++ [ originally posted by gray ] ++
okay i copied something from another site, but that doesn't mean i didn't think about it myself. Why try to phrase things in my own words when somebody's already taken them straight out of my head?
I'm not just taking someone's word for it. I read the page and did the necessary editing
I'm not attacking or anything! my point of telling that i had a feeling you would write those is that i've read these arguments long ago and they aren't water tight. I was expecting more really...
I think mikhail's already explained this. Hebrew and English are very different languages
and like a replied to mikhail, saying that the languages are different neither supports nor contradicts the "only son" argument. I'd really like to learn the exact Hebrew words.
Please don't undermine my knowledge and make assumptions. It's not like a big secret that he had two sons
I apologize if this offended you gray, that's honestly not my purpose. but When i read your earlier post, it really raised one of my eyebrows about what you knew.
Really? I thought Abraham only had one son, because his wife was barren, but God gave them Isaac. That's why it was such a big deal for Abraham to sacrifice his son, because Isaac was his one and only.
read this qoute, and you should see why i undermined your knowledge!
or when when you said "his one and only son" you meant in special status?
Again Majed, as much as I love you man, I wish you'd stop making assumptions. I was thinking of taking those verses out of the quotes, because i hadn't read them myself, but i thought it would lend more credibility to their inclusion if i went and read the verses. And read them i did.
please accept my apologies

, but i have a question for you:
Did The verses from the Qur'an, (that you qouted) about the story of the angels telling Sarah that she'll have a son, really support the argument in your first point???
in other words, did you see that The Quran's STORY about how Ibrahim knew he'll have a son (Isaac) really support the claim: " Isaac was the only promised child of Abraham, a fact which the Quran agrees with?"
The Quran says nothing about being the "only promised child," yet you still ppsted the verse numbers. please tell me how you see that the Qur'an agrees with this?
They may have been born normally, but the things that happened in their lives surely set them apart.
God blessed many people and said that they would be fruitful, but Ismael's blessing is surely not as high as Isaac's
true, but does that mean anything less for The Nation of Ismael (who were also blessed)???
Most, if not all, the prophets came from Isaac's side. Nobody can deny that. We as Muslims believe these prophets carried the true message. That is till, the final prophet will come to earth. and he happened to be from Ishmael (again, who was also blessed)
Which site did you copy these verses from? I hope it wasn't a Christian site, because they could at least spell "Genesis" correctly. But that's beside the point.
Sorry, my mistake. I hope my typo didn't offend you. I wrote down all the verse numbers. I only copied the verses themselves.
Like the verses say, every male among you will be circumcised. That means every male amongst them was blessed equally and had a part in God's covenant. Just because Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised on the same day doesn't indicate that Ishmael was set apart by God in the same way that Isaac was, because if what u said before is true, Abraham had a normal birth and was 'not that special'
My point is, Isaac is special (that's why most prophets and kinds came from his side), but Isaac's "specialness" has undermined the fact that Ishmael was ALSO BLESSED (yes, at a less degree of course), but he was also promissed to become a great Nation!!
I know you explained to a certain extent, and you provided clauses saying "if ___, then _____".... but it's a fact that many unbiased Muslim scholars are still pondering whether it was Isaac or Ishmael, simply due to the fact that the name is not expressly mentioned in the Quran.
Sorry Gray, That's NOT a FACT AT ALL. They are not stilll bondering. it was once a question brought up to them and they ended up proving it. there aren't any single signs in the Qur'an that suggest otherwise.
These Illlusions of a huge misunderstanding have come from outside.
Ask any true Muslim SCHOLAR and he'll tell you that it's Ishmael.
I've read in a couple of BS Muslim sites online that there is a big confusion. Well, i've checked their material and nothing suggests otherwise.