Abraham (lived c. 2300 BC)

In the Old Testament, the founder of the Jewish nation and one of the Jewish patriarchs. In his early life he was called Abram. God promised him heirs and land for his people in Canaan (Israel), renamed him Abraham, and tested his faith by a command (later retracted) to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Still childless at the age of 76, Abraham subsequently had a son (Ishmael) with his wife's maidservant Hagar, and then, at the age of 100, a son (Isaac) with his wife Sarah. When Abraham was 99, God made a covenant with him, saying that he would be the father of many nations, and that male circumcision would be a sign of that covenant (Genesis 17:1–14). This, and the promise of land in Canaan, was fulfilled when the descendants of Abraham's grandson Jacob were led out of Egypt by Moses.

Abraham was born in Ur, Mesopotamia. With his father Terah, wife Sarah, and nephew Lot, he migrated to Haran, northern Mesopotamia, and then to Canaan, where he received God's promise of land. After visiting Egypt he separated from Lot at Bethel and settled in Hebron (now in Israel). He died at the age of 175 and was buried by Isaac and Ishmael in Machpelah Cave, Hebron.

Described in the Bible as ‘the friend of God’, Abraham is not only considered the spiritual ancestor of many (Christian as well as Hebrew), but also the ‘prophet’ through whom the divine revelation was begun. Abraham (Arabic Ibrahim) is also an important figure in Islam. Some Muslims say that the intended victim of his sacrifice was Isaac, but the accepted view is that it was Ismail (Ishmael), and that the place was near Mecca, the site of some of the ceremonies of the pilgrimage. According to Muslim tradition, Abraham and his son, Ishmael, rebuilt the Kaaba in the quadrangle of the Great Mosque at Mecca, and the horns of the ram of sacrifice were fixed to it.