2.124 – (Remember) when his Lord tested Abraham with (certain) words, and he fulfilled them

This verse begins an extended passage on Abraham (vv. 124–41), the first of many passages about this important character. The first part of the passage (vv. 125–27) associates Abraham with “the House” (al-bayt) and a set of rituals to perform there (also 3.96–97).

Though this sūra does not further identify the “House,” 14.37 uses the expression “the Sacred House” in relation to Abraham. The Quran also associates “the Sacred House” with the Ka‘ba at 5.97, though Abraham is not mentioned in the context. Muslims have traditionally interpreted the Ka‘ba to mean a cube-like structure located in Mecca.

This is one of several passages that suggest that Abraham traveled deep into the Arabian Peninsula (also 3.96–97; 14.37; 22.26–31). See a discussion of Abraham in Arabia at 22.26.

However, only here is Abraham accompanied by Ishmael (vv. 125, 127). The name of Ishmael appears in the Quran mostly in lists of figures familiar from the Bible (e.g., 4.163). In other verses Ishmael is named together with Isaac (2.133, 136, 140; 3.84; 4.163; 14.39).

There is more about Abraham in the Quran than about any figure except Moses – more than 240 verses in 25 of the Quran’s 114 sūras.