Prophet Ishaq (AS) – The Promised Son of Sarah حضرت اسحاق علیہ السلام – سارہ کے موعود بیٹے

To understand the birth of Ishaq (AS), one must picture the household of Ibrahim (AS) as it stood in the land of Canaan after many years of migration. Ibrahim had left Ur in Mesopotamia, passed through Harran, and settled in the hill country of Palestine, where he lived as a man of flocks and tents, calling the people to the worship of one God. His wife Sarah was with him, as was his nephew Lut until Lut was sent to the towns of the plain. Sarah, the sound narration in Sahih al-Bukhari (3358) tells us, was the most beautiful of women, and the Prophet ﷺ described how a tyrant in Egypt tried to take her and was restrained by Allah when she prayed, after which the tyrant gave her Hajar as a servant.

Sarah had no child. Years passed, and she herself proposed that Ibrahim take Hajar so that he might have a son, and from Hajar came Ismail, the firstborn. Ismail was then taken with his mother to the valley of Makkah by Allah's command, and Ibrahim returned to Sarah in Canaan. The Quran does not narrate these movements in sequence, but the Bukhari narration (3364) and the prayer of Ibrahim in Surah Ibrahim (14:37) show that Ibrahim's family was divided between two lands: Hajar and Ismail in the barren valley of the south, Sarah with Ibrahim in the fertile hills of the north.

Sarah was now old. The Quran records her own words at the time of the glad tidings: ‘Woe to me! Shall I give birth while I am an old woman and this, my husband, is an old man?’ (Hud 11:72). The commentators, following reports from the People of the Book, say she was around ninety and Ibrahim around a hundred; the Quran does not give the numbers, so they are mentioned only as approximate reports. What the Quran makes clear is that in human terms the matter was closed. Sarah had no expectation of a child and had made her peace with it.

This background matters because the Quran presents Ishaq as a pure gift, not a result of any means. Ismail had come through Hajar, a younger woman, by the ordinary way of things. Ishaq would come through Sarah, a barren and aged woman, by a word from Allah. The two sons together display two aspects of Allah's giving: through causes, and beyond causes.

Ibn Kathir notes that the tidings of Ishaq are mentioned in three surahs, Hud, Al-Hijr and Adh-Dhariyat, always in connection with the angels' journey to the people of Lut. In the Quranic telling, the news of a birth and the news of a destruction arrive together, carried by the same messengers to the same tent. Mercy and justice are delivered in one visit. The household of Ibrahim, which had been tested with the fire, with exile, with childlessness and with the separation from Ismail, was about to be tested with joy.

It is worth noting also that Ibrahim had long before asked for righteous offspring (As-Saffat 37:100) and would later praise Allah for giving him ‘in old age Ismail and Ishaq’ (Ibrahim 14:39). His prayer had been answered once in the desert; it was about to be answered a second time in the tent, in a way no one in that household could have imagined.

The birth of Ishaq was announced by angels. Allah describes their arrival in Surah Hud: ‘And certainly did Our messengers come to Ibrahim with good tidings; they said, Peace. He said, Peace, and did not delay in bringing a roasted calf.’ (Hud 11:69). Surah Adh-Dhariyat adds that they were ‘honoured guests’ and that he went quietly to his family and brought ‘a fat calf’, placing it before them and saying: ‘Will you not eat?’ (51:24-27). This is the model of hospitality: a greeting returned, a meal brought without being asked, offered gently.

When they did not reach for the food, Ibrahim felt fear, for in the custom of his time a guest who refused food might mean harm. ‘They said: Fear not. We have been sent to the people of Lut.’ (11:70). Then they turned to the second purpose of their visit. Surah Al-Hijr records: ‘They said: Fear not. Indeed, we give you good tidings of a learned boy. He said: Have you given me good tidings although old age has come upon me? Of what [wonder] do you inform? They said: We have given you good tidings in truth, so do not be of the despairing. He said: And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?’ (15:53-56).

The boy is described as ‘alim, knowing or learned, and in Surah Adh-Dhariyat the same: ‘And they gave him good tidings of a learned boy.’ (51:28). This is the first description of Ishaq in the Quran, before his birth: a child of knowledge. Where Ismail was foretold as ‘forbearing’ (37:101), Ishaq was foretold as ‘learned’. The commentators observe that each son's defining quality was announced in advance, and that both qualities are gifts of Allah rather than achievements of the men.

Sarah was standing nearby, and the Quran gives her reaction in two surahs. In Surah Hud: ‘And his wife was standing, and she laughed. Then We gave her good tidings of Ishaq and after Ishaq, Ya'qub.’ (11:71). In Surah Adh-Dhariyat: ‘And his wife approached with a cry [of alarm] and struck her face and said: A barren old woman!’ (51:29). The commentators differ over why she laughed: some say from relief that the guests were angels and not enemies, others from astonishment at the news, and a few say the word means she menstruated, a sign of fertility, though this last reading is weak. Her striking her face was the gesture of amazement common to women of her culture, and her words were a statement of the obvious: a barren old woman does not bear children.

She went on: ‘Woe to me! Shall I give birth while I am an old woman and this, my husband, is an old man? Indeed, this is an amazing thing!’ The angels answered with words that are among the most beloved in the Quran: ‘Are you amazed at the decree of Allah? May the mercy of Allah and His blessings be upon you, people of the house. Indeed, He is Praiseworthy and Honourable.’ (11:72-73). The phrase ‘ahl al-bayt’, people of the house, was spoken by angels about the family of Ibrahim, and the prayer for mercy and blessings upon them is echoed in the salawat that Muslims recite in every prayer: ‘as You sent blessings upon Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim.’

The tidings included not only a son but a grandson: ‘and after Ishaq, Ya'qub’ (11:71). Ibn Kathir draws from this a decisive argument: a boy who was promised a son of his own could not have been the one commanded to be sacrificed in boyhood, so the sacrificed son was Ismail. Sarah was promised that she would see her son grow, marry and have a child. Allah gave her, in one announcement, the lineage that would carry prophethood for the next two thousand years.

Ibrahim's own reaction, after the first moment of surprise, was the response of a prophet: ‘And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?’ (15:56). He had asked for a righteous son long before, and he received the tidings as a confirmation that Allah's mercy has no age limit and no natural limit.

Ishaq was born as the angels had promised. The Quran passes over the details of his birth and childhood and speaks instead of what he was and what came from him. In Surah As-Saffat, immediately after the story of the sacrifice, Allah says: ‘And We gave him good tidings of Ishaq, a prophet from among the righteous. And We blessed him and Ishaq. But among their descendants is the doer of good and the clearly unjust to himself.’ (37:112-113). Three things are stated here: Ishaq was a prophet, he was righteous, and he was blessed together with his father, while his descendants would be of two kinds.

The mention of two kinds of descendants is important. The blessing on Ishaq and his line was not a guarantee that every child of Israel would be righteous. The Quran addresses the Children of Israel repeatedly on precisely this point: lineage from a prophet is an honour and a responsibility, not a licence. Ibn Kathir notes that this verse refutes any claim of inherited salvation.

In Surah Al-Anbiya, Ishaq is placed with his father and his son: ‘And We gave him Ishaq and Ya'qub in addition, and all [of them] We made righteous. And We made them leaders guiding by Our command. And We inspired to them the doing of good deeds, establishment of prayer, and giving of zakah; and they were worshippers of Us.’ (21:72-73). The word ‘nafilah’, in addition, is read by the commentators as a reference to Ya'qub, the grandson, who was given beyond what Ibrahim had asked. Ishaq and Ya'qub were made imams, leaders in religion, and were inspired with the doing of good, prayer and charity. Their leadership was not political; it was the leadership of example and revelation.

Surah Al-An'am gives the same relationship: ‘And We gave to him Ishaq and Ya'qub; all [of them] We guided. And Nuh, We guided before; and among his descendants, Dawud and Sulaiman and Ayyub and Yusuf and Musa and Harun...’ (6:84). The passage lists eighteen prophets and then says: ‘Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, so from their guidance take an example.’ (6:90). Nearly every prophet after Ibrahim whom the Quran names, apart from the Arab prophets and Ismail's line, descends from Ishaq.

Surah Al-Ankabut sums up the gift: ‘And We gave to him Ishaq and Ya'qub and placed in his descendants prophethood and scripture. And We gave him his reward in this world, and indeed, he is in the Hereafter among the righteous.’ (29:27). Prophethood and the Book were placed in the line of Ibrahim through his two sons, and the Book, the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel and the Quran, came to his descendants. In Surah Maryam, after the story of Ibrahim's separation from his idolatrous father, Allah says: ‘So when he had left them and those they worshipped other than Allah, We gave him Ishaq and Ya'qub, and each [of them] We made a prophet. And We gave them of Our mercy, and We made for them a reputation of high honour.’ (19:49-50). Ishaq is therefore presented as the reward of Ibrahim's sacrifice of his family and homeland for Allah's sake.

About Ishaq's own character, the Quran says in Surah Sad: ‘And remember Our servants, Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ya'qub, those of strength and [religious] vision. Indeed, We chose them for an exclusive quality: remembrance of the home [of the Hereafter]. And indeed they are, to Us, among the chosen and outstanding.’ (38:45-47). ‘Strength and vision’, al-aydi wal-absar, is understood as strength in worship and obedience, and insight into the religion. The ‘exclusive quality’ for which they were chosen was that they remembered the Hereafter constantly and reminded others of it. This is the fullest description of Ishaq's inner life that revelation provides: a man of strong worship, clear insight and a heart fixed on the Hereafter.

The Prophet ﷺ summed up his lineage in a phrase that honours him: ‘The noble, son of the noble, son of the noble, son of the noble: Yusuf son of Ya'qub son of Ishaq son of Ibrahim.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari 3390). Ishaq stands in the middle of that chain, the son of a prophet, the father of a prophet, and a prophet himself.

The Quran mentions Ishaq by name seventeen times, yet it narrates no single event of his adult life. He appears at his birth, in the lists of prophets, in the creed of Ya'qub's sons and in the description of his character. For this reason, much of what is told about Ishaq in popular books comes from the Torah and the traditions of the People of the Book, and the Muslim historians, including Ibn Kathir, transmitted some of it while marking it as such. A reader of the Qasas should know how to distinguish the two.

From the People of the Book come the following reports: that Ishaq married a woman named Rifqa (Rebecca) from the family of his father's relatives in Harran; that she was barren at first and bore twin sons after prayer, Esau (al-'Is) and Ya'qub; that Ishaq favoured Esau and Rifqa favoured Ya'qub; that in his old age Ishaq lost his sight; and that there was a dispute over his blessing in which Ya'qub received what Esau expected, after which Ya'qub left for Harran. Ibn Kathir relates this account in his Qasas and his history, but he introduces it with the words that it is from the People of the Book, and he does not assert it as established. The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Do not believe the People of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say: We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari 4485). The scholars allow such reports to be narrated for context, provided they do not contradict the Quran and are not made articles of belief.

Some of these reports do in fact sit uneasily with Islamic principles. The idea that a prophet could be deceived into giving a blessing meant for one son to another, or that a prophet's son would obtain a blessing by deception, is rejected by Muslim scholars as unbefitting the rank of prophets, whom Allah protects from such things. Ibn Kathir himself notes points where these narrations should be treated with caution. What the Quran establishes about Ya'qub is that he was a prophet given to Ibrahim ‘in addition’ (21:72), a man of strength and vision (38:45), and that his sons at his death affirmed the God of ‘your fathers, Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq’ (2:133). There is no deception in the Quranic Ya'qub.

The view, found in some early reports, that Ishaq was the son whom Ibrahim was commanded to sacrifice, has already been discussed in the story of Ismail. Ibn Kathir devotes a section to it and concludes that it is derived from the People of the Book and that the Quran itself points to Ismail. He adds that some of these reports were tampered with to claim the honour of the sacrifice for the Children of Israel. The sound position, which the great majority of later scholars adopt, is that the sacrifice was Ismail, and that Ishaq was the separate glad tiding that followed it (37:112).

As for Ishaq's lifespan and burial, the historians say he lived around one hundred and eighty years and was buried beside his father Ibrahim in Hebron (al-Khalil) in Palestine, where the tombs of Ibrahim, Ishaq, Ya'qub and their wives are shown to this day. These are reports of history and local tradition; the Quran and the Sunnah do not specify them. Allah's words about him are enough: ‘a prophet from among the righteous’ (37:112), ‘among the chosen and outstanding’ (38:47).

The scarcity of narrated detail about Ishaq is itself a lesson. Allah did not need to tell us the events of his life to make his rank clear. Some prophets are known by their trials, like Ayyub, and some by their struggles with a nation, like Musa. Ishaq is known by his place in the chain of mercy: the son promised to a barren woman, the father of a nation of prophets, the man whose heart was fixed on the Hereafter.

The legacy of Ishaq is the legacy of a line. His son Ya'qub, also called Israel, had twelve sons, and from them came the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel. Through that line came Yusuf, Musa, Harun, Dawud, Sulaiman, Ilyas, Al-Yasa', Yunus, Zakariya, Yahya and Isa, peace be upon them all. When the Quran says of Ibrahim that Allah ‘placed in his descendants prophethood and scripture’ (29:27), the larger part of that fulfilment passed through Ishaq.

The Quran includes Ishaq in the creed that unites all believers. ‘Say: We have believed in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Ya'qub and the Descendants...’ (Al-Baqarah 2:136; see also 3:84 and 4:163). A Muslim is required to believe in Ishaq as a prophet, to honour him and to make no distinction between him and the other messengers. He is not a figure belonging to one community; he belongs to the faith of Ibrahim, which the Quran claims for all who submit to Allah: ‘Or do you say that Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Ya'qub and the Descendants were Jews or Christians? Say: Are you more knowing or is Allah?’ (2:140).

Yusuf, his grandson, invoked him in prison when he explained his faith to his two companions: ‘And I have followed the religion of my fathers, Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ya'qub. And it was not for us to associate anything with Allah.’ (Yusuf 12:38). This is the only place in the Quran where a prophet speaks of Ishaq by name in direct speech, and it is a statement of pure monotheism: the religion of Ishaq was the religion of Ibrahim, with no partners for Allah.

In the Sunnah, the Prophet ﷺ told of a man who asked him which people were the noblest, and he answered: ‘The most noble among them in Allah's sight is the most God-fearing. If you are not asking about this, then the noblest of people was Yusuf, the prophet of Allah, son of the prophet of Allah, son of the prophet of Allah, son of the intimate friend of Allah.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari 3353). The chain of prophethood that he described runs from Ibrahim through Ishaq to Ya'qub to Yusuf. Ishaq's nobility, in this hadith, is both inherited and transmitted.

From Ishaq's story a believer can draw several lessons. The first is that Allah's gifts are not bound by natural limits: a barren woman past the age of childbearing was given a son and promised a grandson. The second is that despair of Allah's mercy is a trait of the misguided, as Ibrahim said when he received the news (15:56). The third is that lineage from the righteous is a trust, and that the descendants of a prophet may be doers of good or wrongdoers; only faith and deeds decide (37:113).

The fourth lesson is in the quality for which Ishaq was chosen: the remembrance of the Hereafter. Allah says that He purified Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ya'qub with this quality (38:46), and it is a quality available to anyone. A believer who keeps the Hereafter before his eyes shares in what made these three prophets ‘among the chosen and outstanding’.

The last lesson concerns how to read the stories of the prophets. Ishaq's story, with its many reports from outside the Quran, teaches the reader to hold firmly to what Allah and His Messenger have said, to pass on other reports as history without affirming them, and to reject whatever would lower a prophet beneath the dignity Allah gave him. In that discipline, learned from the ‘boy of knowledge’, there is knowledge for all who come after.