HAGAR (BIBLE)

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'Hagar' (Arabic 'هاجر;' 'Hagar'; Hebrew 'הָגָר' "Stranger", Standard Hebrew 'Hagar', Tiberian Hebrew ''), according to the Abrahamic faiths was an Egyptian-born handmaiden of Sarah, wife of Abraham. Her story is reported in the Book of Genesis in the Torah in Judeo-Christian tradition. In Islam, her story is mentioned in the Qur'an (though she is not mentioned by name) and hadith.

Contents

Origins

Hagar in the Hebrew Bible

Hagar in Jewish mysticism

Hagar in the New Testament

Hagar and Arabic Origins

Hagar in Islamic traditions

In Hajj

Hagar in popular culture

Hagar in contemporary Israel

A figure for contemporary times

References

See also

Origins

According to ''Qisas al-anbiya'', Hagar was the daughter of the King of Maghreb, a descendant of the Islamic prophet Salih. Her father was killed by Pharoah Dhu l-'arsh and she was captured and taken as slave. Later, because of her royal blood, she was made mistress of the female slaves and given access to all of Pharoah's wealth.
Upon conversion to Abraham's faith, the Pharoah gave Hagar to Sarah who gave her to Abraham. Thus, the word "Hagar" (called ''Hajar'' in Arabic) comes from ''Ha ajruka'' (Arabic for "here is your recompense").

Hagar in the Hebrew Bible

The story of Hagar is found in Genesis 16 and 21. The narrative states that Hagar was an Egyptian servant belonging to Sarah, who, being barren, gave Hagar to her husband Abraham as a concubine, so that he might still have children. She gave birth to a son, whom she named Ishmael.
Fourteen years after this, following Sarah and Abraham's repentance Sarah gave birth to Isaac. God commanded Abraham to obey his wife's wishes and expel Hagar and Ishmael into the desert because Ishmael was an illegitimate child and had been born not only out of wedlock, but he was created without the blessing of God. However God promised to make him a great nation, because he was Abraham's seed. Rising early in the morning, therefore, Abraham took bread and a container of water and sent his former consort, Hagar and his son, Ishmael away.
Hagar intended to return to Egypt, but lost her way, and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. The water in her container failing, she placed Ishmael under one of the trees in the wilderness to cry as she went in search of water a small distance away from him. God ended up rescuing them by showing Hagar a well. Hagar eventually settled in the Desert of Paran.

Hagar in Jewish mysticism

According to Rabbinic lore (midrash) Hagar was a "stranger" whose real name was Keturah as stipulated in the Talmud. By this a pun on Hagar with Hageir meaning "the stranger" is implied, both being spelled the same way in plain Hebrew.
Hagar is sometimes identified in Jewish mysticism with the succubi Lilith and Naˤmā.

Hagar in the New Testament

Hagar, according to Paul, may symbolize the synagogue, which produces only slaves - the offspring always following the condition of the mother (Galatians 4:24)

Hagar and Arabic Origins

The Arabs origins and genealogy is traced back to Noah's son Shem. The Quran mentions a powerful ancient Arabic kingdom of a tribe called "'Ad", existed in old-days Oman and the empty quarter in present-day Saudi Arabia that returns to the days of the Islamic messenger Hud (Arabic: هودHud) believed to be (Hebrew:Eber).The Quran also mentions another tribe called Thamud. The ancient Arabs inhabited all the Arabian Peninsula to the borders of Iraq and Syria.Other ancient Arabic tribes include: Tasm, Gadeth, 'Aemlak, Umayem, Jorhom, Hador, Wabar, Gasem, 'Abel, and Hadramawt. Those are believed to be all extinct nowadays and there are very scarce details of their history, however, some remains of their very old kingdoms in Hadramawt and Sheba (the lands of present day Yemen,Oman,Eritrea and Ethiopia) still exists. Recent archaeological discoveries revealed the capital city of ‘Ad (E'rum) buried under the sand in the empty qurter of Saudi Arabia . Their tribes used to navigate the lands in continuous nomadic activities and it was the tribe of "Jorhom the second" from Yemen that first located Hagar and settled around her and Ishmael.
Hagar (Hajar) founded the community that once lived in the same place that is now called Mecca (Makkah). Ishmael - as the son of Abraham - was from Aram, however, through mixing breeds with Arab tribes an Arabic bread called "The Arabized Arabs/Adnani Arabs or the Ishmaelites" of north Arabia were established and are traced to Adnan, believed to be a descendant of Ishmael through his son Kedar. Those are different from another breed of Arabs that existed in south Arabia, "The Arabian Arabs/Qahtani Arabs" traced to Joktan (Arabic: قحطان Qahtan,Standard Hebrew: יָקְטָן Yoqtan "little",Tiberian Hebrew Yoqṭān), the second of the two sons of Eber (Arabic: هود Hud, Standard Hebrew ʿÉver, Tiberian Hebrew ʿĒḇer,עֵבֶר) who is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Gen. 10:25; 1 Chr. 1:19) as a great-grandson of Noah's son Shem and the ancestor of Hazarmaveth (Hadramawt) and Sheba, and also an old messenger (Hud) in Islam.
The community that was developed in Mecca in the days of Hagar was influenced by the religion of Abraham as it is believed that Abraham frequently visited Hagar and her son. However, as time went by the religion was lost through many misconceptions and they started to worship Idols as intermediaries with the God of Abraham. This community would serve as the earliest foundation of Islam, believed to be a restoration to the religion of Abraham - pure monotheism. According to Islamic traditions, Ishmael was a fully legitimate son of Abraham and inherited equally from his father the legacy of prophethood and religion of God (Arabic:Allah). From Ishmael descended the Prophet Muhammad, 600 years after the end of the last Israelite mission of Prophets with the "messenger" Jesus. Muhammad is traced to Adnan, is a descendant of Ishmael through his son Kedar.

Hagar in Islamic traditions

According to Islamic tradition, Hagar was the maiden of Sarah, the wife of the founder of the Abrahamic religions, Ibrahim (Arabic word for Abraham), and the daughter of the Egyptian king, who gifted her to Abraham as a wife, thinking Sarah was his sister. Islam and the New Woman/ ﺍﻹﺳﻼﻡ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺮﺃﺓ ﺍﻟﺠﺪﻳﺪﺓ, 'Aishah 'Abd al-Rahman, Anthony Calderbank, , , Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, Ishmael's birth to Hagar caused strife between her and Sarah, who was still barren. Abraham brings Hagar and their son to Mecca, where angel Gabriel shows him the Ka'aba. The objective of this journey was to "resettle" rather than "expel" Hagar.
The journey begins in Syria, when Ishmael is still a suckling. Angel Gabriel personally guides them on the journey, and part of the journey happens on a winged steed Al-Buraq. Finally, upon reaching reach the site of the Kaaba, Abraham left Hagar and son Ishmael under a tree and provided them with water. Hagar, learning that God had ordered Abraham to leave her in the desert, respected his decision. Muslims believe that God ordered Abraham to leave Hagar in order to test his obedience to God's commands. The Legitimacy and Nature of Mawid al-Nabī: (Analysis of a Fatwā), , Aviva, Schussman, Islamic Law and Society,
However, soon Hagar ran out of water, and baby Ishmael began to die. Hagar, according to Islamic tradition, panicked and climbed two nearby mountains repeatedly in search for water. After her seventh climb, Ishmael scratched the ground, and water gushed forth from a spring. Abraham's Journey to Mecca in Islamic Exegesis: A Form-Critical Study of a Tradition, , Reuven, Firestone, Studia Islamica,
Like so many other significant figures in the Quran, Hagar is never mentioned by name in the text. The reader never hears her talking to Abraham. However, the reader lives Hagar's predicament indirectly through the eyes of Abraham.

In Hajj

Hagar's repeated attempts to find water for her son, by running between the hills ''Safa'' and ''Marwa'' has become a Muslim rite (known as the ''sa`i'', Arabic: 'سَعِي'). During the two Muslim pilgrimages (the Hajj and Umra), pilgrims are required to walk between the two hills seven times in memory of Hagar's quest for water. The rite symbolizes the celebration of motherhood in Islam, as well as leadership of the women.
During the Hajj, many Muslims like to drink from well of Zamzam. According to Islamic tradition the well was God's answer to Hagar's quest for water. Often Muslims will bring back the water, regarding it as sacred, in memory of Hagar.
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Hagar in popular culture

Hagar appears in volume 4, issues 21-24, of DC Comics' Swamp Thing comic series.
The Scottish artist James Eckford Lauder (1811-1869) painted a large canvas of ''Hagar''.
"All Aunt Hagar's children" is a book by Edward P. Jones, containing several stories, all featuring Afro American characters. The book clearly addresses matters concerning slavery and oppression in general.
A character named Hagar is prominently featured in Toni Morrison's novel ''Song of Solomon'', which features numerous Biblical themes and allusions.
W. C. Handy's song "Aunt Hagar's Blues" immortalizes Hagar as the "mother" of the African Americans:
:Just hear Aunt Hagar's children harmonizin' to that old mournful tune!
:It's like choir from on high broke loose!
:If the devil brought it, the good Lord sent it right down to me,
:Let the congregation join while I sing those lovin' Aunt Hagar's Blues!
William Shakespeare - Merchant of Venice
Act II Scene 4 line 40
:Shylock. What says that fool of Hagar’s offspring, ha?
The comic strip Viking ''Hägar the Horrible'' uses the name, but with an umlaut over the first letter "a". This might be an unintended coincidence. ''Hägar'' is not a Viking name. In Scandinavian translations, he is called ''Hårek'' or ''Hagbard''.
The novel ''The Stone Angel'' by Margaret Laurence has a protagonist named Hagar whose life story loosely imitates that of the biblical Hagar.
Hagar is mentioned briefly in Salman Rushdie's hugely controversial The Satanic Verses, where Mecca is replaced with 'Jahilia', a desert village built on sand and served by Hagar's spring.

Hagar in contemporary Israel

The story of Hagar's expulsion to the desert has acquired some political connotations in modern Israel, being taken up as a symbol of the massive expulsion and exodus of Palestinians during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, being depicted as such by some Israeli writers and artists.
It was also the subject of a famous debate on the floor of the Knesset between two women parliamentarians - Shulamit Aloni, founder of Meretz (Civil Rights Movement) and Geulah Cohen of Tehiya (National Awakening Party) - who argued about the right interpretation which the Bible in general and Hagar's story in particular should be given in curriculum of Israeli schools.
Since the 1970's the custom has arisen of giving the name "Hagar" to newborn female babies. The giving of this name is often taken as a controversial political act, marking the parents as being left-leaning and supporters of reconciliation with the Palestinians and Arab World, and is frowned upon by many, including nationalists and the religious.
The Israeli Women in Black movement has unofficially renamed Jerusalem's Paris Square, where the movement has been holding anti-occupation vigils every Friday since 1988, as "Hagar Square". The name commorates the late Hagar Rublev, a prominent Israeli feminist and peace activist, who was among the founders of these Friday vigils.

A figure for contemporary times

Contemporary readings often discuss the tension between women that is induced by linking women's status to the male heirs they produce. Hagar is often used as example of the silently victimized, since her only recorded statement is a plea for death. Later Liberation and Womanist traditions find identity with Hagar for these reasons. The conflict between Sarah and Hagar is often claimed by these groups as a classic example of conflicts between women under patriarchal systems.

References

1. The "hajj": Sacred and Secular, , Carol, Delaney, American Ethnologist,

See also

★ , a book discussing the origins of Islam.