In Genesis 16:11 and Isaiah 60:6, God praises Ishmael and a caravan of Camels from Mecca - Reuven Firestone

Who is Reuven Firestone?

Reuven Firestone is the Regenstein Professor in Medieval Judaism and Islam at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Firestone earned his B.A. at Antioch College and was awarded the PhD in Arabic and Islamic studies by New York University in 1988.

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What is Isaiah?

Book of Isaiah, or Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BCE prophet Isaiah ben Amoz, but there is extensive evidence that much of it was composed during the Babylonian captivity and later. The consensus through most of the 20th century, that the book comprises three separate collections of oracles: Proto-Isaiah (chapters 1-39), containing the words of Isaiah; Deutero-Isaiah (chapters 40-55), the work of an anonymous 6th-century BCE author writing during the Exile; and Trito-Isaiah (chapters 56-66), composed after the return from Exile. While virtually no scholars today attribute the entire book, or even most of it, to one person, the book's essential unity has become a focus in current research.

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Where is Mecca?

Mecca, or Makkah is a city in the Hejazi region of the Arabian Peninsula, and the plain of Tihamah in Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital and administrative headquarters of the Makkah Region. The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level, and 340 kilometres (210 mi) south of Medina. Its resident population in 2012 was roughly 2 million,

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Who is GOD?

In monotheism and henotheism, God is conceived as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by theologians commonly includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence. <ul> <li>In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe</li> <li>In deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe</li> <li>Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God or in the oneness of God</li> <li>In pantheism, God is the universe itself</li> <li>In atheism, God is purported not to exist, while deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism. </li> </ul>

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