Genesis 11-28

These 17 chapters in the Genesis were basically the story of Abraham. Many people are familiar with it, where this well known biblical character has a conversation with God and establishes many principals. What surprises me the most though, is how Abraham is probably the only religious figure that is respected by three major religions in this world. Christianity, Muslim, and Judaism all have a connection with this man in one way or another.

I say this because Abraham was the man who initiated many traditions of these three different religions, such as the Jewish and Muslim tradition of circumcision. Many Jews know him best as a grandfather whose grandson Jacob actually founded Israel, but Muslims know him as one of the most important prophets. He appears in all three books of the Bible, Torah, and the Koran. Jesus mentions Abraham in the Gospels, but it was Paul who concentrated more on him. He did it primarily through Abraham's original response to God's Call and through the old man's faith. Islam concluded that God chooses his people on grounds of commitment rather than lineage, meaning that Abraham's only true followers are true believers, or Muslims. The Koran´s version of the story is a bit different from the Bible and Torah, but in all of them Abraham is a figure to look up at.


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1003355-6,00.html