What if Ishmael and Isaac were alive today, would they celebrate the Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice)?

What if Ishmael and Isaac were alive today, would they celebrate the Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) together on the Temple Mount?  If their descendants are any indication, the answer is problematic.  As it now stands, the Jews are not allowed on the Temple Mount during the festival.  This year as in the past the Temple Mount will be closed to Jews and visitors from August 21-23 to prevent any conflict.  In fact, Jews are not even allowed to pray on the mount. 

The Festival of Sacrifice is the Islamic holiday that commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son.  An account of Abraham offering up his son is described in the Quran (Surah 37:101-112).  The son is not named in verses 101-111, though Isaac is referred to later in verses 112-113.  This has not prevented Moslem interpretations to identify the son as Ishmael.  In contrast, the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures identify the son whom Abraham was commanded to sacrifice as Isaac (Gen 22:1-19; Heb 11:17-19).  There have been attempts to reconcile the two accounts.  For example, Reuven Firestone’s comparative study looks at Genesis 22 in light of Sura 37 and attempts to discover a possible ancient oral tradition that might have existed before the written texts of Genesis and Quran.   Rabbi Shlomo Riskin wrestles with the two accounts and argues that Abraham’s poor treatment of Ishmael, or what he calls the “sacrifice of Ishmael,” led to God’s testing of Abraham calling upon him to offer up the “sacrifice of Isaac.”  In the end both the death of Ishmael and Isaac were averted through the intervention of an angel and both sons were given blessings (Gen 21:8-21; 22:9-19). 

Although the Quran does not give the location of the event, Genesis identifies it with the land of Moriah (22:2).  Mount Moriah would later become the location were Solomon built the First Temple; it was the location of the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite where David bought the site and built an altar calling upon the LORD who answered with fire from heaven (2 Chron 3:1; 1 Chron 21:18-27).  Mount Moriah was the location of the Second Jewish Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.  Presently, the Dome of the Rock is believed to be located over the place were Abraham offered his son and thus on the location were the Jewish temples once stood.

The Festival of Sacrifice is celebrated throughout the world.  It usually involves sacrificing an animal and dividing it in three parts with one part given to the poor and needy, another portion given to friends, neighbors, and relatives, and the third part shared with the family.  An animal is sacrificed in public in many locations allowing blood to flow in the open streets.  In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Muslim community celebrated the Festival of Sacrifice at U.S. Bank Stadium, which included speeches and prayers, but undertook no sacrificing of animals.