n.
flourished early 2nd millennium BC
First of the Hebrew patriarchs , revered by Judaism , Christianity , and Islam .
Genesis tells how Abraham, at 75, left Ur with his barren wife, Sarai (later Sarah ), and others to found a new nation in Canaan . There God made a covenant with him, promising that his descendants would inherit the land and become a great nation. Abraham fathered Ishmael by Sarah's maidservant Hagar; Sarah herself bore Isaac, who inherited the covenant. Abraham's faith was tested when God ordered him to sacrifice Isaac; he was prepared to obey but God relented. In Judaism he is a model of virtue, in Christianity he is the father of all believers, and in Islam he is an ancestor of Muhammad and a model (in Sufism ) of generosity.