Every year, on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, synagogues read Genesis 22 aloud and then blow a ram’s horn. Every year, at Eid al-Adha, around two million pilgrims near Makkah, and Muslim families across Britain, remember the same story with a sacrifice and a meal shared with the poor. Christians read it in the days before Easter.
It is one of the hardest stories in scripture. A father is asked to give up his son. He goes. At the last moment God stops him, and a ram takes the son’s place. The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard spent a whole book, Fear and Trembling (1843), unable to stop thinking about it.
“When the boy was old enough to work alongside him, Abraham said, “My son, I have seen in a dream that I am sacrificing you. So consider: what do you think?” He said, “Father, do as you are commanded. You will find me, God willing, among the patient.” When they had both submitted, and he had laid him down on his forehead, We called to him: “Then, when they had both surrendered (to Allah), and he had flung him down upon his face, We called unto him: O Abraham! Thou hast already fulfilled the vision. Lo! thus do We reward the good. Lo! that verily was a clear test. Then We ransomed him with a tremendous victim.”
Qur'an 37:102–107 · Pickthall (1930)
Surah as-Saffat (Those Ranged in Rows) tells the story in a few verses, and gives the son a voice: he agrees. In Genesis, the story begins with God calling Abraham (peace be upon him) by name, and his answer, “Here am I” (Genesis 22:1, JPS 1917).
The world behind the story
In the ancient Near East, offering animals to gods was common, and there is evidence that some peoples, at some times, sacrificed children. The Hebrew Bible itself condemns the practice repeatedly, linking it to the god Molech (Leviticus 18:21; Jeremiah 7:31). Archaeologists have found burial grounds for infants at Carthage, a Phoenician city in North Africa. Some interpret them as evidence of child sacrifice, others as cemeteries for babies who died naturally. The debate continues.
Against that background, many Jewish and Christian scholars read Genesis 22 as a story whose ending matters most: the God of Abraham does not want child sacrifice. Others find the story disturbing whatever its ending, and say so.
Where did it happen? Genesis names “the land of Moriah”, and 2 Chronicles 3:1 says Solomon (peace be upon him) built the Temple “on Mount Moriah” in Jerusalem. Jewish tradition therefore places the binding of Isaac (peace be upon him) on the Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock now stands. Muslim tradition places the sacrifice at Mina, near Makkah, where pilgrims during Hajj throw stones at pillars marking the places where, tradition says, Satan tried to turn Abraham back.
Today the story is lived out in ritual. The shofar, blown at Rosh Hashanah, is usually made from a ram’s horn, in memory of the ram caught in the thicket. During Hajj in 2024, Saudi Arabia’s statistics authority counted about 1.8 million pilgrims. The sacrifice of Eid al-Adha is carried out by millions of families worldwide, with a third of the meat traditionally given to the poor. In the UK, many Muslims pay charities to carry out the sacrifice (qurbani) abroad and give the meat to people in need.
What each faith says
Judaism
“And he said: ‘Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou art a God-fearing man, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.’”
Genesis 22:12 · JPS 1917
Jews call the story the Akedah, “the binding”. Genesis 22 tells it in spare, aching words: “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac.” Abraham rises early, saddles his donkey and walks for three days. Isaac asks, “Where is the lamb?” Abraham answers, “God will provide Himself the lamb.” At the last moment an angel calls, “Lay not thy hand upon the lad,” and Abraham sees a ram caught by its horns.
The Akedah is read on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, and Jewish prayers ask God to remember the binding of Isaac with mercy. On the first day the reading is Genesis 21, where God hears the cry of Hagar’s son in the wilderness. The New Year begins with a mother and child who are not Sarah’s. Many rabbis have taught that the story shows the God of Israel rejecting the child sacrifice practised by other peoples. Others, ancient and modern, have struggled with it: one midrash imagines Sarah dying of shock when she heard what had happened (the next chapter records her death). Rabbi Jonathan Sacks argued that the story is about giving our children up to God, not to us: they are not our possessions.
Christianity
“By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son, to whom it was said, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac”; concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead.”
Hebrews 11:17–19 · WEB
Christians read Genesis 22 as a story of supreme faith. The letter to the Hebrews says Abraham trusted that “God is able to raise up even from the dead” (11:19). The letter of James calls him “the friend of God” for his trust in action (James 2:21–23).
From the earliest centuries Christians have seen in the story a picture of the Cross: a beloved son carrying the wood up a hill, and God providing the lamb. Some read Mount Moriah as near Calvary in Jerusalem. Christians believe that what God stopped Abraham from doing, God did not spare himself: “he who didn’t spare his own Son” (Romans 8:32). That is why the reading is part of the Easter Vigil in many churches.
English Christians long told the story in their own way. In the medieval Chester mystery plays, performed by the city’s craft guilds, Isaac is a tender child who comforts his father. Benjamin Britten set that scene to music in Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac (1952), still sung in English churches and concert halls.
Islam
“Their flesh and their food reach not Allah, but the devotion from you reacheth Him. Thus have We made them subject unto you that ye may magnify Allah that He hath guided you. And give good tidings (O Muhammad) to the good.”
Qur'an 22:37 · Pickthall (1930)
In the Qur’an, Abraham sees in a dream that he is sacrificing his son, and he tells the boy. The son answers: “And when (his son) was old enough to walk with him, (Abraham) said: O my dear son, I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice thee. So look, what thinkest thou? He said: O my father! Do that which thou art commanded. Allah willing, thou shalt find me of the steadfast.” (37:102, Pickthall). Both submit. God calls out that the vision is fulfilled and ransoms the son “with a great sacrifice” (37:107). Only after this does the Qur’an give “And we gave him tidings of the birth of Isaac, a prophet of the righteous.” (37:112, Pickthall). The son is not named; most Muslims today understand him to be Ishmael (peace be upon him), while some early Muslim scholars held that it was Isaac.
Muslims relive the story every year. At Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, families who can afford it sacrifice a sheep, goat or share of a cow. They divide the meat between family, friends and the poor. The Qur’an is clear about what matters: “Their flesh and their food reach not Allah, but the devotion from you reacheth Him. Thus have We made them subject unto you that ye may magnify Allah that He hath guided you. And give good tidings (O Muhammad) to the good.” (22:37, Pickthall). Pilgrims at Hajj also walk in the footsteps of Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, who ran between two hills searching for water (Bukhari 3364).
Same and different
All three faiths tell of Abraham’s willingness to give God everything, of God stopping the knife, and of a ram provided in the son’s place. All three see it as a test of faith, not a command to repeat. They differ on the son and on the meaning. The Qur’an does not name the son; most Muslims understand Ishmael, and Muslims mark the story with Eid al-Adha and the Hajj. Genesis names Isaac, and Jews remember the binding at the New Year. Christians see in it a picture of God giving His own Son. In the Qur’an the son speaks and consents; in Genesis, Isaac asks “where is the lamb?” and is otherwise silent. We don’t pick a winner on the name.
A moment to reflect
- What do you make of this story? Is it comforting, troubling, or both?
- In one telling the son is asked what he thinks; in another he is nearly silent. When has someone asked for your view before deciding something that changed your life, and what difference did it make?
- Abraham answered “Here am I.” What would it mean to say that to God, or to someone who needs you?
- Eid al-Adha turns the story into a meal shared with the poor. How could a hard story become an act of kindness in your life?
Watch
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on what the binding of Isaac really teaches.
BBC Newsround explains why Muslims have two Eids, including Eid al-Adha.
A gentle CBeebies film on how families celebrate Eid al-Adha, for younger viewers.
Dr Omar Suleiman on Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, and the trust at the heart of the story.
Do it together
At Eid al-Adha, Muslim families share food. Organise a shared meal open to all with a local mosque, church or synagogue, and give a third of what is cooked to a shelter or food bank.
Ask a synagogue whether a member could demonstrate the shofar in the run-up to Rosh Hashanah, and explain the ram of Genesis 22. Many synagogues welcome school visits.
Read Genesis 22 and Qur’an 37:99–113 side by side. Spend time on the parts you find hardest, and on how each tradition has wrestled with them. No one has to resolve it.
Go to an Easter Vigil on the night of Holy Saturday at a Catholic or Anglican church. The service begins in darkness, and Genesis 22 is one of the readings before the Easter candle is lit. Visitors are welcome; arrive early.
Go deeper
- Genesis 22 with commentaries (Sefaria) · scripture
- Qur'an 37:99–113 (Quran.com) · scripture
- Hebrews 11 (Bible Gateway, WEB) · scripture
- Eid al-Adha (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · article
- Rosh Hashanah (My Jewish Learning) · article
- Benjamin Britten, Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, Op. 51 (1952) · music
Check yourself
Three quick questions. No score, nothing saved.
1. What does God provide in the son's place?
2. When do synagogues read Genesis 22 and blow the ram's horn?
3. Which book did Søren Kierkegaard write about this story?
Sources (6)
- Carthage tophet debate: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Tophet
- Moriah identified with the Temple Mount: 2 Chronicles 3:1 (Sefaria)
- Hajj 2024: about 1.83 million pilgrims: Saudi General Authority for Statistics, via Reuters, 15 Jun 2024
- Eid al-Adha meat traditionally shared in thirds: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eid al-Adha
- Genesis 22 read on Rosh Hashanah: Megillah 31a (Sefaria)
- Hagar’s run between Safa and Marwa: Sahih al-Bukhari 3364, Sunnah.com