Ishmael · Ismail
Ishmael in Islam
Ishmael is Ismail in Arabic, written إِسْمَاعِيل. The two names belong to the same person, and the two traditions tell his story differently enough to be worth reading side by side.
- English
- Ishmael
- Arabic
- إِسْمَاعِيل
- Read as
- Ismail
- Status
- Prophet in Islam
- Where the English comes from
- Hebrew Yishmael, God hears.
- What the Arabic carries
- Ismail, the Quranic form, carrying the same sense.
- Full name page
- Ismail on AsrNaam
Is Ishmael the same as Ismail? Yes. Ishmael is the English form and Ismail the Arabic form of one name. He raised the foundations of the Kaaba with his father, and the rites of Hajj are bound to him and his mother Hajar.
Ismail in the Quran
Ismail is the son who helps build. The Quran shows him raising the foundations of the House with his father, the two of them praying as they work that it be accepted from them. Everything about the Hajj, the running between Safa and Marwa, the well of Zamzam, the sacrifice at Mina, is bound to him and to his mother Hajar.
Islamic tradition names him as the son taken for sacrifice, where the Hebrew Bible names Isaac. The Quranic verse does not name the son at that point, and the Quran does record Ismail's answer: do what you are commanded, you will find me among the patient.
The Quran calls him true to his promise, a messenger and a prophet, and says he used to enjoin prayer and charity on his family. Ismail, Ismaeel, Ismael and Esmail are all in use.
Using the name
The full entry for Ismail carries the Arabic spelling, the Urdu, the pronunciation, the lucky number and the letter-by-letter Ilm ul Huroof reading, along with every romanisation the name is written in.
Questions about Ishmael and Ismail
Is Ishmael the same name as Ismail?
Is Ismail the same as Ishmael?
Which son was taken for sacrifice?
Can a Muslim family use the name Ismail?
Other names the two traditions share
Every one of these is one figure under two names.
Or start from the full list of Biblical names in Islam.