Abraham

Abraham (Ibrahim in Islam, Avraham in Hebrew) is the patriarch shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — "the friend of God" (Khalil Allah).

Significance

• Judaism: first covenant (brit milah); binding of Isaac (Akedah) as supreme test of faith.
• Christianity: exemplar of justification by faith (Romans 4).
• Islam: builder of the Kaaba with Ishmael (Qur'an 2:127), whose pure monotheism (hanif) precedes both Judaism and Christianity; the Eid al-Adha sacrifice commemorates his submission.

Political-theological use

As common ancestor, Abraham grounds the "Abrahamic" framing of interfaith politics. Haz Al-Din's work on Islam and communism treats Ibrahimic monotheism as the original break with idolatry — including economic idolatry — making the Abrahamic lineage relevant to the critique of finance capital (see Tawhid, Muhammad, Communism is Islam).