The Abraham of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity

Who Is Abraham?
By Jordan Wolfe

Who is Abraham? Was he a prophet, a teacher. the father of many nations, or the father of a belief system? Depending on how we classify Abraham we could find ourselves fighting with Islam and camping with Jews, or making faith claims with Christians. To Islam Abraham is father of Arabs, to Judaism he is the father of the Jews, to Christianity the father of faith.
In The book of Genesis the story of Abraham begins for both Judaism and Christianity. G-d calls out to Abraham and says, “Go forth from your native land, and from your fathers house and I will make you a great nation.” Abraham follows the leading of G-d and even though he does not have an heir, he is old and his wife is past the age of child bearing Abraham and his family set out for a land they did not know. The split between Islam and Judaism comes inside the argument of lineage. G-d fulfills his promise to Abraham for a son through Sarah but not until after Sarah first loses hope and gives his husband her maidservant by which he produced another heir. Ishmael is the son of the maidservant Hagar and Isaac is the one born of Sarah. Isaac is said to be the covenant blood line by the Jews.
The Muslim Arabs and even those Arabs who have not submitted to God argue that the son Ishmael which God also promised a lineage of twelve tribes is the chosen blood line not Isaac. The larger difference here though is found in that difference of belief and submission. Although bloodlines are important because of Gods covenant with Abraham the Muslims believe that commitment is more important than lineage. If you believe and submit to God then you follow Abrahams example of a surrendered life and therefore are under the covering of Allah. There are many differences aside from simply the bloodline but the basic dividing factor is that of lineage of this case because if what the Jews claim is true then the Arabs are not Gods chosen people and therefore will not have his blessing or reward.
Christianity is similar to Muslim belief in that it agrees that lineage is not the end all but rather belief. Christianity is although more so in agreement with Judaism in the account of Genesis. The Jews and Christians share the same old testament and belief in the blood line but as the apostle Paul says in his letters to the early church it is by faith that we are grafted onto the chosen people (Jews) first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. The split is there in the beliefs of Judaism and Christianity because Jews believe it is the law not grace that is the sacrifice for forgiveness of sin.
Politically each of these claims has caused great havoc throughout history and even in present day the war still rages over who is credible in their claims to this Father Abraham. There is war over land, war over practice, war over war, and war for the sake of allegiance to one party or the other. The Jews and Arabs in the middle east are ever in conflict over who really has original and justifiable claim to the land and to sacred places of worship. Some would say that there is no proof if this man even existed but millions have died over which of his sons is the rightful heir to the promise of God and now this Father of many beliefs and bloodlines is written into our history books with the stain of blood.