He finally said, “Yes.”

The young Ismaeel, the child of the desert, the son born from patience and exile, did not flinch. He said the words that echo through eternity: “O my father, do as you are commanded. You will find me, if Allah wills, among the steadfast.”

Hajar ran after him. “Ibraahim! Where are you going? Are you leaving us in this valley where there is nothing?”

Years earlier, Sarah, seeing her own barrenness, had given her Egyptian handmaiden, Hajar, to Ibraahim as a wife. Soon, Hajar bore Ibraahim his first son: Ismaeel (Ishmael). Joy filled the tent, but so did a new, sharp-edged emotion. Sarah felt the sting of jealousy. She could not bear to see Hajar’s child when her own arms remained empty.