The Qur'an as the Criterion · The Prophets Restored
Abraham: she is my sister
In short
- 1.The Bible: it may go well with me for your sake, and my life may be spared because of you (Gen 12:13).
- 2.The Qur'an: he came to his Lord with a sound heart (Q 37:84).
- 3.The Qur'anic Ibrahim confronts a king to his face over God's sovereignty (Q 2:258).
The claim being examined
Genesis 12 and 20 have Abraham twice present his wife as his sister to protect himself, and she is taken into a ruler's household.
The Islamic position
The Qur'an says Ibrahim, peace be upon him, came to his Lord with a sound heart, and shows him fearless before kings and fire alike.
Analysis
The episode appears twice for Abraham (Gen 12:10-20 in Egypt, Gen 20:1-18 with Abimelech) and once for Isaac (Gen 26:6-11), which itself suggests a repeated literary motif. In each case the patriarch asks his wife to describe herself as his sister so that he will be treated well and his life spared; in Genesis 12 Pharaoh takes Sarah into his house and Abram is rewarded with livestock and servants. The Qur'anic Ibrahim is defined by the opposite disposition. He argues with his own father over idols (Q 19:41-48), destroys the idols and stands trial for it (Q 21:57-67), is thrown into the fire rather than recant (Q 21:68-69), and disputes with the king who claimed to give life and death, silencing him with the argument about the sun (Q 2:258). Q 37:83-84 sums him up: "And indeed of his party was Abraham, when he came to his Lord with a sound heart" — qalb salim, a heart free of defect. Note that Islam does record one narration in which the Prophet, peace be upon him, mentions three statements of Ibrahim that were forms of tawriyah, indirect speech, including one about Sarah (Sahih al-Bukhari 3358, sahih) — but in that narration the context is protecting her from a tyrant, not obtaining benefit at her expense, and the Qur'an itself carries none of the Genesis framing.
Side by side
| The Bible | Genesis 12:13-16 | Abram asks Sarai to say she is his sister so it may go well with him; she is taken into Pharaoh's house and Abram is given livestock and servants. |
|---|---|---|
| The Qur'an | 37:83-84; 2:258; 21:68-69 | Ibrahim comes to his Lord with a sound heart, argues down a king who claimed to give life and death, and accepts the fire rather than recant. |
From the Qur'an
إِذْ جَاءَ رَبَّهُ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ
When he came to his Lord with a sound heart.
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَاجَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رَبِّهِ
Have you not considered the one who argued with Abraham about his Lord?
From the Bible
Hebrew
Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.
Read it in their BibleHebrew
And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
Read it in their BibleFrom the Sunnah
Abraham did not tell a lie except on three occasions, two of them concerning God, and the third when he said of Sarah, she is my sister.
Sources
Sahih al-Bukhari 3358 · Qur'an 37:83-84; 21:51-70 · Qur'an 37:84; Genesis 12:10-20
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