Allah, Glorified is He, praises him in several verses of His Mighty Book. We have already cited, in the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

“The noble son of the noble son of the noble son of the noble—Joseph son of Jacob son of Isaac son of Abraham.” (1)

The People of the Scripture relate that when Isaac married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, while his father was still alive, he was forty years old. She was barren, so he pleaded with Allah on her behalf; she conceived and bore twin boys. The first they named Esau—whom the Arabs call al-ʿIṣ—and he is the forefather of the second line of the Romans (2). The second emerged holding his brother’s heel, so they named him Jacob (3); he is Israel, to whom the Children of Israel trace their lineage.

They say that Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob because Esau was his first-born, whereas their mother Rebekah loved Jacob more, for he was the younger.

When Isaac grew old and his eyesight dimmed, he craved a dish from his son Esau. He told him to go hunt some game and prepare it for him so that he might bless him and pray for him. Esau was an accomplished hunter and set out to do so. Rebekah then instructed her son Jacob to slaughter two choice kids from their flock, prepare from them the dish his father desired, and bring it to him before his brother returned, that he might bless him instead. She dressed Jacob in Esau’s clothes and placed the skins of the two kids on his arms and neck, for Esau was hairy whereas Jacob was not. When Jacob brought the food and offered it, Isaac asked, “Who are you?” He replied, “Your son.” Isaac embraced him and felt him, saying, “The voice is Jacob’s, yet the feel and the garments are Esau’s.” After eating, he prayed that Jacob would surpass his brothers in stature, that his word would prevail over them and over the nations after them, and that his provision and offspring be abundant.

When Jacob left, his brother Esau came with the dish their father had requested and presented it to him. Isaac said, “What is this, my son?” He answered, “The food you desired.” Isaac said, “Did you not bring it to me a moment ago? I ate from it and prayed for you.” Esau replied, “By Allah, no.” Realizing that his brother had preceded him, he was deeply aggrieved and, it is said, threatened to kill him once their father died. He asked his father for another prayer, whereupon Isaac supplicated that Esau’s descendants might inhabit a rugged land and that their sustenance and fruits be plentiful.

When their mother Rebekah heard of Esau’s threat against Jacob, she told Jacob to go to her brother Laban in the land of Harran, stay with him until Esau’s anger subsided, and marry one of Laban’s daughters. She also asked her husband Isaac to command him to do so, to advise him, and to pray for him, which he did.

Jacob—peace be upon him—thus set out later that very day. Nightfall overtook him at a certain spot, so he lay down there and took