Hajira

In the beginning they could not pronounce my name here. That is why they asked me if they could call me Sahara. I told them, it is a nice name, I like the Sahara desert, it is my favorite place, and Sahara as the wife of Ibrahim, but I would better prefer to be called Hagar. To me the figure of Hagar has always been very close. Already as a child I thought how she must have felt – having born a child to Abraham as long as his wife Sara was barren, then chased away to the desert after Sara had born him Isaac, probably thirsting under the burning sun, driven away by the man she loved, who was so much more powerful than herself, who was the father of her son Ismael.  And my parents wondered why I was running around with a troubled face.  I did not expect my Somali colleagues to know that, because only little space is given her  in the bible, so I was on the way of explaining them.  It was not necessary. When I mentioned the name, they started almost cheering. "Hajira is the one who came from far." I said I came from far, that is why the name suits me.  They said, she came to Bakka. I said, she also came to Beer Sheva and I also came to Beer Sheva, that is why I deserve the name. They told me she suffered from hunger and thirst and she was running up and down seven times two hills, because she saw a Fata Morgana. I said I also saw a Fata Morgana, so I want the name. They said, finally she collapsed beside her son. Then Ismail struck his foot on the ground and all of sudden a spring of water came out of the earth. I did not say anything anymore. The Qu'ran tells that Ibrahim came a couple of times to visit and look after them, so I became somewhat reconciled with him, and as far as I understood, at the place of the spring together with Ismail he built the Kaaba and the temple at Bakka, which is  Mekka now. Looks like the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mekka got its name from Hajira? So the Quran tells the second and obviously the main part of the Hagar story, and it also shows Ibrahim in a little bit more responsible light than the bible. I do not know, if everybody knows that and it is just me who did not know? I checked again the bible, in fact, the bible says that God promised Sara to become the mother of a big nation, but he tells Abraham, Hagar will also be the  mother of a big nation (that is why he should not worry about sending her away). I had forgotten that. So Sara is the mother of the Jews, Hajira the mother of the Muslims, and is that the origin of the relationship between  Jews and Muslims – two jealous women between one patriarch?