Abraham

Abraham is a figure in the Old Testament considered to be the patriarch of the world's three great Western religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, called the Abrahamic religions. The Judaeo-Christian religions exclude Islam. According to the Book of Genesis, God sent Abraham on a mission to heal the divisions between men. His message was that, regardless of differences in language or culture, all men where to be considered as belonging to one human family, dwelling before one God, who sustains all of Creation.

Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was unable to bear children, so he took a second wife; Hagar, an Arab maidservant. Hagar bore Abraham a son, Ishmael. Thirteen years thence, Sarah bore Abraham another son, Isaac. After Abraham’s death, Sarah banished Hagar and Ishmael, and it is from this point that split between Arab and Jew was traditionally derived.