Al-Suhaylī (1) raised an objection to this line of reasoning, the substance of which is that the phrase, “So We gave her good news of Isaac” (Hūd 11:71) is a complete statement, while the words that follow—“and after Isaac, Jacob” (Hūd 11:71)—constitute a separate sentence that is not part of the original glad tidings.

He argued that, grammatically, a word governed by a preposition cannot remain so unless the preposition is repeated. Thus one may not say, “I passed by Zayd and after him ʿAmr,” unless one also says, “and after him, by ʿAmr.”

Accordingly he maintained that the clause “and after Isaac, Jacob” is in the accusative, its governing verb suppressed, the sense being: “and We granted Isaac Jacob.” Yet this claim itself is open to examination.

Al-Suhaylī also favored the view that the intended sacrifice was Isaac, adducing Allah’s words: “Then, when he reached the age to work with him” (al-Ṣāffāt 37:102). He said, “Ishmael was not with him; he and his mother were in their infancy beside Mecca, so how could he ‘reach the age to work with him’?” This, too, invites scrutiny, for it has been related that the Friend of Allah would often ride the Burāq to Mecca, look in on his son and his bondwoman, and then return. Allah knows best. (2)

Those from whom the opinion that the sacrificial son was Isaac is transmitted include Kaʿb al-Aḥbār; it is also reported from ʿUmar, al-ʿAbbās, ʿAlī, Ibn Masʿūd, Masrūq, ʿIkrima, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, Mujāhid, ʿAṭāʾ, al-Shaʿbī, Muqātil, ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, Abū Maysara, Zayd ibn Aslam, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaqīq, al-Zuhrī, al-Qāsim, Ibn Abī Burda, Makḥūl, ʿUthmān ibn Ḥāḍir, al-Suddī, al-Ḥasan, Qatāda, Abū Hudhayl, and Ibn Sābiṭ. It is also the preference of Ibn Jarīr (3)—which is astonishing coming from him—and it is one of the two narrations from Ibn ʿAbbās. The sound report from him, however, and from most of those just mentioned, is that the intended sacrifice was Ishmael, peace be upon him. Mujāhid, Saʿīd, al-Shaʿbī, Yūsuf ibn Mihrān, ʿAṭāʾ, and many others relate from Ibn ʿAbbās that it was Ishmael, peace be upon him.

Ibn Jarīr said: Yūnus related to me; Ibn Wahb informed us; ʿAmr ibn Qays told me, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said, “The one who was ransomed was Ishmael, and the Jews claim it was Isaac; the Jews have lied.” (4)

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Imām Aḥmad transmitted from his father that the sacrificial son was Ishmael.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: I asked my father about the intended sacrifice, and he replied, “What is correct is that it was Ishmael, peace be upon him.”

He also said: It is reported from ʿAlī, Ibn ʿUmar, Abū Hurayra, Abū al-Ṭufayl, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, al-Ḥasan, Mujāhid, al-Shaʿbī, Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, and Abū Ṣāliḥ that their view was: the sacrificial son was Ishmael, peace be upon him.