"Festival of Sacrifice"

Only two sons of Abraham, traveling, idol-smashing Hebrew, became famed-- Ishmael and Isaac. Isaac, son of Sarah, Abraham's half-sister by another mother, was the younger. He became the ancestor of the Israelites (of whom the Jews are the professedly sole remnants). Ishmael, born of Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian servant, was the elder. After Sarah's jealousy nagged Abraham into driving Hagar and her Ishmael into the wilderness, Ishmael became an archer, married an Egyptian girl, begot twelve sons who became ancestors of the Nomad tribes around Palestine from whom the Arabians are descended.

As Isaac is to the Jews, so Ishmael is to the Mohammedans, whose culture is mainly Arabian. Many of Isaac's traditions Moslems apply to Ishmael, including Abraham's miraculously finding a ram to sacrifice instead of Isaac.

Last week Mohammedans celebrated their "Festival of the Sacrifice," their Id al-adha, with slaying of animals and donations of the flesh to the poor. In New York City the festival had unusual significance. It disclosed the fact that the city has 18,000 Moslems--Polish Tartars, Albanians, Turks, Hindus, Arabs, Malays, Filipinos. Some 700 assembled at Brooklyn for the first time for prayer, prostration and sacrifice.

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