Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of decades, you will likely have noticed the increasing use of the term “Abrahamic religions.” It refers to the three major faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

This term is bandied around by people who seem to have little appreciation of what the real relationship all these religions have to the story of Abraham.

The designation of “Abrahamic” is surely intended to emphasise solidarity between Christianity, Judaism and Islam as if they are three branches of the same faith in the same way as perhaps Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists are.

This assertion does not stand up well to scrutiny.

Abraham appears several times in Islam’s holiest book, The Koran. Several other biblical prophets are mentioned in this book, yet each time, it tells a story about them with an entirely different focus to the one in the Bible.

According to Islamic belief, these stories were told to the prophet Mohammed alone by the angel Gabriel, and he relayed them to his followers.

When we know the story of Mohammed, we find that the telling of these biblical stories varies considerably from the original Bible tales but conveniently bolsters the worldview that Mohammed was promoting at the time.

In short, Mohammed was preaching a monotheistic faith with a hidden God to people who worshipped idols. The revelations that came to Mohammed were invariably favourable to his message and/or situation at the time. They were, however, in the case of the Bible stories, at odds with the Bible itself.

Mohammed squared this circle by claiming that the ancient texts of the Jews and Christians containing God’s words had been fraudulently changed by them. No evidence has ever existed to support this worldview, and no known version of Islam has ever been recorded prior to Mohammed’s revelations.

Despite this, Surah (Chapter) 2 of the Koran has the following to say about Abraham and some of his descendants:

(Note that the commentary in brackets is supplied with the original Koran in the Hilali–Khan translation. This commentary (or Tafsir) is from Ibn Kathir, who is possibly the most revered Koranic commentator in history. Also note: a ‘jinn’ is the Islamic name for ghosts or spirits that inhabit the earth along with humans).

131. When his Lord said to him, “Submit (i.e. be a Muslim)!” He said, “I have submitted myself (as a Muslim) to the Lord of the ‘Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists).”
132. And this (submission to God, Islâm) was enjoined by Ibrâhim (Abraham) upon his sons and by Ya’qûb (Jacob), (saying), “O my sons! God has chosen for you the (true) religion, then die not except in the Faith of Islâm (as Muslims — Islâmic Monotheism).”
133. Or were you witnesses when death approached Ya’qûb (Jacob)? When he said unto his sons, “What will you worship after me?” They said, “We shall worship your Ilâh (Allah — God), the Ilâh (God) of your fathers, Ibrâhim (Abraham), Ismâ’il (Ishmael), Ishâque (Isaac), One Ilâh (God), and to Him we submit (in Islâm).”

A little further down the Koran also claims, without evidence, that the Jews and Christians had knowingly falsified the Bible to hide evidence about Islam.

140. Or say you that Ibrâhim (Abraham), Ismâ’il (Ishmael), Ishâque (Isaac), Ya’qûb (Jacob) and Al-Asbât [the twelve sons of Ya’qûb (Jacob)] were Jews or Christians? Say, “Do you know better or does God (knows better…; that they all were Muslims)? And who is more unjust than he who conceals the testimony [i.e. to believe in Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him when he comes, written in their Books.]

The language may seem somewhat obtuse, but that last sentence is a claim that Mohammed was prophesied in the Bible, but that Jews and Christians removed this reference.

In combination with other verses and the clear instruction of revered Islamic scholars, there is no doubt within the Islamic texts that Jews and Christians fraudulently altered the bible (in exactly the same way) and that Mohammed’s version of events (which has no historic reference and conveniently validates all of his claims) is the correct one.

The Islamic claims to Abraham are therefore already at odds with the source documents of Christianity and Judaism.

It is also worth noting that, whilst Abraham’s story appears in several places, it forms a very small part of the Koran, which is the smaller, though important, part of Islamic doctrine.

The Sira, and particularly the many Hadith, are far larger bodies of work that are essential to understanding Islam, yet have little to say about Abraham.

There is a belief amongst Islamic scholars that the Arabs were descended from Abraham through Hagar and Keturah, amongst others. Mohammed did claim, again without evidence, that Abraham had built the Kabbah.

This is not based on the biblical tradition, although Arabs are Semitic people like Jews, so Arab descent through Abraham is not impossible. That said, Arabs are in fact a minority of Muslims worldwide today.

In Judaism, Abraham holds centrality ethnically as he is strongly believed to be the father of the Jewish people which is backed up with detailed family histories in the Bible itself.

In a religious sense, though, Abraham would seem rather less important than Moses, who authored the Torah, relayed the Ten Commandments, and led the Israelites out of slavery and towards the Promised Land.

It is also important to note that the Torah is just a part of the Jewish religion which is often overshadowed in study and practical implementation by the much larger Talmud.

According to the Jewish Historical Institute:

“….the Talmud is the staple of Jewish religion after the destruction of the Second Temple and the primary source of halakha, religious law. 

[The Talmud is] a central pillar for understanding anything about Judaism”. This clearly shows, in a single sentence, just how important the Talmud actually is; it isn’t ‘just another religious book’, but a way of life. It is the link between the Torah and Jewish practise and beliefs………..”

“Yeshiva students spend hours a day analysing the Talmud – it is a massive source of knowledge that can be used to not only study, but to come up with one’s own questions and answers, too.” 

The Talmud apparently has a whopping 1,200,000 Jewish prophets.

So, whilst Abraham is revered as the father of the Jewish people, he is not really the central figure of the Jewish faith but just one of a number of Jewish prophets. Having said that, the Jews do have a far more credible claim to him than the Muslims.

Then we come to Christianity, which takes its Old Testament of 39 books (with some slight variation depending on the denomination) from the Hebrew Tanakh.

In this case, Christians have little or no ethnic claim to Abraham as an ancestor, being a universalist religion without ethnic boundaries.

We should also appreciate that whilst Abraham’s biblical message of faith in God above all else is discussed in the New Testament in places like Romans 4 and Hebrews 11, the original story appears early in the Old Testament, which, to some extent, is overwritten or abrogated by the New Testament.

For instance, the blood sacrifices demanded of Abraham were rendered obsolete in Christian doctrine through God’s sacrifice of His son.

What is interesting to note, however, is that the Bible is essentially the totality of Christian theology.

That is not to say that there are no important interpretations or even injunctions, particularly in the Catholic faith.

However, the Christian tradition generally, and Protestantism in particular, have favoured the view that the Bible is the source of wisdom for all Christians to follow.

This is emphasised in expressions such as “the Gospel truth”.

For this reason, stories such as Abraham’s are at the forefront of Christian belief.

At least quantitatively then, though not qualitatively due to the assumed descent aspect of Judaism and the Arab people, taking the story of Abraham as a percentage of total doctrine, his story makes up a greater share of total doctrine in Christianity than the other two religions.

Taking this into account, it should also be acknowledged that, as with Judaism and Islam, Abraham’s story is a small part of the total doctrine in Christianity, and he is not the central figure in the religion.

The emphasis on truth mentioned above is a major feature that has set Christianity apart from other religions. Jesus’ declaration that “I am the truth” was not just an idle boast.

Jesus’ prediction to Peter on his last night before the arrest was that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed. Whilst he forgave Peter, there was a very real implication—that Peter should have told the truth, even though it may well have been fatal for him.

This is backed up by further instructions such as Matthew 5:37, which tells us to “let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”

Other teachings include John 8:44 when Jesus speaks of Satan, declaring that, “there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

This obsession with truth and hatred of lies, combined with a relative freedom outside of strict religious observance, led to a Christian Europe which began to pull away from the rest of the world from the late Middle Ages onwards.

Monasteries, in many cases, morphed into centres of knowledge and learning, or even into universities.

The incredible creativity this inspired created wealthy and desirable nations in Europe, and later in Israel, which Muslims now wish to move to. Unfortunately, this desire is not steeped in gratitude and respect for the host nations.

Rather, in many cases, it expresses itself in triumphalist contempt and a desire to take over and remake these societies in the image of the failed states which so many Islamic societies have become.

This is sometimes undertaken using the preferred method for advancing Islam through the ages, which is to say the sword, or its modern, more technological and rather noisier iterations.

In many instances, it is pursued through political means, advocating with other minority groups for the abolition of Christian-based concepts such as free speech and the rule of law, as well as, of course, promoting open borders and non-discriminatory immigration.

It seems to me that this insistence on a supposed link through Abraham is little more than a ploy to beguile gullible Westerners who are ignorant of other religions and have little inclination to learn.

It suggests, rather conveniently, that Islam, Judaism and Christianity are all simply different interpretations of the same faith when this is not the case at all.

There was no ambiguity when Jesus declared in John 14:6 that “No one comes to the Father except through me”.

Also note that the very first of The Ten Commandments states clearly that: I am the Lord thy God and thou shalt have no other Gods before me.

This is a stern warning to eschew other gods and other religions, even if they arrive wearing sheep’s clothing with an Abrahamic veneer. Religious leaders who cannot grasp this simple first rule should perhaps consider a career change.

Those who have studied other faiths, and particularly Islam, in theory and practice, will understand with crystal clarity why this is Rule Number One and why tolerance and inclusivity do not feature in the other nine.