Surah 37 · Verse 107

[37:105-107] Killing a human being without justification is a sin for humans, not for God. God creates, kills and revives without justification. Controllers of God are not subject to the test like us; and they carry out God commandments, including taking the lives of children. In verses 37:101-113, Abraham told his son that he saw in his sleep (manam) that he was sacrificing him. The Quran does not state that God ordered him to do that. He fulfills his dream (not his literal interpretation of it though) by intending and attempting to sacrifice his son. So, God stops him from going further all the way. Though it was not God who ordered him to sacrifice his son, Abraham's perfect submission to his literal interpretation of his vision proved his sincerity. God saved Abraham from completing his misinterpretation of his dream. Abraham was wrong in literally interpreting his dream since the dream was a metaphor, a dramatic metaphor reminding him to make God his only priority by mentally giving up from being preoccupied with his dearest possession. Though his literal understanding was wrong, he demonstrated his perfect submission to God. He fulfilled the real meaning of the dream. God rewarded his intention, not his knowledge of interpretation. (For sleep and dream, see: See 25:47; 8:43; 12:6; 30:23; 39:42; 78:9). The ethical issue involving this dream has been extensively discussed since Socrates. In Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates asked a profound question, "is it right because God says so, or does God say so because it is right?" Because or therefore? The question assumes that God is different from the concept of goodness, while according to the Quran God is the Truth, the Wise, the Noble, and the Justice. The correct answer might be affirmative for both parts of the question. Sartre pulled our attention to a different epistemological problem with the story. He questioned the authenticity or reliability of the source. How could Abraham be sure that the voice was of divine origin, rather than of the devil? That is a legitimate question. If there is an Omnipotent and Omniscient God, and if that God wishes to communicate His will to humans without any doubt, He should be able to do so. Society will and should judge a person based on the principle of justice. Had Abraham lived today and had he managed to sacrifice his son, according to God's law, as a society we should hold him responsible for the murder. However, we should remember that the ultimate judge is God on the Day of Judgment. See 7:28. Genesis 21:1-24; 22:1-19 tell the story of the sacrifice. Though the Quran does not give the identity of the child, Muslim scholars, perhaps because of a bias for the ancestor of the Arabs, to that coveted position have assigned Ishmael, Abraham's son from Hagar. The Old Testament, though, spells out Isaac, Abraham's son from Sara, the ancestor of the Children of Israel. However, the story contains some problems. According to the Bible, when Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son, his only son was Ishmael who was 13, while his second son Isaac was not even born yet (Genesis 16:16; 17:24; 21:5). This information contradicts the anonymous author of the Hebrews 11:17. How can Abraham sacrifice his “only son” Isaac, when the younger Isaac was never Abraham’s “only son”? Biblical scholars try to get around this problem by claiming that Ishmael was an illegitimate child. Though Genesis 16:3 specifically considers Hagar to be Abraham's wife, the following verses refer to her as a mistress (Genesis 16:4-9). While Genesis 22:2 does not even consider the older Ishmael to be Abraham's son, New Testament's Galatians 4:22 writes about Abraham's two sons. Regardless of the relationship between Abraham and Hagar, blaming or demeaning a child because of his being born from a slave is an unjust discrimination. Even if the Biblical slander on Abraham's extramarital affair was true, holding an innocent child responsible for the sins of his parents is unjust both according to the Old Testament, Ezekiel 18:20, and the Quran 6:164.