Hagar child Ishmael
Life
Abraham and Hagar
According to the Bible, Hagar was the Egyptian slave of Sarai, Abram's wife (whose names later became Sarah and Abraham). Sarai had been barren for a long time and sought a way to fulfill God's promise that Abram would be father of many nations, especially since they had grown old, so she offered Hagar to Abram to be his concubine.Hagar became pregnant, and tension arose between the two women. Genesis states that Hagar despised Sarai after she had conceived and "looked with contempt" on her. Sarai, with Abraham's permission, eventually dealt harshly with Hagar and so she fled. Hagar fled into the desert on her way to Shur. At a spring en route, an angel appeared to Hagar, who instructed her to return to Sarai and submit to her mistress, so that she may bear a child who "shall be a wild ass of a man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren" (Genesis 16:9 - 12). Then she was told to call her son Ishmael. Afterward, Hagar referred to God as "El Roi" (variously "god of sight"; "god saw me"; "god who appears"). She then returned to Abram and Sarai, and soon gave birth to a son, whom she named as the angel had instructed.There is no direct mention of Hagar in the Quran, which does not declare her explicitly a free woman or as a maid of Sarah or Abraham. Moreover, the notion of Hagar being a slave girl is denied by some modern scholars, who posit instead that Hagar was the daughter of the pharaoh of Egypt, thus making her a princess rather than a slave girl or a bondswoman.Islam
Hājar or Haajar (Arabic: هاجر) is the Arabic name used to identify the wife of Abraham (Arabic: Ibrāhīm) and the mother of Ishmael (Arabic: Ismā'īl). Although not mentioned by name in the Qur'an, she is referenced and alluded to via the story of her husband. She is a revered woman in the Islamic faith.According to Muslim belief, she was the Egyptian wife of Ibrāhīm. She eventually settled in the Desert of Paran with her son Ismā'īl. Hājar is honoured as an especially important matriarch of monotheism, as it was through Ismā'īl that Muhammad would come.
Some Modern Muslim scholars are of the opinion that she was never a handmaid of Sarah, rather she was a princess of Egypt who willingly followed Abraham and later married him. They further argue that Hagar and Ishmael were not cast out as claimed by Biblical narrative, but they were settled at Makkah (Paran) for the sake of Almighty Allah.Neither Sarah nor Hājar is mentioned by name in the Qur'an, but the story is traditionally understood to be referred to in a line from Ibrāhīm's prayer in Surah Ibrahim (14:37): "I have settled some of my family in a barren valley near your Sacred House." While Hājar is not named, the reader lives Hājar's predicament indirectly through the eyes of Ibrāhīm. She is also frequently mentioned in the hadith.
According to the Qisas Al-Anbiya, a collection of tales about the prophets, Hājar was the daughter of the King of Maghreb, a descendant of Islamic prophet Salih. Her father was killed by Pharaoh Dhu l-'arsh (Arabic: ذُوالْعَرْش, romanized: dhu 'l-'arsh, meaning "he/master of the throne") and she was captured and taken as a slave. Later, because of her royal blood, she was made mistress of the female slaves and given access to all of Pharaoh's wealth. Upon conversion to Ibrāhīm's faith, the Pharaoh gave Hājar to Sarah who gave her to Ibrāhīm. In this account, the name "Hājar" (called Hajar in Arabic) comes from Hā ajru-ka (Arabic: هَا أَجْرُكَ), the Arabic for "here is your recompense".According to another tradition, Hājar was the daughter of the Egyptian king, who gave her to Ibrāhīm as a wife, thinking Sarah was his sister. According to Ibn Abbas, Ismā'īl's birth to Hājar caused strife between her and Sarah, who was still barren. Ibrāhīm brought Hājar and their son to a land called Paran-aram or (Faran in Arabic, in latter days held to be the land surrounding Mecca). The objective of this journey was to "resettle" rather than "expel" Hājar. Ibrāhīm left Hājar and Ismā'īl under a tree and provided them with water. Hājar, learning that God had ordered Ibrāhīm to leave her in the desert of Paran, respected his decision. The Muslim belief is that God tested Ibrāhīm by ordering this task.Hājar soon ran out of water, and Ismā'īl, an infant by that time, began to cry from hunger and thirst. Hājar panicked and ran between two nearby hills, Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, repeatedly in search for water. After her seventh run, an angel appeared over the location of the Zamzam and then hit the ground with his heel (or his wing) and caused a miraculous well to spring out of the ground. This is called the Zamzam Well and is located a few metres from the Kaaba in Mecca.The incident of her running between the Al-Safa and Al-Marwah hills is remembered by Muslims when they perform their pilgrimage (Hajj) at Mecca. Part of the pilgrimage is to run seven times between the hills, in commemoration of Hājar's courage and faith in God as she searched for water in the desert (which is believed to have then miraculously appeared from the Zamzam Well), and to symbolize the celebration of motherhood in Islam. To complete the task, some Muslims also drink from the Zamzam Well and take some of the water back home from pilgrimage in memory of Hājar.
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