Abraham

Isaac And Ishmael, Then and Now 

During Israel’s 1900 year absence from the world scene, the sons of Ishmael grew into the family of nations that God had promised, but the hostility remained even though the Promised Land was seemingly theirs for the taking. When Mohammed, a descendant of Ishmael’s, failed to convert the Jews in the region to his new religion, he declared war against them and the ancient hostility was born anew. All the old feelings of resentment were re-kindled, and even though the armies of Islam embarked upon an era of conquest that eventually took them all the way to eastern France, they maintained a special hostility toward the Jews.