Isaac:
“Ishmael, on what do you base your claim in saying that your descendents, too, are the chosen people of God? The descendents of mine and my father are the exclusive chosen people of God. God made these special promises to my Father Abraham and the Jewish people are the keepers of the covenant with God. My descendents are the glorious and holy men and women of the Old and New Testament: Moses, David, the prophets, Esther, Ruth, Suzanna, Judith, Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, Jesus, the Apostles, etc. Your descendents fell into paganism, worshipping idols and involving themselves into all sorts of immoral practices. God ordered my descendents to wipe out completely yours, including women and children. He did not want us to be contaminated by you or have us lose our spiritual identity and monotheistic belief in God and the things he taught us. In the seventh century, one of your descendents, Mohammed even invented a religion of the sword, putting to death those who did not accept his strange teachings.”
Ishmael:
“Isaac, you forget that Abraham too, was my father, though my mother Hagar did not have the same status and dignity of yours who was Sarah. We are half-brothers and therefore, what was promised to Abraham also pertains to me and my descendents. The angel sent by God to my mother told her that I would be also glorious and the father of fifteen nations. My descendents too, were chosen to be a special people of God with a Divine mission. Their mission was not as important as that of your descendents (the people from whom the Savior of the world was to come), but nonetheless played an important and vital role in salvation history. It is true that in the Old Testament times, my descendents fell into ignorance and blindness and pagan worship, but your descendents also copied our practices. They too sinned just as much as we did, and at times, even worse. That is why God destroyed the nation of Israel and allowed them to be captives of their enemies. My descendents were not enslaved by anyone. If God allowed certain of them to be annihilated, it was not for ethnic reasons, but due to grave sinfulness on their part.
It is true that up to the time of Jesus, you had many holy men and women amongst your descendents, but that ceased after St. Paul and St. Luke. The shoot of Jesse produced no more fruits of sanctity amongst the Jewish people. I too, had God-fearing men and women from my lineage in the Old and New Testament times. Did you forget about the good people of Egypt at the time of Joseph, the prostitute of Jericho, Ruth (from whom Christ also descended), Naaman the Syrian, the widow of Sarepta (people that Christ praised and mentioned), the Canaanite woman, etc.? When your descendents abandoned and betrayed their mission as a people of God, to the point that St. Paul shook the dust off his sandals, he turned to my descendents. For six centuries, we carried the torch of Christ through human history and bore his banner amongst the nations of the world. The Arab nations of this period after Christ gave to the world the great army of saints, virgins and holy bishops and doctors of the Church who defended her teaching in regards to the Triune God. Your descendents were no longer in any condition to do this, but we bravely and courageously taught the truths of Christ before the world and even gave up our lives for them. God made his promise to father Abraham, but we were the ones that also fulfilled it. If Mohammed wanted to wipe out nations that did not accept his style of belief, he was putting into practice something he found written in the Old Testament and copied, but wrongly interpreted: that of exterminating nations for not following the Commandments of God. I lament the fact that my descendents too did not continue in the wonderful path that God had traced out for them, but maybe someday when your descendents, mine will also follow suit and produce as much abundant fruit as yours.”
Anthony Mellace
(dialogue based on a book by Saint Hillary of Poitiers, bishop and doctor of the Church)
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