The question of who founded Islam does not have an easy, cut and dried, black and white answer. Most believe the Ishmaelites are the founders of Islam, but that is too simple an answer. Islam is an end times answer to an ancient dispute found in the Book of Genesis. We must pull back the covers to see who, in the end of days, is the aggressor and who is the victim. The one with the aggressive and violent agenda is likely the one who founded Islam. The others who are with this aggressor are only participants.
The Patriarch of Israel, Jacob, has an enemy who has wanted to kill him from the beginning. Jacob’s enemy in the beginning will be the same enemy in the end. How can we be sure of this premise? God says He tells us the end in the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). In other words, the repeating patterns of history were set by God in the beginning so that believers will understand what is happening in the end of days.
Taking a look at the enemies of Jacob requires us to know who Jacob’s descendants are in the end of days because these will also be subject to the violent hand of the enemy. For the most part, his descendants are Jews and Christians. However, there are millions of Muslims who were converted from Judaism and Christianity. These will be called back into the faith of YHVH when the time comes and we can expect the enemy of the Jews and Christians to perpetrate violence against these Muslims, too.
There are two candidates for “founder of Islam” – Esau and Ishmael. We will examine both. First, let’s learn about Esau.
ESAU
Esau was Jacob’s twin and arch enemy in the beginning. The final struggle between Esau and Jacob will come almost 4,000 years later during the time known as “Jacob’s Trouble”, also called the “Great Tribulation”. Let’s review the facts in the beginning to discover what will happen in the end of days.
It was Esau who tried to kill Jacob in the womb (Genesis 25:22), while exiting Rebecca’s womb (Genesis 25:26), during Jacob’s lifetime (Genesis 27:42-45) and Esau prophesied that one day, eventually, he would kill Jacob (Genesis 33:4 where the “kiss of Esau” is prophesied in the Torah scroll as a jot that looks like teeth, a bite mark). These are all attempted murder that failed, but Esau is not done.
God wants us to know and understand Jacob’s enemy who is also our enemy. There is a principle that says the things that happen to the Patriarchs and the early generations will happen to us in the end of days. Therefore, it behooves us to pay attention to the clues God gives us to know our enemy.
God’s first clue to us for the end of days has to do with Esau’s physical appearance. He was a ‘red’ man (Genesis 25:25) and God tells us to always remember that Esau was red and that Edom, Esau’s territory, was red, too (Genesis 25:30). In the end of days, the color ‘red’ will figure prominently in particular cultures, governments, religion and belief systems.
Esau also was hairy (Genesis 27:11) and a “man of the field” (Genesis 25:27). Esau was “as a beast”, an animal more interested in satisfying his lusts than anything else. He was a man with no interest in learning or obeying Torah, or in having a relationship with God. He rejected God and God’s instructions.
Another characteristic of Esau is that he hides in order to strike. Hunting animals was Esau’s primary passion, but he began to hunt humans like his cousin, King Nimrod (Genesis 10:9). In fact, it was Nimrod that Esau hunted. The Book of Jasher tells the story of how Esau was hunting when he came across four other hunters. The hunting party was King Nimrod and three of his friends. Esau hid in the bushes (Jasher chapter 27), then sprang forth and beheaded King Nimrod. Afraid that the other men would come after him, he ran from the scene like a coward to get back home where he traded red lentil stew (Genesis 25:30) for his birthright.
Esau tipped his hand about his attitude toward his place as the firstborn during the red lentil stew incident. The scenario was that Jacob was cooking the stew of consolation for his father, Isaac. Abraham had just died and it was the eldest son’s duty to console his father when the grandfather died. Esau, of course, was more interested in hunting than being a good and Godly son, so he had gone to the field where he spied Nimrod and his three men also hunting. After Esau killed Nimrod (and became the father of beheading) he ran – to his younger brother who was performing the role of firstborn that Esau should have filled. Believing Nimrod’s three men would find and kill him, he turned his birthright over to the only other man who was qualified and who could be his successor – Jacob.
Esau did not want the birthright because with that came required responsibilities. However, he wanted the wealth and power that comes with the blessing – that goes with the birthright – which he would have used to satisfy his own lusts rather than taking care of the family. Esau later lost the blessing to Jacob and he hated Jacob because of it (Genesis 27:41). Esau has been trying to get the blessing back ever since.
We see from these accounts that another of Esau’s characteristics is that of a bully. Bullies are usually cowards who hide, destroy, then run. Esau ran from Nimrod’s men, then sold his birthright to Jacob and lost his blessing to him, as well.
Here is another example of Esau’s bullying: the sudden attack! The Amalekites struck the Israelites with a battle when they were at their weakest during the Exodus. Later, the Edomites would not let the Israelites pass through their Edomite territory or give them water. Esau’s lust for wealth and power, and desire to kill Jacob’s descendants, are prevalent in his unwillingness to share resources.
If hiding is Esau’s modus operandi, then where has he hid himself for the last 4,000 years? The visions of the four beasts God gave to Daniel shows us one place where Esau has been. Those visions are warnings about the various ways that the Edomites (Esau’s descendants) were coming to fulfill that prophetic “bite” on Jacob’s neck back then and how he will try to finish the job in the end of days.
The Book of Daniel explains the identities of the four beast governments and their leaders – Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. Each of these empires were associated with Esau through his descendants.
The first beast was Babylon whose leader, Nebuchadnezzar, was an Edomite. We know this from the account in Daniel 4:28-33 that Nebuchadnezzar became a true “man of the field”, living like a beast, eating grass like an animal, looking wild with long hair like an eagle’s feathers and fingernails like a bird’s talons. As a “man of the field”, he is connected to Esau, either physically, spiritually or both.
The next beast empire in the Book of Daniel was Persia (Daniel 7:5). It is more difficult to see the Edomite beast in the Persian empire, but it is there.
Daniel had two visions of Persia. The first was that it is a bear, a beast with a blood thirst. The Persian bear is raised up on one side because one side of it was stronger. The two sides in the past were Medea and Persia; those two sides today are Russia and Iran.
The second Persian beast Daniel saw was a ram (Daniel 8:20). A ram is a clean animal and is associated with Israel and redemption. Esau is anything but clean, however, he is a Hebrew. The ram, in this context, represents Esau’s identity as a Hebrew and a descendant of Shem. Esau is a semite who now appears as this Persian ram disguised as King Cyrus who “cared for” Jerusalem like a shepherd – Esau attempting to appear to be the firstborn son to the Jews.
This ram is the face of a sheep over that of a bear’s head and it speaks of an ulterior motive in King Cyrus. He wanted Jerusalem, and rule over it he did by making God’s city beholden to him as a vassal city to the Persian empire.
Another, and perhaps better, association of Persia as an Edomite enclave is the entire account of Esther where Haman, a descendant of Esau’s grandson, Amalek, was a prominent figure in the Persian government. It is doubtful that Haman was the only Edomite in the Persian government.
Ancient Persia is modern Iran. Keep that in mind.
The next beast empire of the Book of Daniel is Greece (Daniel 8:5, 21). This beast appears as a he-goat. Let’s look at the Greek ‘he-goat’ and how he is associated with Esau.
The association begins with the Hebrew word ‘sa-iyr’ from Genesis 27:11 where the scripture says Esau was ‘hairy’. The masculine noun שׂעיר (sa’iyr) denotes a he-goat (Leviticus 4:24). By association, it means ‘shaggy goat’. Why? A goat skin fooled Isaac into thinking Jacob was Esau.
That word has other spellings and pronunciations in Hebrew one of which is ‘se-iyr’ – Mount Seir, the mountain given to Esau by God and where he migrated with his family (Genesis 36). The ‘notable horn’ that Daniel saw on the shaggy he-goat is related to Mount Seir. Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau to the land of Se-iyr (שׂעיר), the country of Edom (Genesis 32:3).
An Edomite ‘he-goat’ is exactly what Daniel saw in his vision. YHVH did not want us to guess about the origins of Greece. (You can find out more about this in my teachings, The Esau Effect and The Kingdom of Edom – The Enemy We Face).
The next beast empire Daniel saw was a beast that was unlike any natural animal on the earth. It had elements of beasts of the field, such as horns and claws, but it was more of a composite beast of war whose horns were made of the material of war – iron (Daniel 7:7).
This composite beast was Rome, but it is not just Rome because Rome was an Edomite empire that later spawned Islam.
Jewish historians nicknamed Rome ‘Bosrah’ because it was well-known that the Edomites had migrated to Rome from the Edomite capital, Bosrah, and had usurped the light-haired, light-eyed and light-skinned indigenous Italian leadership there just as they did when Esau migrated to Mount Seir and ousted the reigning Horite King by marrying his daughter, then going to war aginst him. Ancient Edomite Roman culture still persists in the modern world because of one element that Esau failed to use during his previous attempts to take back his birthright and rule the world through Babylon, Persia and Greece. That one element is religion.
Esau finally figured out, and made use of, religion during the time of Rome to conquer and hold captive the House of Jacob, both Jews and lost Ten-Tribers. Whom Esau could not conquer through war, he converted to his new religion, Christianity. But Christianity failed to subjugate all of Jacob’s descendants, so the next religious thrust would be Islam.
Look at the progression of Esau’s attempts to eliminate Jacob. First, they took the Jews captive into Babylon. But capturing the Jews didn’t make them disappear. So the Edomites’ next attempt was to make Jerusalem a vassal city and send the Jews back to Jerusalem where they would serve Esau under the guise of the Persian empire. Isaac’s blessing to Esau was that he would serve Jacob, but Esau was trying to make Jacob serve him.
The Persians were not able to accomplish Esau’s ultimate goal, so other Edomites from Greece stepped in. Unlike their Persian predecessors, the Greeks were not happy allowing the Jews to worship YHVH in Jerusalem or having Jerusalem as merely a vassal city. After conquering their Persian brothers, the Greeks went to rule from Jerusalem.
And, also unlike their Persian predecessors, the Greeks tried to convert the Jews away from the teachings of their father, Jacob. Like Esau, the Greeks rejected Torah and to make their point, they slaughtered a pig on YHVH’s holy altar to defile it. They removed circumcision, the sign of the Abrahamic covenant, from the Jews and made it difficult for them to continue obeying the Torah. But the Jews would not convert to worshiping the Greek, Edomite gods. Something more needed to be done, so along came Rome.
Rome added the new religious tactic. Why did the Romans bring religion, forced conversion, into the situation? Military might had not worked in the three previous attempts to destroy Jacob. But the Edomites realized there was also another problem. They knew there were other Tribes with a heritage right to Jerusalem. Rome could occupy and distress the Jews, even taking away what the Greeks had not – the Temple – but they also needed to get rid of the other Tribes, those which had gone into Assyrian captivity before the Babylonian captivity, and who were now scattered around the known world. So, Rome created a religion to ensnare and encompass the Jews and the scattered lost Tribes together under one theological rule.
Rome’s Christianity took advantage of the tension between the Jews and the Ger. The Ger were the converts who were returning to the Abrahamic Covenant through belief in Yeshua as the Messiah. The Romans thwarted the reunification of the Houses of Judah and Israel by using a twisted theology of a Messiah who rejected Torah like Esau. The lost Tribes, and gentiles, flocked to Christianity because the House of Israel knew a Messiah was required to bring them back into the Covenant. The Jews, on the other hand, rejected the Edomite lie.
Jewish rejection of Christianity caused Rome to forcibly convert Jews into the new Edomite religion. Yet, this also failed. Out of ignorance, Christians joined forces with Arabs to begin chasing Jews all over the earth.
Esau has never completed his mission to either subjugate or kill all of Jacob’s descendants. This is why another new religion was needed, one that concentrated on the final destruction of all of Jacob’s descendants through a final war. It was why Rome instigated the creation of this new religion, Islam.
The Apostle John saw two more beasts arise, both of them from the same source. The first has already gone to war against the Jews and Christians once. The next Islamic empire will also go to war against the descendants of Jacob – both Jews and Christians, along with Muslims who don’t belong to the next Islamic empire’s particular sect.
ISHMAEL
The Bible says Ishmael is wild man and always contentious with his brothers (Genesis 16:12), but Ishmael is almost entirely lost in scripture, unlike Esau’s name which is mentioned over three times more often.
The sin of Ishmael is found in Genesis 21:9 when he did something bad to Isaac. Hagar and Ishmael were exiled for his behavior and he will remain in exile until Messiah comes. But, Ishmael’s name doesn’t come up again after Genesis until the Book of Judges and the account of Gideon’s battle (Judges 8:24). Ishmael was alluded to in the wanderings of the Children of Israel when they traversed the Wilderness of Zin (Numbers 20:1), Ishmael’s territory next to Edom. The genealogy of Ishmael appears in 1 Chronicles. He shows up again in Psalm 83 listed as “Ishmaelites” and “Hagarites”. He also appears in Jeremiah 41:3.
Ishmael appears either indifferent or aggressive, even having war with Judah. But, in the Book of Isaiah chapter 60 something has changed. The two oldest sons of Ishmael, Nebaioth and Kedar, are mentioned doing something that one would not expect.
Isaiah tells us that Nebaioth’s and Kedar’s rams will be accepted on YHVH’s altar (Isaiah 60:7, also see Rashi’s comment at Chabad.org). The Ishmaelites will be in the Messianic Kingdom!
If Ishmael is the founder of Islam, that means he should be Jacob’s nemesis. So, why will God let Ishmael into the Kingdom and not Esau who is set aside for total destruction (Obadiah)? This is because Esau is Jacob’s nemesis, not Ishmael. Ishmael is a participant, but not the instigator.
Esau hid himself behind Ishmael to orchestrate the founding of Islam and use it for his end times purposes. We have seen how Esau hid his identity in the four beasts of Daniel. He also hid among the Ishmaelites by marrying Ishmael’s daughters, Mahalath and Bashemath (Genesis 25:17, 36:3). And being the bully that he is, Esau then usurped Ishmael’s “House” to become the Patriarch of Ishmael’s family. How do we know this? The Bible tells us about the “House of Esau”, but there is no mention of a “House of Ishmael”. The Bible mentions the “Houses” of many other people, important and unimportant, both men and women, but there is no mention of the “House” of the important son of Abraham, Ishmael, after Esau marries into the family.
Esau hid himself among the Ishmaelites, letting them get the credit for being the “face of Islam”. That phrase, “the face of Islam”, which is used by the Rabbis, suggests that the Rabbis know who is behind Ishmael. Even though Esau is hiding behind Ishmael’s Islamic robe, we know he is there, behind the scenes working like a puppet master of Ishmael on the strings and he is ever ready to strike.
Ishmael’s behavior toward the Children of Israel has been more favorable than Esau’s. The Ishmaelites gave the children of Israel no trouble (Numbers 20:1) in the desert, whereas war for war, Esau does it much more than Ishmael.
Another clue about Esau’s place in Islam comes from Psalm 83 which lists the nations allied with the Edomites.
Psa 83:5 Indeed, they shrewdly planned together, forming an alliance against you
Psa 83:6 the tents of Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagrites,
Psa 83:7 Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, and the inhabitants of Tyre.
All the nations listed are now Muslim. The first nation listed are the Edomites which implies that there is an Edomite leadership in Islam.
THE EDOMITES AMONG US
The last war between Judah and Edom resulted in the forced conversion of all the remaining Edomite males from Mount Seir. Hyrcanus conquered the whole of Idumea and undertook the forced conversion of its inhabitants to Judaism (Jos., Ant., 13:257ff.). This suggests that there were no Edomites around at the time of the creation of Islam. But Esau is Rome and Rome was involved in the creation of Islam.
Furthermore, though Hyrcanus converted the remaining Edomites, millions of Esau’s descendants had already gone where Jacob went and had mixed in with Jacob. If they mixed with Jacob, might they not have also mixed further into the other Middle Eastern populations? The answer is yes. Esau also married Canaanite, Hivite and Hittite wives.
In trying to establish whether it was Ishmael or Esau who created Islam, let’s review some facts about Prophet Muhammad. One glaring physical characteristic gives us a clue about Muhammad’s ancestry because his beard was red. Some say he was a natural redhead like Esau while others claim he dyed his beard red. It is also said that Muhammad was “thick-bearded with a reddish complexion”, like Esau’s. The ‘redness’ of Muhammad is a clue from God regarding the real founder of Islam
At some point, we must begin to realize that Esau’s violent spirit is among us in Judaism, Christianity and in the secular realm. Most certainly, his spirit is in Islam. Ishmael represents only the face of Islam, but Esau is its power.
There is a “spirit” of Esau that permeates wherever rejection of the Torah abounds. It is this, the rejection of the Torah, that is the signature of the Edomite spirit. Islam rejects the Torah and presents yet another twisted version of God’s Laws. Wherever we find violence against the Torah and Torah-keeping people by those who are part of another beast system, we have found Esau.
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT IN THE END?
The Apostle John’s vision included the beast empires of Daniel. Therefore, we can surmise that the next two beast empires after Rome will also be of Edomite origin either physically, spiritually or both. Ishmael’s role in Islam is better understood in the light of his Patriarch, Esau.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon is a description for then and also for now. The two Babylons, the one in Daniel and the end times Babylon, are both beast empires. President Obama fulfilled Esau’s ‘red’ role in turning America from being a “vinyard of the LORD” to the end times “Babylonian-type” nation.
Obama was ‘red’ in that he aligned himself with the ‘red’ socialist and communist views. Communism, socialism, fascism are all ‘red’. They claim red in their flags and icons. China is known as the ‘red’ dragon and Russia is also ‘red’. Red plays a significnt role as a color in Russia. Red Square is a city square in Moscow and there are other examples of the importance of ‘red’ in both China and Russia. Esau was red. China and Russia are also ‘red’ and related to the spirit of Esau and his secular descendants.
It now appears that President Donald Trump has picked up the spiritual scepter of King Cyrus and is using it to bring himself fame by forging a heretofore unattainable peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Edomite Christian leaders will, at some point, align with Islam against the true people of Jacob. It may be that Edomites among the Jews will rise up against the true Jews, too. Even though Islam will have the military power through Iran (ancient Persia and the coming King of the North), other Edomites who are scattered with Jacob’s descendants will cause chaos among the true believers everywhere. Yeshua warned us of this, so we should expect it. In the end, Islam will kill off the Christian whore, too.
WHY IS IDENTIFYING THE FOUNDER OF ISLAM IMPORTANT?
Correct identification is a requirement when one is about to go to war. We must know who and where our enemy is so that we will know who and where to fight when the time comes. Descendants of Jacob are mixed with Edomites within Islam. God will show them mercy and so must we. If we don’t know our enemy, we will be subject to following our personal idea of who our enemy is rather than God’s Word.
Furthermore, the upcoming war between Esau and Jacob is a conflict of settling injustices, but not the injustices we might think. Esau has not only been unjust, has lied about and lied to Jacob, held Jacob in contempt and attempted to murder him, but also, Esau has been unjust to YHVH.
We are taught in the Torah that no Hebrew is to treat God like the pagans treat their gods. Esau has done nothing but commit treason against God since the beginning. God requires that justice be done when people treat Him treacherously and with contempt. Thus, when we witness God’s mighty hand against some Muslims in the end of days, it will behoove us to understand that God is being just in His punishment because He will be punishing Esau, not Ishmael, not the Jews or Christians. Esau alone is destined for total annihilation. So, let’s not pick up this offense against Ishmael and try to annihilate Ishmael along with Esau.
Finally, this is important because we must ask ourselves if there is any part of God’s Book that He does not want us to understand. The answer, of course, is no. As His people, we need to know what God put in the Bible to help us in our walk. This includes knowing our true enemy. Christians are not the enemy of the Jews (though at times it has certainly appeared that way), and Jews are not the enemy of Christians (though at times it has appeared that way). The House of Judah and the House of Israel are once again at the crossroads of reunification. Will we make the same mistake that was made 2,000 years ago? Will we keep fighting each other? Or will we finally band together against our true enemy, Esau?