Reflections on the Story of Prophet Abraham AS mentioned in Genesis: 12: 10-20

Abstract

This paper is the study of a well-known story of Prophet Abraham peace be upon him recorded and mentioned in Judeo-Christian Muslim traditions. This story is mentioned in the book of Genesis: 12:10-20 and in Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, the most authentic book after the Qurʾan in Islamic Tradition. This study is divided in four parts: first part is related to its textual grammatical analysis, the second part is related to its literal translation to authenticate the story’s connotation, third part is related to exegesis of the concerned text in the light of exegetes and fourth part is related to the study of Islamic tradition on the story concerned. This paper argues that the story of Abraham peace be upon him under investigation Muslim scholars are divided on accepting the story mentioned in Tafsīr and ḥadīth literature. The considerable number of Classical Muslim scholars accept the story in the way that it would not contradict the basic principles of Islam regarding the chastity and lofty character of the prophets as this story attributes telling a lie to Prophet Abraham AS. The Modern Muslim Scholar Maulānā Maududī rejects the story as it attributes telling a lie to Prophet Abraham peace be upon him by calling his wife named Sārah as his sister. This paper concludes that both the opinions about this story may be reconciled and accepted in a way that would not affect the chastity of the Prophets.