The Significance of Abraham

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are each rooted in the life of Abraham.  For Jews, Abraham is a revered patriarch, referred to as Our Father Abraham, to whom God made several promises including one big one that guarantees Abraham would have numberless descendants and they would receive the land of Canaan, the "Promised Land.”  For Christians, Abraham is a spiritual forebear rather than a direct ancestor.  For example, Christian iconography depicts him as an early witness to the Trinity in the form of three "angels" who visited him.  In Christian belief, Abraham is a model of faith, and his intention to obey God by offering up his son Isaac is seen as a foreshadowing of God's sacrifice of his son Jesus.  In Islam, Ibrahim is considered to be the first Muslim and part of a line of prophets beginning with Adam.  Abraham is called Our Father Abraham as well as Ibrahim al-Hanif or Abraham the Monotheist.  Islam holds that it was Ishmael rather than Isaac whom Ibrahim was instructed to sacrifice.  

From Threes, Chapter 4, “Threes in Religion and Mythology”