At a glance
- Era
- Pre-Islamic Arabia
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
In time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
ProphetsSacred space and pilgrimage
Summary
The story
God states in the Qur'an that He showed Abraham in a dream that he was slaughtering Ishmael, and he carried out the command, as in al-Saffat 103 through 107. 1
Its place in Abraham's journeys
The author notes from the book of Genesis that Ishmael was thirteen years older than Isaac. He holds that the context of the story shows it happened before Isaac's birth, since the tidings of Isaac are given only after the whole story has been told. The story therefore includes at least one journey of Abraham to Mecca before Ishmael grew up. 1 2 See Abraham's visits to Mecca.
What is not covered here
The old disagreement over which son was the one to be sacrificed (Ishmael or Isaac) is not presented by al-Rahiq at this point. It determines that the one sacrificed was Ishmael, and relies on the order of events in Genesis. 1
For young visitors
Abraham saw in a dream that he was slaughtering his son. Both of them obeyed the command, and God ransomed the son with a great sacrifice.
Connections
- Part of
- Ibrahim's journeys to Mecca· Pre-Islamic Arabia
- Occurred at
- Mecca
- Had participant
- Ibrahim (Abraham)· Ismail (Ishmael)
- Revealed in
- Qur'an 37:103· Qur'an 37:104· Qur'an 37:105· Qur'an 37:106· Qur'an 37:107
People and things also explored
Ibrahim's journeys to Mecca· The Raising of the Kaaba’s Foundations· The Settlement of Hajar and Ismail at Mecca· Ibrahim (Abraham)· Ismail (Ishmael)· Mecca· The Kaaba· Hajar (Hagar)
Sources
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.19
- The Book of Genesis , 17/25
- Tanzil Project, Qur'an text v1.1
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “The Command to Sacrifice Ismail”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/sacrifice-of-ismail/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-21.