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1. God’s special concern for the faithful poor

A consistent element in the teaching of the prophetic tradition to which Jews, Christians, and Muslims belong is God’s special concern for the poor, the defenseless, the mistreated, the victims of oppression and injustice.  These people are repeatedly characterized in the Bible and the Qur’an by phrases like “the needy,” “the orphan, widow, and wayfarer,” and “the stranger in your midst.”

It is a central teaching in the Hebrew Scriptures of prophets like Nathan, Amos, Isaiah, and Elisha that God is the champion of those people whose suffering is too often ignored by their fellow humans.  Nathan accuses David of his wrongdoing against his officer Uriah.  Elijah defends the farmer Naboth against the greed of Ahab.  It is the poor widow’s oil jar that the prophet Elisha is sent by God to replenish.  Amos condemns the people of Israel for having “sold the virtuous person for silver and the poor man for a pair of sandals” (Amos 2: 6), meaning that they have counted the poor as so unimportant that they have disregarded their dignity even for an insignificant sum of money.

God’s concern for the poor and oppressed is also recurrent theme in the Psalms.  “The poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles” (Ps 34:4).  “The LORD hears the needy and does not despise His own who are prisoners” (Ps 69: 33).  Jeremiah cries out:

“Sing to the LORD,

praise the LORD,

for he rescues the life of the needy

from the hands of the wicked” (Jeremiah 20: 13).

Perhaps the most eloquent statement of God’s care for the poor of this world is found in the latter part of the prophecy of Isaiah.

“The poor and the needy ask for water, and there is none,

their tongue is parched with thirst.

I, the LORD, will answer them,

I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them” (Isaiah 41: 17).

Jesus, sent “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” carried on the message of the Hebrew prophets by declaring that it is to such people, the poor of every age, that God’s reign belongs (Luke 6:20).  He calls them “blessed” because in their misery they rely on God and God never fails to respond to their trust.  It is to such that Jesus brought God’s healing and consolation and whose demons he cast out.  It is their faith that he recognized and defended in parables like that of the widow whose tiny temple offering, he says, was worth more in God’s sight than the superfluous wealth of the rich.

The theme of God’s care for the needy and neglected, so prominent in the teaching of the Old and New Testaments, is taken up anew in the message of the Qur’an.  The Qur’an forthrightly notes that a real concern for the widows and orphans in our midst is an indispensable part of faith in God and obedience to God’s will.  The poor are not simply objects of charity but have a right to a portion of the wealth of others.  Zakat is an obligation in Islam.  In the distribution of wealth that occurs in the division of inheritance, the poor have a prescribed portion.  In a strong condemnation, the Qur’an consigns to Hell the person who Aneither believed in God almighty nor encouraged others to feed the needy” (69:30-37).

Thus, God’s special care for the poor was not an innovation in the preaching of Muhammad in Arabia, nor was it a novelty in Jesus’ ministry in Palestine.  God’s special care for the poor of this world was already an established part of the prophetic message.  In their own ways, Jesus and later Muhammad confirmed what had been taught long before by the Jewish prophets.

Where did this awareness that God’s special compassion towards the poor is an integral part of faith in God come from?  When did this understanding begin?  How far back in the Bible can we trace it?  In my opinion, the first place in the Bible where God is revealed as the Holy One whose preferential concern is for the lowly, oppressed, faithful people of this world is found in the story of Hagar.[1]  Hagar, who might be called the “first mystic” of the Bible, is the first to whom God reveals God’s nature as the one who sees the plight of the poor.    

2. Hagar in the Bible and in Islamic sources

As wife of a prophet, mother of a prophet and distant ancestress of the Arab people and hence also of Muhammad, Hagar has always been highly regarded by Muslims.  Islam raises up the status of Hagar from slave or servant girl to be honored as “Sitti Hajar” (my Lady Hagar).  In performing the sa’y between Safa and Marwa, pilgrims on the hajj relive her travail in the desert and bear witness to God’s saving response to her faith.

Hagar has been somewhat eclipsed in the attentions of Jews and Christians by Sarah, the first wife of Abraham, mother of Isaac, and ancestress of the Jewish people, including the Jew whom Christians regard as Savior, Jesus Christ.  However, it is primarily the Biblical accounts of Hagar in the Book of Genesis that lay the foundation for regarding her as the “Mother in faith” of those who place their trust in God’s care and compassion.

By meditating together on the figure of Hagar, Jews, Christians, and Muslims can gain insights into God’s nature and God’s will for humankind.  I will concentrate on what might be learned about God from the story of Hagar as found in the Bible and as elaborated upon in Islamic traditions.

The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions agree on the main lines of the story of Hagar, but each tradition presents unique elements for understanding her significance in the history of God’s revelation to humankind.  Both the Biblical accounts and the Islamic traditions focus on the compassionate care shown by God to Hagar and her child when she was alone and helpless in the desert.

In the Christian New Testament, the only reference to Hagar is in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (Gal. 4:21-25), where Hagar and Sarah are said to represent the First Covenant which God made with the Jews on Sinai and the New Covenant established in the person of Jesus Christ.  In this passage, Paul does not treat Sarah and Hagar in their historical setting but uses the Biblical characters allegorically or “figuratively” to affirm the spiritual freedom of those who accept God’s new covenant in Christ.   

The story of Hagar is not recounted in the Qur’an but is told in hadiths from Muhammad related by Ibn ‘Abbas and found in Bukhari’s authoritative collection of sound hadiths.  The Qur’an does refer indirectly to the story of Hagar in speaking of Abraham and Ishmael laying the foundations of the Ka’ba (2: 127) near the site in Mecca where God had saved Hagar and her child by producing the spring of Zamzam.  There is also a Qur’anic reference (14: 39) to God’s answering the prayers of Abraham by blessing him with the birth of Ishmael and Isaac in his old age.

3. The textual question of the Biblical accounts

The most important Biblical accounts of Hagar are two and present a textual difficulty.  Both accounts are found in the Book of Genesis (Gen. 16: 1-15, Gen. 21: 8-21).  A straightforward reading of the Genesis narrative would seem to indicate that Hagar was cast out twice into the desert, both times at the instigation of Abraham’s wife Sarah.  The first time was when Hagar was still pregnant with her unborn child, the second time after the birth and weaning of Isaac, almost 16 years later.

Although it is possible to reconcile the two accounts into one ongoing narrative, modern Biblical scholarship, by use of historical-critical methods, offers an alternate suggestion.  It is now accepted by most Biblical scholars that the accounts in Genesis are the result of editing by later redactors of narratives that originally developed independently of one another.

The hypothesis, which can neither be proven nor disproved, is illustrative of how much of the Biblical text came into its present form.  Since this historical development might be unfamiliar to Muslims, whose Qur’anic Scripture came about through a very different process of revelation, allow me to very briefly trace the outlines.  Most scholars today accept the view that the Jewish people orally preserved and handed on the stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and the other great figures of their past.  As the stories were told and retold from one generation to the next, they came to take on the form of longer narratives which, in the divided reign after the time of David and Solomon, developed separately in the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

Sometime around the 10th century B.C., the southern narrative was written down by an unknown author, as was that of the north in the following century.  One of the distinguishing characteristics of the two narratives is the use of the sacred name “JHWH” in the earlier narrative, and the generic name for God “Elohim” in the northern account.  Thus, scholars commonly refer to the first as the (J) tradition and the second as the (E) tradition.

Several centuries later (in the 8th-6th centuries), these two accounts were woven into one, with new material (D) added, by the proponents of a reform movement called “the Deuteronomic reform.” Still later, after the return of the Jews from Babylon, the earlier accounts were put into their final form by a group of Priestly authors, whose contributions are referred to as the (P) source.  Jews and Christians believe that this complex process by which the actual Biblical text was produced from four originally independent sources (J E D P) was guided by God and that it is the final redaction that we have today which deserves to be called God’s revealed message.

This is what lies behind my statement that the two stories of Hagar in the Book of Genesis may in fact be parallel accounts referring to the same event.

4. Hagar meets “The God Who Sees”

According to the account in Genesis 16, Hagar was an Egyptian servant working in the house of Sarai and Abram (their names would later be changed after the birth of Isaac).  Since both were advanced in years and it appeared that the couple would have no children of their own, Sarai allowed Abram to have relations with Hagar in the hope that, as she stated: “perhaps I can build a family through her” (Gen. 16: 2).  Abram agreed and Hagar became pregnant with Ishmael.  However, once Hagar conceived and it became clear that Abraham’s line would continue through her, Sarai became jealous of Hagar, as the mother of Abram’s only child and heir, and mistreated Hagar (16: 6) to the point that Hagar finally fled into the desert.

In the desert, (the angel of) God found Hagar near a spring of water and appeared to her.  In these early accounts in Genesis, Athe angel of God” is an indirect, respectful way of referring to God’s own self, and it is clear from Gen. 16:13 that it was God who appeared to Hagar.  God said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”  God of course knew why Hagar was in the desert, but was perhaps questioning her to test whether she would respond with the truth.  She responds simply and honestly: “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”  God then tells her four things: God gives her sound advice in her desperate plight, encourages her with good news, comforts her with the knowledge that God understands her suffering, and responds to her deepest anxieties.  God tells Hagar (Gen 16: 11-12):

C that she should return and submit to Sarai (sound advice),

C that she will be the ancestress of descendants too numerous to count (good news),

C that God has heard and understands her cries of distress (God understands),

C that she needn’t worry about the child she is expecting.  Isma’il will be strong and healthy (like any expectant mother, she is anxious about her unborn child). 

At the climax of the story, Hagar, who has found comfort and courage in God’s compassionate presence in her time of need, speaks boldly to God and gives God a new name.  “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are HA ROY: the God who sees me.’  She said, “I have now seen the One who sees me” (Gen 16: 13).  In this encounter between God and the servant girl, we find the first indication in the Bible that God is One who sees and understands the plight of the poor.

The parallel account in Genesis 21 differs in detail but bears the same message.  The story takes place after the birth of Isaac.  Abraham gave a great feast on the occasion of Isaac’s weaning, when Isaac would have been about 3 years old and Ishmael already in his teens.  On seeing Ishmael playing with Isaac, Sarah once again became jealous and said to Abraham: “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac” (21: 9).  The Bible says that Abraham was upset because of his love for Ishmael, but God told Abraham to send Hagar away, promising him that both Isaac and Ishmael would be the fathers of great nations (21: 12-13).  God’s promise must have reassured Abraham as it guaranteed the survival of Ishmael.

So Abraham gave Hagar and Ishmael some food and water and sent them off to the south into the desert.  The Biblical narrative continues:

When the water in the skin was gone, she placed the boy under a bush. Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, and thought, AI cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.  God heard the boy crying, and (the angel of) God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid.  God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.  Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”  Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.  So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink, and God was with the boy as he grew up (Gen: 21: 15-20).

5. Hagar in the Islamic traditions

Against the background of the two Biblical accounts, we can see points of similarity with the story as told in Islamic traditions.  The story is told in many versions, but Bukhari’s collection of sound hadiths forms the basis of the accounts.  As narrated by Ibn Abbas,[2] when Abraham had differences with his wife because of her jealousy of Hagar, he led the two of them away through the desert until they reached the region of Mecca.  He gave them a full water-skin and left them under a tree and returned home.  Hagar called out: AAbraham, to whom are you leaving us?”  He replied, “(I leave you) in the care of God.”  Hagar answered, “I’m satisfied to be with God.”

In another account, also related by Ibn Abbas, the story is even more poignant:

In those days there was nobody in Mecca, nor was there any water.  So he made them sit down and placed near them a leather bag with some dates, and a small water-skin containing water, and set out homeward.  Ishmael’s mother followed him saying, AAbraham! Where are you going, leaving us in this valley where there is no one whose company we may enjoy, and there is nothing (to eat or drink)?”  She repeated that to him many times, but he did not look back at her. Then she asked him, AHas God ordered you to do this?” He said, “Yes.”  She said, “Then God will not neglect us.”[3]

After Abraham’s departure, when their water was gone, Hagar went to look for help, climbing the hill of Safa, then that of Marwa, going back and forth between the two hills, each time stopping in the valley to check on Ishmael.  He was close to death from thirst and Hagar couldn’t bear to watch him die, so even though she herself was dying of thirst she climbed Safa once again to look for help.  At that point, she heard a voice, although she saw no one.  She cried out, “Help us if you can!”  It was Gabriel she had heard.  Gabriel hit the earth and water gushed out and the mother and child were saved.  Later, some passing Arabs found them and gave them a home with them.  Ishmael, when he reached the age of marriage, married one of the women from the tribe.

Still later, Abraham told his wife that he wanted to visit Hagar and his son in Mecca and found Ishmael mending arrows near the well of Zamzam.  He told Ismail that God had ordered him to build a house for God and that Ismail should help him. Ishmael agreed and the two of them built the Ka’ba, praying in the words of the Qur’an: “O Lord! Accept (this service) from us.  Truly, You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing” (2.127).

Other hadith traditions add more details to the Islamic account, but the main lines are similar to those above.  The Islamic traditions give the name Zamzam to the well mentioned in Genesis 21: 19 and relate the construction of the Ka’ba by Abraham and Ishmael.  Muslims on the pilgrimage still perform the sa’y, running between Safa and Marwa to reenact Hagar’s distress; they take water from the well of Zamzam to recall how God saved her and her son from death.

6. Significance of Hagar as “mother in faith”

I believe that Hagar is a key religious figure and that meditation on her story can enrich the understanding of Jews, Christians, and Muslims concerning the nature of the God and what it means to do God’s will in contemporary societies.  The image of Hagar and her child in the desert is part of today’s reality.  The low-born, hard-working domestic laborer, used and misused and cast out by her employers, the single mother abandoned by the father of her child, the foreigner and refugee far from her native land, desperately trying to survive, frantic in her maternal concern for the safety of her child - this Hagar I have met many times.

I see Hagar in the Filipino domestic workers that often make up the bulk of our Catholic parishes in Amman, Dubai, Rome, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong: women far from home, working long hours at thankless tasks and poor pay in other people’s houses, rearing and showing love to other people’s children, often defenseless against personal assaults, without the means to defend their legal and human rights, supporting distant families by their labors.  The Hagars of our day are not only Christian Filipinos, they might be Pakistani or Indonesian Muslims, they might be Buddhists from Sri Lanka or Hindus from India.

In Hong Kong, there are 100,000 Filipino domestic workers and 50,000 Indonesians.  Recently, I was in Hong Kong for an ecumenical meeting, and on Sunday afternoon I witnessed an unforgettable sight.  In the downtown commercial district on the Island side of the Star Ferry, every inch of surface area - grassy plots, sidewalks, parking lots, alleyways - are filled with Filipinas who spread a tablecloth on the ground and enjoy a picnic lunch with their friends.

They are mainly Christians, who worship God and then enjoy their only free day together.  In the Catholic parish where I was staying, there are 11 Masses every Sunday and more than 95% of the congregation is made up of Filipino women.  The same is the case at the Anglican cathedral and other Christian churches.  Later, when they meet in the afternoon for their sidewalk picnic, they celebrate one another’s birthdays, pass around family photos, and, when the need arises, take up collections from their limited funds to help their friends who have medical emergencies or who must return to their homeland because of a death in the family.

But this is only half the story.  One can take the Star Ferry to Kowloon, on the mainland side of the harbor, and there one will find a similar scene, except that here the women are mainly Muslim Indonesians.  The same simple lunch, the same type of celebrations, the same solidarity with their sisters in need.  There is one difference, however.  During Ramadan, the Indonesian Muslim women do not gather at noontime but come together at sunset for iftar, to break the fast together after a day of prayer and fasting.

It goes without saying that not all those for whom Hagar is a model of faith are women.  The poor man who trusts in God, who strives against odds to support his family, whose desperation never turns to despair or hatred or violence, that man is truly Hagar’s descendant in faith.  But because of their vulnerability, because their social and economic resources are more limited than those of men, it is preeminently the poor woman in whom we can see the modern figure of Hagar.

All these have one thing in common.  Abandoned and desperate in the desert of our modern metropolises and rural areas, they are emblematic of the poor people of this world for whom God has special care, whose dignity is recognized by God, to whom God shows compassion in their distress.  It is significant that in the Bible, Hagar is the first one to whom God is revealed as “the God who sees.”  It is Hagar who gives God this name.  What does God see?  God sees Hagar’s distress, comes to her aid, shows compassion, treats her with kindness and saves her.  In God’s encounter with Hagar in the desert, we see for the first time that God is a God who has special care for those who suffer. 

What God began to teach through Hagar has become a central theme of the prophetic tradition of which Jews, Christians and Muslims are heirs in faith.

The image of Hagar invites all to look at God through the eyes of the Egyptian domestic who could say in the words of the Islamic hadith: AI’m satisfied to be with God.”  Hagar’s declaration of faith is not couched in theological language, but no less profound for that: “God will not neglect us.”

Hagar challenges modern believers to ask if we respond to the plight of the poor with the respect their dignity deserves, with the compassion shown by God, with the concrete assistance provided by God and symbolized in the water of Zamzam.  We must examine ourselves honestly to inquire whether we who worship El Roy, “The God Who Sees” the plight of the poor, fail to see the contemporary daughters and sons in faith of Hagar in our own societies?

[1] Hagar/Hajar, Abraham/Ibrahim, Ishmael/Isma’il, Isaac/Ishaq are derived from the cognate names used respectively in Hebrew and Arabic.  Jews and Christians tend to use the Hebrew form, Muslims that of Arabic.  To be consistent and avoid clumsiness, I will refer to all these by their Biblical names taken from Hebrew.

[2]Sahih Bukhari, 4: 584.

[3]Sahih Bukhari, 4: 583.