BIBLICAL BRIEFS 4
The term ‘Islam’ refers to the religion, and the term ‘Muslim’ refers to the practitioners of this religion. Islam is the doctrine of faith as revealed to Prophet Muhammad by Allah and recorded in this religion’s holy book of faith, the Qur’an. Muslims follow it faithfully – the word ‘Islam’ after all means ‘submission’.
Abraham’s firstborn from his concubine, Hagar, was named Ishmael. Jesus (as the Angel of the Lord) prophesied about Ishmael, the father of the Muslims: “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him!” (Gen. 16:12).
Ishmael, as a 13-year-old, was included in the covenant of Abra(ha)m with Yahweh (God), as well as circumcised (Gen. 17:23). Ismael, just like Isaac, is thus part of Abraham’s physical descendants. God then specifically spoke about Ishmael and said that He will multiply him exceedingly and make him a great nation (Gen. 17:20) – he for instance fathered 12 sons, who became the patriarchs of the Ishmaelites, later the Muslims. From one of their genealogical lineages, the Prophet Muhammad was born. In Gal. 4: 24-25 Paul gives a typological interpretation of the two wives and the two firstborns of Abraham, explaining that in the new covenant they must at the utmost be understood as symbols of the following: the fleshly seed (Ishmael) and the spiritual seed (Isaac). Flesh and blood cannot inherit nor be part of the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50), and this includes all nations, also Jews and Muslims. Only those who are born of Abraham’s spiritual seed, WHICH IS CHRIST (Gal. 3:16), will be able to inherit the promises of God to father Abraham. Muslims, Jews and Christians, or whoever, cánnot be part of the seed and promises of God to Abraham except they are born again by the living Logos of God, Jesus (1 Pet.1: 23).
Dr. Tom Gouws
