Special calls: Abraham, his family and the Prophet Muhammad

1"Leave your country"

Imagine being told to leave your home, your relatives and your father's house, and to set out for a land you have never seen, with no map and no promise except God's word. That is how the Bible begins the story of Abraham, whom Jews, Christians and Muslims all honour. Many centuries later, according to Islamic tradition, a man of Mecca praying alone in a mountain cave heard a single command: "Read!" This lesson looks at these two special calls: the call of Abraham and his family, and the call of the Prophet Muhammad.

2The call of Abraham in the Bible

"Now the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran." (Genesis 12:1–4)

The call has three parts: a command (leave and go), a promise (a great nation, a blessing for "all the families of the earth") and a response ("So Abram went"). The letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament holds him up as a model of trust: "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went." (Hebrews 11:8).

A family is called, not only a man. God renames Abram "Abraham", saying "Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations." (Genesis 17:5), and blesses his wife Sarah too: she "will be a mother of nations" (Genesis 17:16). The call reaches the next generations as well: "For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him." (Genesis 18:19). Christians therefore see the family as a place where faith and justice are handed on.

3Abraham (Ibrahim) in the Qur'an

"And (remember) when his Lord tried Abraham with (His) commands, and he fulfilled them, He said: Lo! I have appointed thee a leader for mankind. (Abraham) said: And of my offspring (will there be leaders)? He said: My covenant includeth not wrongdoers." (Qur'an 2:124)

"When his Lord said unto him: Surrender! he said: I have surrendered to the Lord of the Worlds." (Qur'an 2:131)

For Muslims, Ibrahim is a prophet and a model of submission to Allah (the meaning of the word islam). The Qur'an calls him "Lo! Abraham was a nation obedient to Allah, by nature upright, and he was not of the idolaters" (Qur'an 16:120). His family shares the call: father and son raise the foundations of the House, which Muslims identify as the Ka'bah in Mecca, and pray for their descendants: "And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House, (Abraham prayed): Our Lord! Accept from us (this duty). Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower." (Qur'an 2:127).

4The call of the Prophet Muhammad

In his introduction to the translation, Pickthall tells the story as Muslim tradition records it. When Muhammad was forty years old, he used to go to Hira, a hill near Mecca, during the month of Ramadan to pray and reflect. One night a voice commanded him three times: "Read!" He answered that he could not read. Then came the first verses of the Qur'an:

"Read: In the name of thy Lord who createth, Createth man from a clot. Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous, Who teacheth by the pen, Teacheth man that which he knew not." (Qur'an 96:1–5)

Coming out of the cave, he heard the voice say that he was Allah's messenger and that the speaker was Gabriel (Jibril). He returned home in great distress to his wife Khadijah, who comforted him, saying his conduct had been such that Allah would not let harm come to him, and who hoped he would be the prophet of his people. Muslims count Khadijah as the first person to believe in his message.

5Two calls side by side

Christians and Muslims understand these figures differently: for Christians, Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham; for Muslims, Muhammad is the last of the prophets. In class, each tradition is described in its own terms, with respect.

Discuss. Abraham obeyed at once; the Prophet Muhammad was first afraid and needed Khadijah's support. What does each response teach a young person who feels unsure about a calling?