Abrahamic religion

Abrahamic religions is a term used in the study of comparative religion to describe those religions deriving from a common ancient Semitic tradition and traced by their adherents to Abraham, a patriarch whose life is narrated in the Hebrew Bible, and who is also important in the New Testament, and the Qur'an. This forms a large group of related, largely monotheistic religions, generally held to include Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and comprises about half of the world's religious adherents.

Patriarchs

There are six notable figures in the Bible prior to Abraham: Adam and Eve, their sons Cain and Abel, Enoch, and Noah, his great-grandson, who saved his own family and all animal life in Noah's Ark. These people did not leave any recorded moral code behind, though later Rabbinical Judaism ascribed the seven Noahide Laws to the family of Noah. For the most part, they serve simply as good or bad role models of behavior without specific indication of how one interprets their actions in any religion.

Related Topics:
Adam and Eve - Cain - Abel - Enoch - Noah - Noah's Ark - Moral code - Noahide Laws - Religion

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In the Book of Genesis, Abraham is specifically instructed to leave the historical Mesopotamian city of Ur so that God will "make of you a great nation", and his travels are well documented. Burton Visotzky, an ethicist, wrote Genesis of Ethics to explore the detailed implications of these adventures for a modern ethics.

Related Topics:
Book of Genesis - Mesopotamian - Ur - Burton Visotzky - Ethicist - Genesis of Ethics - Ethics

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According to the Bible, the patriarch Abraham (or Ibrahim, in Arabic) had eight sons by three wives: one (Ishmael) by his wife's servant Hagar, one (Isaac) by his wife Sarah, and six by another wife Keturah. Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Baha'u'llah, and other prominent figures all claim to be descendants of Abraham through one of these sons.

Related Topics:
Abraham - Ibrahim - Arabic - Ishmael - Isaac - Sarah - Keturah - Baha'u'llah

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Jews see Abraham as the progenitor of the people of Israel, through his descendants Isaac and Jacob. Christians view Abraham as an important exemplar of faith, and a spiritual ancestor of Jesus, a Jew and the Son of God, through whom God promised to bless all the families of the earth. In addition, Muslims refer to Christians and Jews, among others, as fellow People of the Book ("the Book" symbolizes divine scripture, such as the Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur'an), and they are forbidden from taking them as slaves. They see Abraham as one of the most important of the many prophets sent by God. Thus Abraham represents for some, a point of commonality which they seek to emphasize by means of this terminology.

Related Topics:
Jew - Israel - Isaac - Jacob - Jesus - Son of God - People of the Book - Tanakh

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So rather than being the sole "founding figure", Abraham is more correctly described as the first figure in Genesis that (a) is clearly not of direct divine origin such as Adam and Eve are claimed to be; (b) is accepted by the three major desert monotheistic faiths as playing some major role in the founding of their common civilization; (c) is not claimed as the male genetic forebear of all humans on the Earth (as Noah is, in more literal interpretations); and (d) is quite well-documented.

Related Topics:
Genesis - Adam and Eve - Civilization - Earth - Noah

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Islam and Judaism also treat Adam and Noah as minor prophets, and recognize that there were possibly other prophets who are unknown today.

Related Topics:
Islam - Adam - Noah - Prophets

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