Hajar In The Qu’Ran And Its Early Commentaries

Abstract

Although by far not as well known as her son Ismā‘īl, Hājar or Ᾱjar as she also sometimes is called is certainly not unfamiliar to most Muslims. One has to look up the lemma Abraham in the Encyclopaedia of the Qur᾽ān to find out what part Hagar plays in the narrative cycle of Ibrāhīm which is largely in accordance with Jewish tradition as Paret already remarked in lemma Ismā‘īl in the Encyclopaedia of Islam . In the earliest period of Islam one does not have much reference to Hājar. As far as the written sources are concerned, it would appear that only sometime in the first half of the second century of Islam is Hājar mentioned at all and that not before the end of the second century of Islam, i.e., the beginning of the ninth century ce, was the story of her and her sons flight to Mecca written down. Keywords: Encyclopaedia of the Qur᾽ān ; Hājar