciation. If anything, it and Isaac is neither divinely ordained nor biblical brother, Isaac, it is taken for granted maintains deeply entrenched misconceptions explicit in the narrative. On the contrary, that their relationship is marked by sibling of Islam and on some level aggravates the very they appear together only when they bury rivalry. One need not search far and wide to antagonism it hopes to traduce. their father: “And Isaac and Ishmael his come across metonymic uses of Ishmael and Rivalry between Ishmael and Isaac in sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah Isaac. Either they represent Arabs and Jews, the Bible exists inasmuch as the brothers . . .” (Gen. 25:9). The text reverses the birth Muslims and Jews, or Islam and Judaism. Since participate in the larger narrative structure order by mentioning Isaac before Ishmael. the Medieval period, Ishmael is employed of Genesis that sets one line of Abraham’s This reversal figures prominently when to represent Islam, and even today, in media descendants apart from others. The promise comparing this narrative to that of Esau parlance, the Palestinians. More often than made to both Hagar and Abraham as to and Jacob. Unlike the burial notice of Isaac not, underlying the rhetoric is a genuine Ishmael’s fate, that he will be a father of (Gen. 35:29) where Esau and Jacob bury desire to foster the notion of confraternity of twelve nations, however, does not put him in their father, in this notice the younger religious and political communities, yet at the direct conflict with Isaac, nor is there anything son is mentioned first. The reversal, “Isaac same time a relationship marked by strife is in the story that would lead one to believe that and Ishmael,” portrays the brothers acting brought to the surface. The irenic intention the brothers engaged in interpersonal conflict. not only in unison but also in accordance behind the biblical evocation ironically To be sure, the prophecy in Gen. 16:12, “His with God’s preordained plan whereby subverts the desire to bridge differences. hand will be against everyone and everyone’s the younger sibling supplants the older. Allusion to the biblical narrative in which hand against him,” portends a fate for Ishmael Although there is no active rivalry between Abraham’s firstborn son, Ishmael, is banished riddled with struggle, but not an exclusive the biblical brothers, one cannot escape the

SPRING 2012 9 fact that the biblical narrative privileges One of the working assumptions Persians n-in shu’ubiyyah literature, the one brother over the other. Furthermore, when using Ishmael to represent Islam is popularity of which is questionable, that Jewish and Christian teachings and that Ishmael, not Isaac, plays a major role emerged in the second to eighth century as interpretations pit them against one another. in Islam. To be sure, although the Qur’an a reaction to the exclusive Arab hegemonic Throughout the centuries, Jewish and does not explicitly identify Ishmael as the right in Islam. In fact, it was taken for granted Christian exegetes have legitimized Sarah’s intended son for sacrifice, and despite the by non-Arab Muslims who, in response, demand that Abraham cast out “that Egyptian fact that some early mufassirun (Qur’an disparage Ishmael’s birth from a slave girl, maidservant and her son (Ishmael).” The interpreters) considered Isaac the intended and pronounce their own descent from Isaac, request so grieved Abraham that God had to son, Muslims today believe that God asked born of a free woman. This tension must, intervene and assure him that if he acquiesced Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael. Moreover, however, be understood within the context to Sarah, Ishmael would nonetheless be Abraham, along with Ishmael, builds the of the ongoing inner-Muslim polemics that saved, that he would also become a nation, Ka‘ba, the central shrine in Mecca and focus took place in the ninth century; over time for he is also Abraham’s seed. But if he is of the obligatory pilgrimage (Hajj). In the these debates abated and made little impact also Abraham’s son, not only his seed but Islamic tradition Ishmael is identified as the on the prominent role of Ishmael in Islam. his firstborn, why did Sarah demand his progenitor of Arabs, and in turn with Islam. And yet, utilizing Ishmael metonymically expulsion? Jewish and Christian interpreters Yet, because Ishmael is also identified for Islam, Arabs more broadly, and Palestinians turn to Gen. 21: 9, “And Sarah saw the son of with Arabs, it is misleading to employ him specifically, fosters a rather unsettling the maidservant playing [mezaheq],” for an as an emblem of Islam, for while most Arabs dichotomy between Ishmael and Isaac— explanation. Speculation as to what is meant are Muslims, most Muslims are not Arabs. the unchosen and chosen—that the Islamic by “playing” range from idol worship to Moreover, in the Islamic tradition both Isaac tradition by and large does not support, but fornicating, from shedding blood to abusing and Ishmael are considered prophets in a long one upon which Jews and Christians establish Isaac. Whatever the case may be, the Jewish line culminating with Muhammad, the seal their theological identity. As such, despite and Christian exegetical traditions justify of prophecy. In sura 2:133, Ishmael, along conciliatory efforts and good intentions, his biblical exclusion from the immediate with Abraham and Isaac, are referred to as reference to the Other as Ishmael exacts a Abrahamic family, the family of the covenant. the “Fathers” of Jacob. Unlike in Judaism and price. In many religious and academic circles For Jews, God makes a covenant with Christianity, which marginalize Ishmael and the resuscitation of the figure of Ishmael Abraham’s seed through Isaac, Jacob, and their exclude him from the convenantal family has gained traction, but the accretion descendants. Ishmael is part of, and apart from, of Abraham, in Islam both are considered of negative associations and images is the family of Abraham. While it is true that full members of Abraham’s family. inordinately difficult to escape. Perhaps he is also Abraham’s son, and while it is also While the sons of Abraham are it is therefore best to abandon altogether true that the biblical story does not portray understood as antipodes in Judaism and the problematic paradigm that inherently him negatively, for most Jews and Christians Christianity, generally speaking this is not sets these siblings apart, or alternatively, he is cast in a less than favorable light. the case in Islam. Ishmael’s role within Islam we can accept with forthright recognition As a means to confront the swiftly is as rusul Allah, messenger of God and as what is at stake in calling our so-called emerging political forces in the Near East nabi, prophet, as well as the progenitor of the ethnic and religious sibling Ishmael. and to protest against Islamic hegemony, Arab people. The Qur’an, however, envisages the rabbis take swipes at Ishmael in post- Ishmael’s role first and foremos-t as Abraham’s Carol Bakhos is associate professor of Late Antique seventh-century midrashim. In other son, not progenitor of the Arabs. The emphasis Judaism and acting chair of the Program in the words, there is a greater tendency in later on genealogy in Islam developed over time Study of Religion at UCLA. She is the author of rabbinic compilations to malign Ishmael. as Islam expanded beyond the reaches of Ishmael on the Border: Rabbinic Portrayals of One can surely understand the linkage the Arabian peninsula, and the biblical the First Arab (SUNY Press, 2006), and co-editor between Islam and Ishmael in light of its genealogy of Arabs became widely accepted. of The Talmud in Its Iranian Context (Brill, initial emergence in the Hejaz, and in light This is adduced in the charged exchange 2010). of Ishmael’s important role in Islam. between Arabs and non-Arabs (‘Ajami)- or

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