Is Ishmael the Father of Islam?
January 31st, 2009 by Brian
Genesis 17:20Â As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. [ESV]
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(For those of you who don’t like the ESV, ( 🙂 ) here’s the NAS: “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.)
In the past, and again recently, I have heard some, when referring to this verse, stating that it is the Arabs AND ISLAM, that is the fulfillment of this promise. I do wonder whether that is true. I can see that it could be the Arabs, since they are an ethnic group, or the Turks, as others have said; but Islam is a religion that encompasses many different ethnic groups in many parts of the world. Just wondering if anyone has some thoughts on this.