ABRAHAMIC
COVENANT
The following logic is what is
contributing to the alarming conversion rate among Christians to Islam. Jews,
Christians and Muslims have a common father, Prophet Abraham, the patriarch of
monotheism. For example, Abraham married Sarah and it is through her Jewish
children over generations that the following prophets came: Isaac, Jacob,
Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus. Abraham also
married Hagar and it is through her Muslim children over generations
that the following prophets came: Ishmael and Muhammad. When Christians
realize that the Bible was manipulated by biased writers to unfairly
exclude Ishmael, the son of Hagar, they realize that their religion
may be nothing more than the result of innocently
mislead people who wrote from the time Jesus left earth in 30 AD
until about 350 AD when the formation of the New Testament came to an end (1).
The following analysis of biblical scriptures illustrates that Ishmael
was part of God's covenant, thereby proving Islam a divine religion. God made an
important promise to Abraham before any children were born to him.
(Genesis
12:2-3) And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make
thy name great; and thou shall be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless
thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Abraham was first married to Sarah who happened to
be a barren woman and bore him no children.
(Genesis
16:1). Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children
Later in the book of Genesis (16:2) we are
told that Sarah gave Abraham a handmaid (Hagar) to be his wife, in the hope that
she may bear a child to Abraham. Hagar did indeed bear Abraham's first child,
and the Angels of God told Hagar to name him Ishmael (Gen 16:11), which means God
Hears. Clearly, this is a divine child
as God is intervening
and sending angels down to name
him; this is a clear indication that the child is divine
and important.
Moreover, we are told in Genesis (21:20) that, God
was with the boy as he grew up. Ishmael,
the firstborn child is very important. As a matter of fact, this is indeed
consistent with the bible. In Hebrew traditions, the first-born son is to have
double portions of honor, even inheritance and that right is
not changed by the status of his mother. For example in (Deuteronomy
21:15-17) we are reminded that a firstborn son is to be given a double share of
inheritance regardless of the circumstances since the first born is the first
sign of his father's strength. For the following 14 years, Ishmael was Abraham's
only child. Later, Abraham's first wife Sarah bears him a son, Isaac (Gen
21:1-5). After the birth of Ishmael and before
the birth of Isaac, God's promise to bless the families of the earth through
Abraham's descendants was repeated:
(Genesis 17:4) As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shall be a
father of many nations.
According to Jews and Christians only Isaac was the
son of promise and covenant. The following verses are referenced.
(Genesis
17:21) But my covenant will I establish with Isaac.
(Genesis
21:12) For in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
An interesting thought arises,
is it possible that the writer(s) of this book (Genesis) inserted such
statements to favor his own clan, himself being an Israelite? When these two
verses (Gen 17:21 and 21:12) are examined in context with other verses of this
same book, it becomes obvious that the Ishmaelite were included in God's promise
and his covenant with Abraham. God's covenant with Abraham was made before he
had any children (Gen 12:2-3). It was reiterated after
the birth of Ishmael and before the
birth of Isaac (Gen 17:4). Moreover, Ishmael is also specifically blessed, and,
hence, included in God's promise. For example, God stated:
(Genesis 21:13) Of the son of the maidservant (i.e. Ishmael) I will make a great
nation because he is thy seed.
The above promise was
further confirmed a few verses later:
(Genesis 21:18) Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in your hand; for I will
make him a great nation.
(Genesis 21:20) God was with the boy as he grew up.
When God speaks of
greatness, he does not merely refer to numbers. Greatness by God's
own criterion is
founded on faith, spiritual heritage and religious leadership. One may wonder at
this point why there should be only one child as the heir of the divine promise?
Why not both sons in view of the evidence discussed already? What type of divine
justice punishes the rites of the firstborn to satisfy Sarah's ego and bless her
jealously? Was Sarah dictating her desires to
God, too?
(Genesis
21:10) Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son
will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.
This statement was made
after Ishmael allegedly mocked
Isaac on the day Isaac was weaned (Gen 21:8-9). Can one imagine Hagar and her 17
year old son Ishmael expelled to the desert
because Ishmael allegedly mocked the 3
year old boy Isaac on the day of a great feast when Isaac was weaned (Gen 21:8)
What did Ishmael say to the 3-year-old baby to warrant such a harsh punishment?
Did he mock him in the presence of a large group of people who attended the
feast? One can only wonder what he said
to the lad. Moreover, it is doubtful Abraham would send his wife and son off
into the desert (a virtual death sentence) at the
request of his other moody wife
Sarah;
the story does not seem plausible. On the contrary, as we will see below,
something is rotten in the State of Denmark!
THE MUSLIM VERSION
The Muslim version of
the story is that Abraham received instruction from
God to take Hagar and her baby Ishmael to a barren and lifeless place
in Arabia (Paran). The area of Paran is also referred to in the Bible in (Gen
21:21). When Abraham began to leave Hagar and Ishmael alone in such barren
wilderness, Hagar cried to him and asked why he was leaving her in the desert,
eventually she asked if God had commanded him to do this and Abraham responded
yes. When Hagar ran out of water, the baby was crying (Gen 21:17-19) and in a
moment of despair and apparent death, God Hears
(i.e. Ishmael Gen 16:11) the cry and intervenes again
and a spring of water suddenly gushed forth from under Ishmael's feet. That well
later came to be known as the well of Zamzam. One
must ask why God intervenes to save Ishmael, perhaps because he was part of a
divine plan? Ishmael means God hears
(Gen 16:11); how ironic a name God's Angels gave him. According to the Muslim
version Abraham did not just abandon his son and never talk to him again.
Abraham would still keep in contact with Ishmael and visit him (Quran
37:102-111). This is because he cared about him, which seems to be consistent
with the Bible (Gen 21:11).
THE BIBLICAL VERSION
Sarah, Abraham's first
wife was jealous of Hagar and her son Ishmael. She
did not want Ishmael to inherit with her son Isaac because Ishmael
was the son of the handmaid. She was particularly angry because of what she
considered mockery on the part of Ishmael toward his younger brother Isaac while
they were playing together.
(Gen
21:10) Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son
will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.
This incident took place
after Isaac was weaned. Abraham obeyed his wife Sarah whose demand of casting
out the slave woman and her son was blessed by God who told Abraham to (Gen
21:12) listen to Sarah. One morning Abraham rose up, gave provisions and water
to Ishmael and Hagar, and left them in the wilderness of Beer Sheba in Southern
Palestine (Gen 21:14). When Hagar ran out of water she could not bear to watch
her son die, so she sat away. Eventually, an angel appeared before her and
provided her with a spring of water. The angel further told her (Gen
21:18) Arise,
lift up the lad and hold him in your hand; for I will make him a great nation.
Ishmael dwelt in the wilderness of Paran (Gen 21:17-21) He had twelve sons one
of whom one was named Kedar (Gen
25:13).
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE TWO VERSIONS
There appears to be at least three similarities between the
two versions:
1)
That Hagar and Ishmael were taken away from Palestine and dwelt in the
wilderness of Paran.
2)
That Hagar ran out of water and was worried about the life of her son
Ishmael.
3)
That unexpectedly, she had access to water which she gave to her son to
save his life.
According to the Muslim version:
1)
Hagar and Ishmael were taken away because of a specific
divine instruction given to Abraham as part of the divine plan. When
the time came, prophet hood was to shift from the
Israelites to the Ishmaelite, after the rejection of the last
Israelite prophet, Jesus.
2)
Hagar and Ishmael were taken to the wilderness of Arabia, specifically
Mecca and not to Beer Sheba.
3)
The incident took place before
the birth of Isaac and not after; when Ishmael was a baby, which is
further confirmation of the more realistic reason
for Hagar and Ishmael's apparent exile as stated in the first
difference.
Was Ishmael and Hagar sent to the desert before
or after the birth of Isaac? If we were to accept the Biblical
version, we would encounter a number of inconsistencies and contradictions. It
is clear from the story in Gen. 21:14-19 that Ishmael was a little
baby at that time. For example according to Gen. 16:16 Abraham was 86
years old when Ishmael was born. And according to Gen. 21:5 Abraham was one
hundred years old when Isaac was born. It follows that Ishmael was already
fourteen years old when his younger brother Isaac was born. According to Gen.
21:8-19 the incident took place after Isaac was weaned. Biblical scholars tell
us the child was probably weaned at about the age of three. Thus, it follows
that when Hagar and Ishmael were taken away Ishmael was a full-grown teenager,
seventeen years old. However, the profile of
Ishmael in Gen 21:14-19 is a small baby and not a full-grown teenager. Why?
Genesis 21:14-21
14
Early next morning Abraham took some food and a full water-skin and gave them to
Hagar. He set the child on her shoulder and sent her away, and she
wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15
When the water in the skin was finished, she thrust the child under a bush,
16
then went and sat down some way off, about a bowshot distant. How can I watch
the child die? she said, and sat there, weeping bitterly. 17
God heard the child crying, and the angel of God called from heaven to
Hagar, What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid: God has heard the child
crying where you laid him. 18
Go, lift the child and hold him in your arms, because I shall make of
him a great nation. 19
Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well full of water; she went to it,
filled the water-skin, and gave the child a drink. 20 God was with the
child as he grew up. He lived in the wilderness of Paran and became an
archer; 21 and his mother got him a wife from Egypt.
(The
Revised English Bible)
1st) First, the original
Hebrew for Gen. 21:14 is "
and put the bread and water on her shoulder AND the boy."
Anyone fluent in Hebrew can confirm this! This reading is still
rendered in the Revised English Bible;
however, other Bible publishers possibly aware of the discrepancy decided to
translate the verse slightly different; however, we can see their trick! How
would a mother carry a seventeen-year-old teenager on her shoulder? Certainly he
was probably strong enough to carry his mother. Ishmael
must have been a baby!
2nd) Second, in Gen
21:15 we are told that Hagar put the child under one
of the bushes. Ishmael must have been a baby
and not a teenager!
3rd) Third, in Gen
21:16 we are told that Hagar sat away so she did not
have to see the child die before her eyes. Is this the profile of a husky
seventeen-year-old teenager who probably was capable of being worried about his
mother dying before his eyes? Or is it obviously a profile of a small
helpless baby? Ishmael must have been a baby
and not a teenager!
4th) According to Gen
21:17-18, the angels told Hagar lift the child and
hold him in your arms. Is a seventeen-year-old man the object of being lifted
up and held in one's arms by a woman while CRYING?
Or is it the reference of a small child. Ishmael
must have been a baby and not a teenager!
5th) According to Gen
21:19 we are told that Hagar filled the bottle with water and
gave the child a drink. One would expect a seventeen year old to bring
water to his mother instead. Ishmael must have been
a baby and not a teenager!
6th) According to Gen
21:14 Abraham puts the food and water on Hagar's shoulder. Why doesn't the
strong husky seventeen-year old Ishmael offer to carry the food and water? Ishmael
must have been a baby and not a teenager!
7th) According to Gen
21:20-21?? Ishmael grew up, became an archer and got
married. Ishmael must have been a baby and
not a teenager!
The above analysis leads to the
inevitable conclusion that while the Bible contains some truths as explained
earlier, there is also evidence of human additions,
deletions and interpolations which only a subsequent
authentic revelation could clear.
The Islamic version of the story is fully consistent and coherent from A to Z; Ishmael
was a baby and Isaac was not born yet when this incident took place.
This proves that the real reason behind their settlement in Arabia (Paran)
was not the dictation,
jealousy, ego or sense of racial superiority on the part of Sarah. It was
rather God's plan, pure and simple!
(Gen
21:10) Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave
woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.
How hypocritical
Sarah is, for initially she saw potential in Hagar,
(Gen
16:2) The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant;
perhaps I can build a family through her.
(Gen 16:4) He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When Sarah knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Even
the Bible admits how Jews tampered with scripture.
(Jeremiah 8:8 RSV) How
can you say, We are wise, we have the law of the LORD, when
scribes with their lying pens have falsified it?
THE SYMBOL OF GOD'S COVENANT WITH
ISHMAEL AND HIS DESCENDANTS
According to Gen 17:10-14, circumcision was regarded
as a symbol of the covenant with God and a sign of purification from polytheism.
In Gen 17:23-27 we are told that Abraham took Ishmael
and all those males born in his household and circumcised them. Therefore, one
can see that Ishmael was somehow participating in
the Abrahamic covenant. Even to this
day every Muslim male is circumcised.
In the book of Deuteronomy
18:17-18, Moses was quoted as saying:
And the lord said to me, they have well spoken that which they have spoken, I
will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and
will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall
command him.
Three
important elements are included in this prophecy: A prophet will come from among
the brethren of the Israelites; this prophet
will be like Moses and God will put his word in the mouth of this prophet.
FIRST: The
bible refers to the Israelites as the brethren of the
Ishmaelite (Gen 16:12, 25:18). Moreover, Isaiah 42:1-11 Speaks of the
geography of where this prophet will come from. Verse 42:11 states Let
the desert and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where KEDAR
lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top
of the mountains. According to the Book of Genesis, KEDAR was the second
son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:13). The best-known prophet who came from Ishmael's
descendants is Muhammad.
SECOND: Muhammad
is like Moses:
AREA
OF COMPARISON |
|
MOSES |
|
MUHAMMAD |
|
JESUS |
Birth |
|
Usual |
|
Usual |
|
Unusual |
Family
Life |
|
Married/Children |
|
Married/Children |
|
No
marriage or children |
Death |
|
Usual |
|
Usual |
|
Unusual |
Career |
|
Prophet/Statesman |
|
Prophet/Statesman |
|
Prophet |
Forced
Immigration (in adulthood) |
|
To
Median |
|
To
Madinah |
|
None |
Encounter
with enemies |
|
Hot
Pursuit |
|
Hot
Pursuit Battles |
|
No
similar encounter |
Results
of Encounter |
|
Moral
Physical Victory |
|
Moral
Physical Victory |
|
Moral
Victory |
Writing
down of Revelation |
|
In
his lifetime (Torah) |
|
In
his lifetime (Al-Quran) |
|
After
him |
Nature
of Teachings |
|
Spiritual/Legal |
|
Spiritual/Legal |
|
Mainly
Spiritual |
Acceptance
of leadership (by his |
|
Rejected
then accepted |
|
Rejected
then accepted |
|
Rejected
by most Israelites |
people) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
"He
(Muhammad) does not speak of his own desire, it is no less than a revelation
sent down to him."
Jesus also mentioned that Muhammad would speak only what he
hears but not on his own. For example, in John 16:7,13 Jesus said,
"But I tell you
the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away,
the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. But
when he the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will
not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will
tell you what is yet to come." (NIV)
If Christians think the Counselor is the Holy Spirit then
they are mistaken, because the Holy Spirit was already present at the time of
Jesus (John 20:22 Luke 3:22). Moreover, the sentence does not make sense if it
is referring to a spirit; the sentence only makes sense if it is referring to
another prophet as Deuteronomy
18:18 states a prophet.
The
following quotes are taken from the Bible.
The Bible Genesis 22:2
"Take
now your son, your only son, whom you love,_______, and go to the
land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains".
The Bible Genesis 22:12
"Since
you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
The
important question is who was this only son
of Abraham that was offered for sacrifice? Ishmael the eldest son or Isaac the
second son? The Bible writers have placed the name of Isaac in the blank space
above. Muslims believe Ishmael was around thirteen years old when Abraham was
asked to sacrifice him. In both the above quotations the Lord uses the word your
only son. Obviously, the logical answer
is that the incident must have taken place before the
birth of Isaac, the second son of Abraham. So, what could be the reason that the
name of Isaac appears in the blank space, as the only
son of Abraham? Bible scholars explain that anomaly
by putting forward the following two arguments.
The first argument is that after the birth of
Isaac, Ishmael lost his status of being a son of Abraham, since he was not born
of a wife of Abraham but born to a handmaid of Abraham's wife. However, this
argument is false because Hagar was a wife of Abraham otherwise the Lord would
not have used the word wife in the following verse.
Genesis
16:3 So after Abraham had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife
took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to
be his wife.
Moreover,
Jews and Christians contend that only Isaac, the one that was born to Sarai was
a son. However the biblical passage below tells us that Ishmael never lost his
status as a son, not even after the birth of Isaac. If Ishmael had lost the
status, the Lord would not have used the word sons in the following verse.
Genesis 25:9 Then his
sons Isaac and
Ishmael,
buried him (Abraham) in the cave of Machpelah.
A
second argument
presented is that because Ishmael was born to a handmaid he would qualify as a
seed or a descendant of Abraham, but not as a son. This argument is nullified
because prevailing Nuzi Laws of marriage (exhibit A) tell us that such marriage
contracts were legal in the days of Abraham and the child born of a handmaid or
slave-girl would have the same status as one born to the wife, even if the wife
had a child of her own later. There can be no doubt concerning the validity of
the Nuzi laws of marriage. For example, when one traces the maternal side of the
children of Israel, Genesis tells us that Jacob (later called Israel Gen 32:28)
had four wives. He married Leah (Gen 29:22-23), Rachel (Gen 29:28), a slave-girl
Bilhah (Gen 30:4), and another slave-girl Zilpah (Gen 30:9). From these four
wives came the twelve Children of Israel:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,
Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naptali, Gad and Asher
(Gen 35:23-26 & 1 Chronicles 2:1-2). All twelve of these children make up
the Israelites and are all referred as a
combined group, see (Exodus 1:1-9). Four of the twelve children (Gad,
Dan, Naphtali and Asher) were sons of the slave-girls. Thus,
it follows that about one third of all Israelis are children of slave-girls!
Will a third of all Jews stand up and say they are illegitimate? Moreover,
further evidence that the Bible clearly includes the slave-children as part of
the combined group of Israelis is the Bible's tracking of their genealogy in (1
Chronicles 5:18; 1 Chronicles 7:12, 13, 30). Moreover, we are told that the
children of Asher were leading
princes.
1
Chronicles 7:40 "All these were descendants of Asher, heads of families,
picked men of ability, leading princes."
Consequently,
the entire Abrahamic family tree is tracked in 1 Chronicles, including Abraham's
children from his first wife Hagar (1 Chronicles 1:29), his second wife Sarah (1
Chronicles 1:34) and his third wife Keturah (1 Chronicles 1:32 - see family tree
at main web page).
Moreover,
there is a very similar incident in the Bible (Ruth 1-4). In this story a child
born to a handmaid is indeed recognized as a son. For example, Boaz, a landowner
of Bethlehem, meets a handmaid named Ruth
(Ruth 3:9) and marries her. Ruth was a young
widow and a handmaid of Moabite descent (Ruth 1:4); the Moabite people were
descendants of an act of incest by Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19:36-37).
Boaz and Ruth latter had a son named Obed.
Later on, Obed became the founder of the royal line of
Israel (Ruth 4:17-22), an ancestor of both king David and of the great
prophet Jesus. If the son of a maidservant of
questionable heritage could have the honor of being the progenitor and forbearer
of the most important lines of descent for both Jews and Christians, then why
cannot Ishmael, a son of a handmaid, be offered by his father for a burnt
offering as his only son? Moreover, this argument cannot be correct
because if it were, Sarah would have never said.
(Gen
16:2) The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant;
perhaps I can build a family through her. Abraham agreed.
It
is certain that Sarah and Abraham knew the law and did not want to waste their
time during their old age building an illegitimate family that would serve them
no good!
So, is it out of tribal rivalry that the descendants of Isaac (Jews) are
concealing these facts and depriving the preeminence due to the descendants of
Ishmael (Arabs)? In Encyclopaedia Judaica Jerusalem, volume 9,
under the heading Ishmael it is written:
"It is related
that a renowned traditionalist of Jewish origin, from Qurayza tribe and another
Jewish scholar who converted to Islam, told Caliph Omar ibn Abd al-Aziz (717-20)
that the Jews were well informed that Ismail (Ishmael) was the one who was bound
(sacrificed), but they concealed this out of jealousy."
Even
the Bible admits how Jews tampered with scripture.
(Jeremiah
8:8 RSV) How
can you say, We are wise, we have the law of the LORD, when
scribes with their lying pens have falsified it?
The
Quran confirms that Abraham did indeed relocate Ishmael & Hagar and that
because of Abraham's strong faith and willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael,
God rewarded him with the birth of Isaac (Koran 37:102-111).
The
Quran 37:102-111
And
when he attained to working with him, he said: O my son! Surely I have seen in a
dream that I should sacrifice you; consider then what you see. He said: O my
father! Do what you are commanded, if God please, you will find me of the
patient ones. So when they both submitted and he threw him down upon his
forehead, and we called out to him saying: O Abraham! You have indeed shown the
truth of the vision; surely thus do we reward the doers of good: Most surely
this is a manifest trial. And we ransomed him with a great sacrifice. And we
perpetuated (praise) to him among the later generations. Peace be on Abraham. Thus
do we reward the doers of good. Surely he was one of our believing servants. And
we gave him the good news of Isaac, a prophet among the good ones.
The
Quran 14:35-37
And when Ibrahim said: My Lord! Make this city secure, and save me and my sons
from worshipping idols: My Lord! Surely they have led many men astray; then
whoever follows me, he is surely of me, and whoever disobeys me, Though surely
art Forgiving, Merciful: O Our Lord! Surely, I have settled a part of my
family in a valley without cultivation by thy sacred house; in order, O lord,
that they may establish prayer: So fill the hearts of some among men with love
towards them, and feed them with fruits: So they may give thanks.
(EXHIBIT A)
Jacob M. Myers of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania has been a professor at the Lutheran
Theological Seminary and a contributor to Interpreter's
Dictionary of the Bible. He is recognized as a leading expert on the
Old Testament. In his book Invitation to The Old
Testament (1) he writes:
"Archaeological discoveries help us to fill in the
details of the biblical narrative and to explain many of the otherwise obscure
references and strange customs that were commonplace in Abraham's world and
time. A Nuzi marriage contract provides that a childless wife may take a woman
of the country and marry her to her husband to obtain progeny. But she may not
drive out the offspring even if she later has children of her own. The child
born of the handmaid has the same status as the one born to the wife. That is
why, when Sarah wanted to drive out Hagar and Ishmael, it was quite
objectionable to Abraham because of the legal custom of the region from which he
came, he was reluctant to do so. It required special divine dispensation to act
contrary to that custom."
Gen
21:12-13 And God said to Abraham, Do not be disturbed over the lad and your
handmaid. Listen to Sarah and do everything she tells you.
The above quoted Nuzi Law of marriage confirms that a
child born of a handmaid wife to a childless father has the same status as one
born to his wife and cannot be treated differently, even after the birth of a
child to his original wife.
(1) Doubleday
& Co., Inc., New York (1966) page 26
CONCLUSION
Based on the above
analysis it is obvious that in no uncertain terms beyond a shadow of a doubt
that the bible was manipulated to EXCLUDE Abraham's other son Ishmael.
The preponderance of the evidence proves that Ishmael and Isaac were
both blessed and part of God's covenant. Moreover, when
a Quran sprouts up from this OTHER SON ISHMAEL containing major
scientific data that present day science has confirmed to be accurate, it
makes Christians say hhhmmm (http://www.answering-christianity.com/sci_quran.htm)
(http://www.miraclesofthequran.com)
(http://www.islam-guide.com/
and http//fakir60.tripod.com).
When curiosity forces Christians to READ the Quran (a well written
non-voluminous text) they can see that Islam superseded Christianity.
Reference:
Muhammad in The
Bible by Jamal Badawi
Understanding
The Bible Through Koranic Messages by Akbarally Meherally, A.M. Trust, 5449
Dominion Street, Burnaby, B.C. Canada V5G1E1