by Dr. Ali Shehata
The Covenant of Circumcision
The next point of discussion also concerns the prophethood of Muhammad pbuh from Biblical grounds. One of the commonly quoted, albeit entirely incorrect, arguments made against the progeny of Ishmael becoming prophets, or part of the covenant between God and Abraham pbuh, is the following verse from Genesis 17:19-21
Then God said, "I will bless Ishmael. But your wife Sarah will have a son by you. And you will name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him. It will be a covenant that lasts forever. It will be for Isaac and for his family after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. You can be sure that I will bless him. I will give him children. I will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of 12 rulers. And I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac. By this time next year, Sarah will have a son by you."
So one could then conclude that the covenant, or agreement, between Abraham pbuh and God which amounts to the lineage of prophets and guidance, will be only for Isaac. The poor son Ishmael, on the other hand, would be made into a great nation, but had no share in the inheritance of prophethood it seems.
Or so many would have you think. The reality is that the above mentioned verses are so entirely in contradiction with the remainder of Genesis 17, that it is hard not to notice. Were verses 19-21 later additions or corrupted text? No one can say for sure, but let us look at the context of Genesis 17 to see for ourselves below (emphasis mine).
Genesis 17
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.
2 I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
3 Abram fell face down, and God said to him,
4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
9 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.
13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.
14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
So let us now begin our examination of these verses.
In verse 7, it states that God said to Abraham pbuh: “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you, for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.”
This verse states that all of Abraham’s descendants, without making any exception for whom their mother is, shall be part of the covenant. Another very significant point made in this verse is that the God of Abraham is also the God of those that become part of the covenant. Once it is proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that the community of Muhammad pbuh (the Muslims) is also part of this great covenant, then there shall be no room left for those who try to say that the God of Islam is different than the God of the Jews or the God of the Christians.
The first evidence that the people of Islam are indeed included, by virtue of Ishmael, in this covenant comes in the next verse where God promises to Abraham that the land of Canaan shall belong to the people of this covenant. It is further interesting to note that this is a promise that was unconditional, and confirmed by God in the Bible at least 55 times with an oath, and at least 12 times with a statement, to be everlasting. Hence, in order to best understand this promise, one must know exactly where is Canaan? Two different definitions exist today*, with a) the first definition representing all the land between the Nile River in Egypt and the Euphrates River in present day Iraq, and b) the second representing what is today the borders of the Israeli and Palestinian territories. No matter what definition is used though, it is important to know that Canaan was always centred on Palestine.
* The lack of clarity as regards the exact boundaries of Canaan is secondary to difficulty in identifying some of the geographical reference points mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible.
Either way you look at it, since the coming of Muhammad pbuh which is now approximately 1400 years ago, these lands – whether you use definition (a) or (b) – have been under the control of the Muslims for over 1200 of those 1400 years, or about 85% of the time. So any unbiased reader would have to admit that possessing the Holy Land, as it is often called, for over 1200 years is a point that cannot be ignored. It is true that other disbelieving nations did possess this land, but no nation has kept it so long as have the Muslims, and they have imbued the whole territory with prayer, fasting, charity, righteousness and contemplation of God’s words unlike any before them.
The next evidence is represented in verse 10 and 11: “This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.” So this means that the sign of God’s people, or the people of the covenant, is that their men are circumcised. So, was Ishmael circumcised?
In Genesis 17:23 we read: “On that very day Abraham circumcised his son Ishmael”. And later in verse 26 it reiterates the same point by saying, “Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day”. Furthermore, the Prophet Muhammad pbuh carried out this tradition and instructed all Muslim boys to be circumcised. So once again, the Muslims are found to possess an attribute of the covenant, whereas the very people who claim to be inheritors of this covenant, the Christians, have left the command of circumcision! How could any reject, or try to get around, this command when God had so clearly stated in verses 11 and 13 that this covenant would be “in the flesh” and “forever to come”? As if to put an exclamation point on the idea, there is also verse 14 which says:
Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
So in summary, there is no sound argument to be made for Ishmael, or the people of Muhammad, not being part of this covenant since:
1) Ishmael is a descendant of Abraham pbuh, and Muhammad pbuh is in turn a descendant of Ishmael,
2) The Muslims have been in possession of the land of Canaan for the overwhelming majority of their history, and
3) Both Ishmael and all the Muslims are circumcised according to the terms of the covenant.
No comments:
Post a Comment