إبراهيم
Ibrāhīm
Prophet
The friend of God and father of prophets, honoured by Muslims, Jews and Christians.
What it means
The Quran calls him “a nation in himself” (16:120) and God’s friend (4:125). It tells how he broke his people’s idols (21:51–70), was cast into a fire that God made “cool and safe” (21:69), and with his son Ishmael raised the foundations of the Kaaba (2:127). He is named in the daily prayer, which asks blessings on Muhammad as God blessed Abraham.
Often misunderstood as
That the Quran’s Abraham contradicts Genesis, as in his father’s name or in which son was offered.
What the sources say
The Quran says Abraham “was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a ḥanīf, a Muslim, submitting to God” (3:67), so that Jews, Christians and Muslims share him. The Quran does not name the son he was told to sacrifice (37:99–113), and early scholars were divided, some naming Isaac and later most naming Ishmael. On his father’s name see Azar.