Ishmael, Arabic Ismāʿīl, son of Abraham through Hagar, according to the three great Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. After the birth of Isaac, another son of Abraham, through Sarah, Ishmael and his mother were banished to the desert. A minor figure thereafter in the traditions of Judaism and Christianity, Ishmael continued to play a foundational role in Islamic tradition, which holds that he settled in Mecca. In the Old Testament (Genesis 16:1–16; 17:18–26; 21:1–21), Abraham’s wife Sarah was initially unable to bear children and therefore gave Abraham her maidservant Hagar to conceive an heir. Ishmael was born and brought up