The sons of Abraham

Moses was a descendant of Abraham.  He gave the world the Torah, which he said was based on revelations given to him by God.  Judaism is based on the teachings contained in this book.

Muhammad was a descendant of Abraham.  He gave the world the Koran, which he said was based on revelations given to him by God.  Islam is based on the teachings contained in this book.

The similarities between these two aren’t just a coincidence.

Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael.  Moses was a descendant of Isaac and Muhammad was a descendant of Ishmael.

The Bible’s record of Abraham’s life begins in Genesis 12.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3

God promised to make a great nation of Abraham.  In order for this promise to be fulfilled Abraham would have to have children and for a long time his wife Sarah remained childless.  Abraham  had a son by Sarah’s servant Hagar and named him Ishmael but God told him that Sarah herself would have a son and that the promises God had made to Abraham would be fulfilled through him.

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Genesis 17:15-16

Sarah eventually had the promised son and named him Isaac.  She then demanded that Abraham send Ishmael and his mother away.

Sarah said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”

And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
Genesis 21:10-12

God here confirmed what he had said earlier, that the promises he made to Abraham would be fulfilled through Isaac, not Ishmael.  This proves that Moses, the descendant of Isaac, and not Muhammad, the descendant of Ishmael, was the true messenger of God.

The Jews were chosen by God to prepare the way for the Messiah.  He would die as a sacrifice for people’s sins and then rise from the dead.  He would also be the king of the Jews and establish a worldwide kingdom in which everyone would worship God.

Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah.  When he came he did die as a sacrifice for our sins and as a result anyone who repents and puts his faith in him can be forgiven.  But the Jews refused to accept him as their king.  As a result he turned from the Jews and established a new body, the church, which is made up of all, both Jews and gentiles, who put their faith in him.

God will fulfill all of his promises to the Jews despite their rejection of the Messiah.  In order for this to happen Jesus must return.  But before that time the Jews will be deceived by a false Messiah who is also known as the Antichrist.  Jesus said,

I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
John 5:43

The Antichrist will be an agent of Satan and Satan tries to deceive people by imitating God.  God chose Abraham’s son Isaac to be the ancestor of the Messiah.  Satan chose Abraham’s other son Ishmael to be the ancestor of the Antichrist.  Muhammad and the Koran play the same role in Satan’s plan that Moses and the Torah do in God’s plan.  Just as Jews look forward to the coming of a Messiah, Muslims are waiting for a man known as the Mahdi, who will cause the whole world to be converted to Islam.  Many Bible students believe the Mahdi is the Antichrist who is foretold in the New Testament.

Islamic antichrist? Will the antichrist be a Muslim?

Comparing The Biblical Antichrist And The Mahdi

Jews believe the Messiah will be a Jew and Muslims believe the Mahdi will be an Arab.  At first it appears that this makes it impossible that the Antichrist and the Mahdi can be the same person, but Jews consider anyone born of a Jewish mother to be Jewish and Arabs consider anyone born of an Arab father to be Arab.  If the Antichrist has an Arab father and a Jewish mother he will be both an Arab and a Jew and can claim to be both Mahdi and Messiah.

He will come as a peacemaker and will establish a treaty between the Jews and their enemies.

And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.
Daniel 9:27

This treaty will enable the Jews to resume the sacrifices commanded by the law of Moses but in the last half of the seven year treaty they will be forced to stop the sacrifices.  Second Thessalonians 2:3,4 describes how he will do this.

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

When the Antichrist demands that he be worshipped the Jews will realize he isn’t the Messiah.   But how will Muslims react?  The Bible doesn’t tell us anything about this but since they reject the idea of worshipping a man as strongly as the Jews do they will probably realize that he isn’t their Mahdi and like the Jews will refuse to worship him.  It is even possible that when Jesus returns the Muslims as well as the Jews will come to believe in him.

When told that Ishmael would not be the one through whom God would fulfill his promises Abraham prayed for him.

And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
Genesis 17:18-20

Muslims are the spiritual descendants of Ishmael so their conversion would be an answer to that prayer.