Asma LAMRABET

Sarah and Hagar undoubtedly symbolize the two women, ancestors of monotheism: Sarah is the mother of Ishaq (Isaac), and Hagar is the mother of Ismail. Ishaq and Ismail - two prophets from the same father Ibrahim - from who sprung the inevitable separation of two peoples.

Prophet Ibrahim’s first wife was Sarah. Monotheist traditions all agree that she was a woman of uncommon beauty. The prophet describes her as the most beautiful woman in humanity after Eve.[1] After many years of marriage Sarah and Ibrahim were unable to have children. Ibrahim was uncomplaining, but Sarah, through her innate feminine perception painfully felt in the depths of her heart her husband’s unconfessed desire to father a child. According to the customs that at the time attributed sterility mainly to women – customs that still persist today – she thus offered the maidservant Hagar, brought back from Egypt, to her beloved husband. Feeling the guilt of this sterility that she alone had to bear, she thought she would compensate for this defect by offering to him with a heavy heart, her young Egyptian maidservant.

But soon after, Sarah received news that would shatter the course of her life and transform the fate of humanity. She was about to give birth! The Qur’an quotes Sarah in the following verses describing her joy and happiness at the angels’ annunciation of her future pregnancy:

“To Abraham Our messengers brought good news. They said, ‘Peace.’ He answered, ‘Peace,’ and without delay he brought in a roasted calf. When he saw that their hands did not reach towards the meal, he found this strange and became afraid of them. But they said, ‘Do not be afraid. We have been sent against the people of Lot.’ His wife (Sarah) was standing [nearby] and laughed.  We gave her good news of Isaac and, after him, of Jacob. She said, ‘Alas for me! How am I to bear a child when I am an old woman, and my husband here is an old man? That would be a strange thing!’ They said, ‘Are you astonished at what God ordains? The grace of God and His blessings be upon you, people of this house! For He is worthy of all praise and glory.’” Qur’an 11:69-73

Through these verses, we first notice that Sarah appears by the side of her husband while he was receiving guests who seemed to be strangers. These guests were in reality God’s emissaries, in other words angels in human form. They seem to have deeply disturbed Ibrahim and his wife, as they abstained from tasting the roasted calf that was offered to them. The emissaries first hastened to comfort the two hosts by revealing that they were sent by God to the people of Lut. They then further announced to Sarah the news of her future descendants. She, who was now at such an advanced age in her life, who had always considered herself infertile and who besides, had a husband as old as Ibrahim, could hardly believe it! 

Confronted by her astonishment, the angels reminded her that nothing could oppose the Will of God; it was through Him that everything, absolutely everything, became possible. This is a dialogue in due form between Sarah and the angels, messengers of God, which reflects the rank accorded to this woman by the Creator. Sarah, the wife and life-long companion of Ibrahim, shared with him the heavy burden of this message of faith and belief. They were partners both in the intimacy of married life and in their intimate closeness to God. The explicit reference to Sarah in this verse, mentioned by the appellation, the wife of Ibrahim, as well as the blessing bestowed on both of them by the angels confirm Sarah and Ibrahim’s spiritual intimacy: “The grace of God and His blessings be upon you, people of this house!” God blessed Sarah and Ibrahim by granting them the noble descendants of prophets, Ishaq and Ya’qub (Jacob).

God blesses and grants them His gifts and His infinite grace. Sarah was there at the side of Ibrahim, firstly as a woman, the partner of this illustrious patriarch, his wife in good times and bad; and finally, after a very long life together as a mother, although during a moment of despair, she had offered him another woman to allow him to have descendants. God was finally providing them with their own lineage. God offered Sarah the desired child that she was desperate to have, and with the child assured her name’s longevity through a long and noble posterity of prophets and messengers.

In the meantime, Hagar the maidservant, offered by Sarah to her husband, had already given birth to Ismail, and Ibrahim received the divine order to emigrate with his new family from Jerusalem to Mecca - at the time still uninhabited - and thence to return immediately to Jerusalem. Ibrahim did not tell anyone about this divine command, not even Hagar who was accompanying him.

Torment gnawed at his heart at the thought of having to leave two defenceless beings in a foreign land; but the divine injunction was clear and it was probably his trust in God’s mercy that gave him the strength to continue. Once he arrived at his destination, Ibrahim, overwhelmed by sadness, abandoned as best he could Hagar and his infant son, and without being able to offer them any explanation he resumed his journey home. It was God’s instruction and Ibrahim Al-hanif, known for his rectitude, could but only comply. Tradition relates that Hagar was at first distraught to find herself alone in this arid and desert region and on seeing Ibrahim departing without saying a word, she repeatedly tried to question him: “Are you going to leave us, your son and myself, alone in this lost place?”  Ibrahim, seemingly torn between his submission to God’s command and the love for his family, could not turn back, fearful of weakening and succumbing to the temptation of taking them back with him. Hagar, still unable to believe what had befallen her, continued to follow him, her baby in her arms, repeating the same question, “Are you going to leave us here alone?”

Confronted by her husband’s silence, she began to perceive, deep in her heart, that what she was experiencing was not accidental and that something intensely profound was unfolding in the silence of this place. It was as if time had stopped; as if Ibrahim through his silence, his distress, but also the strength of his conviction, had passed on the breath of the divine message.

Ibrahim’s decision to leave them behind was surely not his! She started telling herself that he was surely obeying an instruction that transcended him as a human being. From deep within her being she had a grave premonition.

She then asked him a question that spoke volumes about her spiritual state: “Is it God who ordered you to abandon me and this poor child in this land?” “Yes”, confessed Ibrahim, his throat welling with emotion, while continuing on his way and still unable to turn to her. Her premonition had been confirmed. It was an order from the Creator.

“So surely, God will not abandon us!” she immediately replied; an answer laden with meaning, serenity and emotion. It was as if somehow she felt soothed. If it was God’s decision, nothing else mattered! How often in our lives have we faced difficult situations, acts and decisions that have overtaken us as human beings? But once convinced by the force of destiny and once we have abandoned ourselves to God, then a pleasant sensation of relief and calm sweeps over us, even if our problems remain unresolved! Only faith can awaken from the depths of our soul this subtle and beautiful serenity that enables us to withstand so many ordeals, so much grief and pain, throughout our lives.

Asma Lamrabet

Avril 2014