– And We granted him Isaac, and Jacob as a gift, and each of them We made righteous
That Isaac, not Ishmael, is mentioned here as the son Allah gave to Abraham, may surprise readers who are familiar with the importance of Ishmael in Islam. The name of Ishmael only appears at verse 85, with no clear connection to Abraham. The same pattern is followed in a number of other quranic passages (6.84; 19.49; cf. 38.45). Worth noting in these passages is not only the spotlighting of Isaac but also the high praise that the Quran gives to Isaac and Jacob at 6.84; 19.49–50; 21.72–73; and 38.45–47.
This kind of material in the Quran seems to represent a historical situation in which there was no particular controversy with the “Children of Israel.”