Call me Ishmael

I am reading this great book the Hakawati, a story ostensibly about a son’s journey back to Beirut to be by his father’s deathbed. A hakawati is a story teller, a poet that weaves together this contemporary narrative of his life with the myths and tales that are the foundations of many religions, especially those of the Middle East, Jewish, Christian, Sunni, Shiite (Muslim). It is interesting because some of the stories are so familiar, dressed up by the hakawati to appear new and fresh, others are familiar themes told from new perspectives, and finally there are so many I have never heard before and want to hear again and again.

One particular story that caught my eye was the tale of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and his wife’s Egyptian slave girl, Hagar. It falls into that category of familiar themes told from new perspectives, as the story related in the book recounts the tale of Ishmael from the Muslim pespective. Ishmael is said to be an ancestor of the Prophet M., the first-born son of Abraham, the Muslim tradition holds that it was he, and not his brother Isaac, who was taken by Abraham to be sacrificed atop a mountain. A quick search online confirms a few scant facts about Ishmael, and added that the Bahá'í faith also believed that the Prophet M. was a descendant of Ishmael and that Ishmael was also the used as the sacrifice, (though it seems to say it doesn’t matter one bit whether is was Isaac or Ishmael as either could have been used as a symbol) I checked these facts out with a Bahá'í friend who quoted a favorable Bahá'í text and added “Have you read the Koran passages?” (This friend is also a Johnnie, and Johnnies love to reference primary sources)

I love discovering alternate endings to stories, especially ones as old as the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael. So I read the Koran and the Bible passages, and, just for good measure, because it mentions Hagar, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Starting with the bible, I think we can sum up the Ishmael story in this way. Abrahams’ wife Sara, unable to produce a male heir, offers her slave girl, Hagar, as a surrogate mother, only to become jealous when Hagar becomes pregnant. She becomes abusive of Hagar, who runs away. God stop Hagar and tell her to return home and promises, her child will have “too many descendants to be counted.” Second, god makes a covenant with Abraham, and tells him his wife Sara will have a son who will be the progenitor of great kings of many nations, Abraham stands up for Ishmael, and God reassures Abraham that Ishmael will be taken care of, again, god will give Ishmael many descendants. Abraham obeys and circumcises every male in the household including himself and Ishmael. Finally, Isaac and Ishmael are playmates and Sara objects and tells Abraham to send Ishmael and his mother away, Abraham acquiesces and God promises they will be taken care of and will be the leader of a great nation. Cast into the desert, and dying of thirst Hagar pleas to God who sends an angel to protect them and reassure them a fourth time that they will be the makers of a great nation. Upon lifting Ishmael from the sand, Hagar discovers a spring beneath the boy that sustains them. God tells Hagar that Ishmael will live a hard life, and that he will have twelve sons, each of which will be a king in his own right.

It was interesting rereading the Merchant of Venice because it frequently makes references to the dichotomy between Jews and Christians, an allegory between Jewish Law and Christian Love on the one hand and a bond that exists between the two traditions on the other. Shakespeare is probably drawing inspiration from the Pauline letter to the Romans where the traditional case for this shared heritage is interpreted by the Apostle Paul. In Romans, Paul talks of Divine favor as having passed from the Jews to The Christian, However, he cautions his fellow Christians that the Jews still remain the Biblical “Chosen People of God” and that they will eventually be returned to a place of favor. Paul likens the Christian faith to a branch grafted to an olive tree and reminds Christians to be mindful of their origins.

In Galatians Paul further explains the story of Sara and Hagar as an allegory in which the women represent two covenants: Hagar proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves as representing the old Testament and Sara “corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother,” Or the New Testament.

I am not sure I can get on board with this reading, for one, the Gospel Mathew 5, 17-20 reminds Christians of the importance of obeying of the Old Law, which remains itself to be perfectly fulfilled. And until "all things are fulfilled," and as long as “Heaven and Earth endure,” we must continue to respectfully observe this Law. Suggesting that Christian Love is not the immediate fulfillment of Jewish Law. Rather, they coexist seemingly for the purpose of mutual fulfillment. This co-existence of Love and Law seems to reconcile one another suggesting that Love, i.e., spiritual freedom, and Law, i.e., moral responsibility, must coexist in human relationships.

Again, a close reading of the Genesis account of Ishmael reveals that God thinks very highly of Ishmael and never intends to abandon him, or allow him to fall into harm. On the contrary God goes to great lengths to protect this child of Abraham and in the process draws parallel between Ishmael and other Old Testament figures including Moses with the image of a spring rising in the desert, Jacob with twelve sons, and Isaac with the language of a leader of great nations.

Rather than an allegorical figure representing the Old Testament, Ishmael seems to represent those people who have, in the words of the poet Frost “Taken the road less traveled.” Far from being alien, these people share many of the same basic beliefs, and rather than incurring Gods punishment and admonition, God delights in these people and raises up the faithful among them. The story of Ishmael then, in my mind, is one of tolerance, faith and piety.

In a world where borders seem to shrink and evaporate as cultures and consciences are pressed ever closer together, the story Ishmael, one of an indissoluble bond of filial piety and mutual respect, has something to teach us all.