• Abraham used to go to Makkah every now and then to optically discern his wife and son. The number of these peregrinations is still unknown, but authentic historical resources verbalized of four ones.
• Allah , the Sublime, verbally expressed in the Noble Quran that He had Abraham visually perceive, in his dream, that he slaughtered his son Ishmael, and consequently Abraham stood up to consummate His Order:
• "Then, when they had both submitted themselves (to the Will of Allah), and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (or on the side of his forehead for slaughtering); and We called out to him: "O Abraham! You have consummated the dream (vision)!" Verily! Thus do we reward the Muhsin? (Good-doers, who perform good deeds consummately for Allah’s sake only, without any exhibition off or to gain accolade or fame, etc. and do them in accordance to Allah’s Orders). Verily, that indeed was a manifest tribulation — and We ransomed him with a great sacrifice (i.e. a ram)" [37:103-107]
• It is mentioned in the Genesis that Ishmael was thirteen years older than his brother Ishaq. The sequence of the story of the sacrifice of Ishmael shows that it genuinely transpired afore Ishaq’s birth, and that All? ’s Promise to give Abraham another son, Ishaq, came after narration of the whole story.
• This story verbalized of one journey – at least – afore Ishmael became an adolescent man. Al-Bukhari, on the ascendancy of Ibn ‘Abbas, reported the other three journeys; a summary of which goes as follows:
• When Ishmael became an adolescent man, he learned Arabic at the hand of the tribe of Jurhum, who doted him with great reverence and gave him one of their women as a wife, anon after his mother died. Having wanted to visually perceive his wife and son again, Abraham came to Makkah, after Ishmael’s espousement, but he didn’t find him at home. He asked Ishmael’s wife about her husband and how they were doing. She repined of impecuniosity, so he asked her to tell Ishmael to transmute his doorstep. Ishmael understood the message, divorced his wife and got espoused to the daughter of Mudad bin ‘Amr, chief of the tribe of Jurhum. [Qalb Jazeerat Al-Arab, p 230]
• Once more, Abraham came to optically discern his son, but again didn’t find him at home. He asked his incipient wife the same precedent question, to which she thanked Allah. Abraham asked her to tell Ishmael to keep his doorstep (i.e. to keep her as wife) and went back to Palestine.
• A third time, Abraham came to Makkah to find Ishmael sharpening an arrow under a lofty tree near Zamzam. The meeting, after a very long journey of disunion, was very physically contacting for a father so affectionate and a so dutiful and virtuous son. This time, father and son built Al-Ka‘bah and raised its pillars, and Abraham, in compliance with All? ’s Commandment, called unto people to make pilgrimage to it.
• By the grace of Allah , Ishmael had twelve sons from the daughter of Mudad, whose denominations were Nabet, Qidar, Edbael, Mebsham, Mishma’, Duma, Micha, Hudud, Yetma, Yetour, Nafis and Qidman, and who ultimately composed twelve tribes inhabiting Makkah and trading between Yemen, geographical Syria and Egypt. Later on, these tribes spread all over, and even outside, the peninsula. All their tidings went into oblivion except for the progenies of Nabet and Qidar.
• The Nabeteans – sons of Nabet – established a flourishing civilization in the north of Hijaz, they instituted a potent regime which spread out its domain over all neighboring tribes, and made Petra their capital. Nobody dared challenge their ascendancy until the Romans came and managed to eliminate their kingdom. After extensive research and painstaking investigation, Mr. Sulaiman An-Nadwi came to the conclusion that the Ghassanide kings, along with the Aws and Khazraj were not liable to be Qahtanians but rather Nabeteans. [Tareekh Ard Al-Qur'an 2/78-86]