Religion is not a maladaptive “illusion” (Freud), nor is religion a manipulative “opiate” (Marx).
Religious behavior is a ubiquitous biological adaptation rooted in Homo Sapiens, because religion like intelligence and language. helps human communities survive. Religion, like ubiquitous intelligence and language. can be used for both good and evil purposes, but this is also true of culture, science, politics and all other important human activities.
Yosef S. Razin in an article in the Times of Israel titled “Avraham: Guilt and Faith in the Fiery Furnace” November 5, 2020 says: “Abraham in the fiery furnace, a story we all know, though it does not appear anywhere in the Hebrew Bible. Abraham is thrown into a furnace by King Nimrod after smashing his (own) father’s idols and debating theology with the king. Abraham miraculously survives, but his brother Haran, who vacillates between true belief in the one God and idol worship, dies in the flames.
“The story is first recorded in mainstream Jewish records in the Midrash Breishit Rabbah (38:11) but appears with variants in Jubilees (12:12-14), the Biblical Antiquities of Pseudo-Philo (6:16-17), the Midrash Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer (26:1), and even the Quran (21:67-71). Each version adds a twist.
For example, in Jubilees, the fire is not in a furnace but is caused by Abraham burning down Terach’s idol shop, and Haran dies trying to rescue his gods. In Pseudo-Philo, the King is Yoktan, and thousands die, not just Haran, when Avraham survives the furnace explosion. In Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, Haran first hides Avraham for 13 years to protect him before being arrested.”
In the Hebrew Bible, Prophet Abraham is the first person to be called a “Hebrew” (Genesis 14:13). The term Hebrew comes from the verb ‘to go over a boundary’— like the Euphrates or Jordan river— or ‘to be an immigrant.’ The first thing God told Prophet Abraham in the Biblical account was: “Leave your country, your kindred, 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, so that you will be a blessing.…” (Bible, Genesis 12:1-2)
So Prophet Abraham was what we can call the first ‘Islamic Hebrew’ as the Qur’an indicates: “He (Abraham) was not Yahuudiyyaan, “a Jew”, nor Nasraaniyyaan, ‘a Christian,’ but rather a Haniifaan, ‘a Muslimaan,‘… (Quran, 3:67) i.e. ‘a monotheistic Hebrew believer submitting (islam) to the one imageless God’ who created all space and time and who made Prophet Abraham-the-Hebrew’s descendants through Prophets Isaac and Jacob (Israel) into a great multitude of monotheists called the Children of Israel—B’nai Israel in Hebrew and Banu Israel in Arabic.
In addition, Prophet Isaiah said: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he [Abraham] was only one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. (Bible, Isaiah 51:1-2)
And the Qur’an states: “You have an excellent example to follow in Abraham.” (Quran, 60:4)
And “Follow the way of Abraham as people of pure (monotheistic) faith.” (Quran, 3:95)
What makes Prophet Abraham-the-Hebrew an excellent example of pure faith according to three different religion’s Sacred Scriptures is that all three scriptures proclaim Abraham to be the one “whom God chose to be His friend”: the Arabic Qur’an 4:125, the Hebrew Bible Isaiah 41:8; and the Greek New Testament Book of James [the brother of Jesus] 2:23.
Prophet Abraham-the-Hebrew, “whom God chose to be His friend,” —as far as we know— is also the only prophet to have two sons who were prophets. And these two sons of Prophet Abraham, Prophet Ishmael and Prophet Isaac, are the only two Prophets who each had a descendant very many centuries later, who proclaimed a sacred scripture, each of which has become the basis for the two largest religions in the whole world.
Prophet Abraham was the first of those we know to receive a Sacred Scripture (Quran 87:18-19). All of the others were among his descendants. Is being ‘the first’ what makes Abraham so special that his name appears 69 times in the Qur’an, second only to Moses (136 times)? No.
Abraham is famous for the numerous ways God tested him, especially the two terrible tests: banishing Hagar and his first born son Ishmael (Qur’an 2:124, & Genesis 16:1-16 9:9-21) and calling on Abraham to make his son a sacrificial offering to God. (Qur’an 37:100-113 & Genesis 22:1-24)
Most Muslim commentators say the son, unnamed in the Qur’an, was Ishmael (Arabic Isma’il). Some Muslims assert it was Isaac. I think both sons participated in the test at different times, so that each son could produce descendants who in time would become a blessing for many other nations on the earth. (Genesis 22:16-18 & Qur’an 4:163)
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The Three Abrahamic Religions Are Ubiquitous – The Times of Israel
