Ishmaelites
Ishmaelites بَنِي إِسْمَاعِيل | |
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Ethnicity | Arabs |
Location | Northern Arabia, Western Arabia (Hejaz), Central Arabia (Najd) |
Descended from | Firstborn son of Abraham |
Language | Old Arabic |
The Ishmaelites (
According to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Ishmael had one daughter and twelve sons, the "twelve princes" mentioned in Genesis 17:20. In Islamic tradition, this gave rise to the "Twelve Tribes of Ishmael", Arab tribes from which the early Muslims were descended. In Jewish tradition, the Twelve Tribes of Israel were descended from Abraham and his wife Sarah's son, Isaac, via Isaac's son Jacob. These traditions are accepted by both Islam and Judaism.
Genesis and 1 Chronicles describe the Qedarites as a tribe descended from the second son of Ishmael, Qedar. Some Abrahamic scholars described the historic tribe of Nabataeans as descendants of Nebaioth based on the similarity of sounds, but others reject this connection. Different Islamic groups assign the ancestry of the Islamic prophet Muhammad either to Qedar or Nebaioth.
Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions refer to the Ishmaelites as Sumu'ilu, a tribal confederation that would take control of the incense trade route during the dominance of the Neo-Assyrian Empire to the north.[1][2][3][full citation needed][4]
Jewish narrative
Hebrew Bible
According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham's first wife was named Sarah and her Egyptian slave was named Hagar. However, Sarah could not conceive. In chapter 16, Sarah (then Sarai) gave her slave Hagar in marriage to Abraham, in order that Abraham might have an heir.
And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian ... and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.[5]
Hagar conceived Ishmael from Abraham, and the Ishmaelites descend from him. After Abraham pleaded with God for Ishmael to live under his blessing, chapter 17 states:
But as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.[6]
Chapter 25 lists his sons as:
And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael
Mibsam,
And Mishma, andMassa,
Naphish, and Kedemah[7]
According to the documentary hypothesis, Genesis 25 would have been added during the Persian Period by the Priestly source, who attributed the known Ishmaelite (Shumu'ilu) Tribes as the names of the sons of Ishmael. However, the name and narrative of Ishmael found in other parts of Genesis would antedate this by centuries. The Hebrew Bible already contained the story of Ishmael, and it would later come across Ishmaelite Tribes, and they would invent names for Ishmael's sons, named after the various tribes in the Ishmaelite Confederacy.[8][1][2]
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Islamic narrative
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2022) |
According to the Quran, "Allah has gifted all of Ishmael, Alyasa, Yunus and Lut a favor above the nations. With some of their forefathers and their offspring and their brethren, We chose them and guided them unto a straight path". (Quran 6:86).[9] Ibrahim and Hajar bore the prophetic child, who was named Ishmael by Allah through one of his angels. God ordered Ibrahim to bring Ishmael and Hajar to present-day Mecca. He prayed for them after leaving them, saying: "O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivatable valley by Your Sacred House (the Kaaba in Mecca) in order, O our Lord, that they may perform As-Ṣalāt. So fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks."[10]
Ishmael and Hagar were very thirsty, and Hagar ran between the hills of Safa and Marwa in search of water for her son. After her seventh run between the hills, an angel appeared before her. He helped them, saying that God heard Ishmael's cry and would provide them with water; Hajar stopped the water with stones. Muhammad said, "May Allah forgive Hajar if she doesn't stop the water, there was a great water fountain."[citation needed] A group of people passed by, and saw the well and Hajar and Ishmael sitting there. They asked Hagar for some of the water from the well; she agreed, and an Arab tribe began there. Ishmael grew up there and learned Arabic from the tribe while waiting for his father. When Ibrahim arrived in Marwa, he learned that his son was alive. When young Ishmael saw his father, he ran to him and they embraced.
Allah (God) decided to test Ibrahim again, and he dreamed two nights in a row of sacrificing Ishmael. Ibrahim blindfolded himself, because he could not bear to see his son suffer, then he placed the knife on Ishmael neck and wield the knife, when he opened his blindfold he found Ishmael standing next to him and instead of Ishmael there was a lamb. Ibrahim knew it was a test from Allah and then he received a command from Allah to rebuild the mosque for Ishmael's tribe which had been constructed by Adam, the first Islamic prophet, and Ibrahim and Ishmael began building the Kaaba. Ibrahim built the mosque, and Ishmael provided the stones, When the walls were built and the roof was almost complete, Ibrahim stood on the miraculous small stone to finish the roof.
Other traditions
Samaritan Asaṭīr
The
: 262And after the death of Abraham, Ishmael reigned twenty-seven years;
And all the children of Nebaot ruled for one year in the lifetime of Ishmael;
And for thirty years after his death from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates; and they built Mecca.[a]
Josephus' Antiquities
Josephus also lists the sons and states that they "inhabit the lands which are between Euphrates and the Red Sea, the name of which country is Nabathæa".[13]
Targum Onkelos
The Targum Onkelos annotates Genesis 25:16, describing the extent of their settlements: "And they dwelt from Hindekaia [India] unto Chalutsa, which is by the side of Mizraim [Egypt], from thy going up towards Arthur [Assyria]."[14]
Kebra Nagast
The 14th century Kebra Nagast says "And therefore the children of Ishmael became kings over Tereb, and over Kebet, and over Nôbâ, and Sôba, and Kuergue, and Kîfî, and Mâkâ, and Môrnâ, and Fînḳânâ, and 'Arsîbânâ, and Lîbâ, and Mase'a, for they were the seed of Shem."[15]
Historical records using the term
The Ishmaelite Confederacy did have differences. The Qedar Tribe's political center was
Arabic genealogical traditions
Historical Arab states and dynasties |
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Medieval Arab
- "Ancient Arabs", tribes that had vanished or been destroyed, such as ʿĀd and Thamud, often mentioned in the Quran as examples of God's power to destroy those who did not believe and follow their prophets and messengers.
- "Pure Arabs" of South Arabia, descending from Qahtan son of Eber (ʿĀbir).[21] Some of the Qahtanites (Qahtanis) are said to have migrated from the land of Yemen following the destruction of the Marib Dam (sadd Ma'rib).[22]
- The "Arabized Arabs" (mustaʿribah) of central, western, and North Arabia, descending from Ishmael the elder son of Abraham through his descendant Adnan. Such as the ancient tribe of Hawazin, or the modern-day tribes of Otaibah and Mutayr.
Genealogical Ishmaelism was viewed with suspicion as a late Islamic fabrication because of the confusion in Islamic times which made it such a capacious term as to include the inhabitants of the south as well as the north of the Arabian Peninsula. But short of this extravagance, the concept is much more modest in its denotation, and in the sober sources, it applies only to certain groups among the Arabs of pre-Islamic times. Some important statements to this effect were made by Muhammad when he identified some Arabs as Ishmaelites and others as not.[27]
Ishmaelism, in this more limited definition, holds that Ishmael was both an important religious figure and eponymous ancestor for some of the Arabs of western Arabia.[27] Prominence is given in Arab genealogical accounts to the first two of Ishmael's twelve sons, Nebaioth (Arabic: نبيت, Nabīt) and Qedar (Arabic: قيدار, Qaydār), who are also prominently featured in the Genesis account.[27] It is likely that they and their tribes lived in northwestern Arabia and were historically the most important of the twelve Ishmaelite tribes.[27]
Muslims believe that the first person to speak Arabic clearly was Ishmael: "Isma'il grew up among the Jurhum (an Arabic-speaking tribe), learning the pure Arabic tongue from them. When grown-up, he successively married two ladies from the Jurhum tribe, the second wife being the daughter of Mudad ibn 'Amr, leader of the Jurhum tribe."[28]
In accounts tracing the
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b c Eph'al, Israel. The Ancient Arabs: Nomads on the Borders of the Fertile Crescent, 9th–5th Century B.C. Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1984.
- ^ a b c d e f g Knauf, Ernst Axel. Ismael: Untersuchung zur Geschichte Palästinas und Nordarabiens im 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. Harrassowitz, 1985. 1–5, 81–91.
- ^ a b "Rinap/Sources".
- ^ a b c d e f Noble, John Travis (2013). "Let Ishmael Live Before You!" Finding a Place for Hagar's Son in the Priestly Tradition (PhD thesis). Harvard University.
- ^ Genesis 16:3, King James Version
- ^ Genesis 17:20, King James Version
- ^ Genesis 25:13–15, King James Version
- ^ Noble, John Travis (2013). "Let Ishmael Live Before You!" Finding a Place for Hagar's Son in the Priestly Tradition (PhD thesis). Harvard University.
- ^ Quran 6:86
- ^ [Quran 14:37]
- ^ OCLC 540827714.
- OCLC 611644250.
- OCLC 70357552.
- ^ Onkelos. "Section V. Chaiyey Sarah". Targum Onkelos (in Aramaic) – via Newsletter for Targumic and Cognate Studies.
- ^ "ch. 83: Concerning the King of the Ishmaelites". Kebra Nagast (in Geez) – via Internet Sacred Texts Archive.
- )
- OCLC 639516.
- OCLC 79767.
king of kedar (Qedarites) is named alternatively as king of Ishmaelites and king of Arabs in Assyrian Inscriptions
- ISBN 0253332087.and as Arabs
Assyrian records document Ishmaelites as Qedarites
- ISBN 0802823092.
- ^ McClintock, John; Strong, James (1894). Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. Harper.
- ISBN 0-415-24466-8.
- ^ a b Wheeler, 2002, p. 110-111.
- ^ "'Arabia' in Ancient History". Centre for Sinai. Archived from the original on 2008-11-19. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
- ^ Alexander, 1847, p. 67.
- ^ Alfonso, 2007, p. 137, note 36.
- ^ a b c d Shahîd, 1989, p. 335-336.
- ^ Ali, Mohar (15 October 2005). "The Ka'abah And The Abrahamic Tradition". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
- ^ al-Mousawi in Boudreau et al., 1998, p. 219.
- ^ Zepp, Ira G. A Muslim Primer: Beginner's Guide to Islam. Vol. 1. University of Arkansas Press, 2000, 50