Was Ishmael the Sacrifice?



Dear Catholic Exchange:

I recently attended a Beth Moore Bible Study on the Patriarchs. (It was very good, by the way.) One thing that she brought up has me scratching my head. I have read some of the Church's teaching about the religion of Islam. However, it seems that the entire religion is based on a lie — that Abraham was told to sacrifice Ishmael, not Isaac. I have done some research and it seems that Muslims apparently regard our Bible account as wrong & inspired by Satan! How does the Church address this?

Ms. Mullen

Dear Ms. Mullen,

Peace in Christ!

The Church has always taught that the Sacred Scriptures are inerrant (free from error). Our Faith Fact Taking God at His Word: A Catholic Understanding of Biblical Inerrancy should prove helpful in understanding the Catholic view of Scripture, particularly when facing challenges from other religions.

The Catholic view of Islam is summed up in Catechism nos. 839-845 (especially 841) and in Nostra Aetate, the Vatican II Declaration on Non-Christian Religions (especially paragraph 3).

The Church does not provide specific responses to every Muslim claim about the Church. What she does is affirm and esteem those things which Muslims and Christians hold in common (e.g. believing in one Creator, zeal for justice), rejecting nothing which is true, while denying those Islamic teachings which are false (e.g. the altering of salvation history) and affirming the truths which Islam lacks (e.g. the Trinity and Incarnation).

Here are a few additional points to consider:

The simple creed of Islam is “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His prophet.” Profession of and belief in this creed makes one a Muslim, though there are varieties of Islam. Their scripture is the Qur’an (sometimes “Koran”), the writings of Muhammad which are believed to be the words of God. There are five “pillars” (or duties) of Islam: profession of faith, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage (some consider holy war, or jihad, a pillar also). Although they recognize the prophets of Judaism and Christianity (including Jesus, Who they consider a merely human prophet) and the Bible as valuable, Muslims believe that the message of these prophets and the Bible have been corrupted by Jews and Christians (who they call “people of the book”).

Although Christians and Muslims differ on many points, the primary three are salvation history, the Trinity, and the Incarnation.

Recall that the descendants of Isaac, being the true seed of Abraham, are the Jewish people. With the death of Christ, the Christians inherit this blessing in the Spirit (cf. Gal 3:10-14). The descendants of Ishmael, however, did not receive the promise of worldwide blessing, since they were no longer the offspring of Abraham (through the disinheritance of Ishmael in Gen. 21) when God made his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 22. Muslims, however, believe that it was not Ishmael who was disinherited, but Isaac. They also believe that Abraham took Ishmael and not Isaac to Moriah for sacrifice, so God’s covenant with Abraham for worldwide blessings through his offspring is for Ishmael’s descendants and not Isaac’s. If this was true, it would follow that, since Isaac was disinherited before God made the covenant with Ishmael in Genesis 22, then the blessings of Abraham would go to the descendants of Ishmael, and not those of Isaac. Why would the Muslims alter these accounts? The descendants of Ishmael are the Arabs, and by elevating his importance at the expense of Isaac, the Arabs claim that their religion of Islam is the true, superior religion. They could never make this assertion without falsifying the Genesis narrative to suit their own purposes.



The Muslim position is only defensible if one already accepts the inspiration of Muhammad; there is no other evidence (historical or scriptural) to support the belief that the Jewish account of Abraham (which significantly predates the Qur’an!) is incorrect.

Some useful resources in understanding Islam:

“An Introduction to Islam” is a two-tape set in which Catholic apologist Pat Madrid and Daniel Ali, a Catholic convert from Islam, recorded. You may order it online via www.surprisedbytruth.com. Look under the “Books and Tapes” section. You should also be able to order it through a Catholic bookstore if you have one in your area.

Robert Spencer’s Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World’s Fastest Growing Faith (Encounter Books).

For more information on the Isaac-Ishmael “question,” the Protestant website Answering-Islam.org has a variety of articles. (Note: We cannot necessarily recommend everything on the site. At the same time, their site policies reflect a concern for intellectual honesty. To learn more about the staff of Answering Islam.)

The following article argues that Muslim tradition, not the Qur’an (or Koran), identifies Ishmael as the son to be sacrificed.

Three-quarters of the way down the page, this article addresses the question, “Was Ishmael the Sacrifice?”

“Abraham and the Child of Sacrifice: Isaac or Ishmael?” This article extensively references both Muslim and Christian sources in discussing the issue.

“Eid-ul-Adha: Abraham and the Sacrifice”

“Why do the Bible and the Quran not agree?”

United in the Faith,



Sarah Rozman

Information Specialist

Catholics United for the Faith

827 North Fourth Street

Steubenville, OH 43952

800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)


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