The Story from the Vantage Point of Islam

Abstract

This chapter explores the Islamic version of the Abrahamic (Ibrahimic) sacred Story in which Ibrahim, still identified as the ‘Friend of God’ becomes also the first in the line of Islamic prophets. It is Ibrahim who first apprehends the monotheism of Allah, the central tenet of Islamic faith. Ibrahim and his son and heir (mainly referred to as Ishma’il) establish the foundational shrine to Allah, the Ka’aba in Mecca. In Islam, the sacred Story is used principally to underline the oneness of God and the legitimacy of Muslim claims that Muhammad stands in the Ibrahimic line of true prophets, indeed is the last and greatest of the prophets.