ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the story of the Akedah, the Biblical account of the “binding of Isaac”, and went on to show the different version of the event given by the Koran. It is generally agreed that what we see dramatized in the Akedah is a major stage in the psycho-social transition of early civilized development from human to animal sacrifice and, crucially, from polytheism to monotheism. The chapter discusses the story of two half-brothers, Ishmael and Isaac, the sons of Abraham, and looks at the event known to Judaism and Christianity as the “Binding of Isaac”, and to Islam as the “sacrifice of Ishmael”, the founding myth of the saga of monotheism whose heirs today are so deeply troubled. It examines the nature and implications of the sibling relationship underlying the myth of the Akedah. The chapter also looks at the connections between the Biblical and the Koranic versions of the myth.
