child because she herself was barren. After Hagar
where she encountered an
angel
who told her to
return to Abraham’s household to give birth to
their son Ishmael (Gen. 16:1–16). The second
story takes place after Sarah gave birth to her
own child, Isaac, and expelled Hagar and Ishmael
into the desert once again because Sarah did not
want Ishmael to share Abraham’s inheritance
with her son. When Hagar and Ishmael ran out
of food and water, the angel of God provided
them a well of water and promised to make the
descendants of Ishmael “a great nation” (Gen. 21:
8–21). Modern scholars think that these stories
were an attempt by Hebrew authors living in the
10th century
b
.
c
.
e
. to explain the origins of the
b
edoUin
nomads of Syria-Palestine. These stories
were later commented and expanded upon by
Jewish rabbis.
Islamic narratives about Hagar were included
in q
Uran
commentaries (but not in the Quran
itself), “tales of the prophets” literature (Qisas al-
anbiya), and early histories of m
ecca
. These sto-
ries were transposed to the Arab-Islamicate milieu
from rabbinic Judaism between the eighth and
11th centuries
c
.
e
. Reflecting this new context,
Hagar, for example, was called both an Egyptian
and a Copt (an Egyptian Christian). The wilder-
ness where Hagar and Ishmael were exiled was
identified with the ancient site of Mecca in Arabia
and the angel of God with g
abriel
, the angelic
messenger to Muslim prophets. According to
Islamic accounts, Hagar, in her search for water,
ran between Safa and Marwa, two hills adjacent
to the future site of the k
aaba
in Mecca, before
Gabriel provided her and her son with water
from the spring of z
amzam
. Hagar’s search was
memorialized in the seven runnings performed by
pilgrims to Mecca between Safa and Marwa dur-
ing the Greater and Lesser Pilgrimages (the
haJJ
and the
umra
). In a similar manner, the location
of the sacrifice of Abraham was transferred to the
Mecca territory, and in one Islamic version of the
story, s
atan
attempted to recruit Hagar to dissuade
Abraham from sacrificing his son. She steadfastly
refused. Both Hagar and Ishmael reportedly died
in Mecca and were buried next to the Kaaba in a
place called the Hijr, which remains part of the
Sacred Mosque precinct today.
Both Hagar and Ishmael were included in the
genealogies of the Arab peoples and the prophet
Muhammad, thus making them part of the Abra-
hamic heritage. Muhammad was once reported to
have said to one of his companions, “When you
conquer e
gypt
, be kind to its people, for they have
the covenant of protection and are your kinfolk.”
This was because Hagar, the mother of Ishmael,
was an Egyptian.
See also a
rabic
langUage
and
literatUre
;
chil
-
dren
; c
opts
and
the
c
optic
c
hUrch
.
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