"Praise be to GOD for granting me, despite my old age, Ismail and Isaac. My Lord answers the prayers.

Ismail was Abraham's firstborn son. God names him "a messenger prophet" who "was truthful when he made a promise" (19:54). He "used to enjoin his family to observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and the obligatory charity (Zakat)," and "he was acceptable to his Lord" (19:55). The Quran places him with the steadfast and patient (21:85) and "among the most righteous" (38:48). He was one of the prophets God "distinguished over all the people" (6:86), and he is among those to whom revelation was sent down (2:136). His mission was to his own family, and through them to the community that grew up at the Sacred House. Abraham says he "settled part of my family in this plantless valley, at Your Sacred House" so that they would observe the Contact Prayers (14:37). The Quran does not name Ismail in that verse. That it means him is my inference, since he is the son tied to the shrine.
His story begins with a prayer. Abraham asked, "My Lord, grant me righteous children," and God gave him "good news of a good child" (37:100-101). Abraham later thanked God "for granting me, despite my old age, Ismail and Isaac" (14:39). Dr. Khalifa points out that Abraham had no children until he was in his eighties, and then received Ismail. Abraham asked God to make the valley a peaceful land, to protect his children from idol worship, and to bring people and provision to those settled there (14:35-37).
When the boy "grew enough to work with him," Abraham told him, "My son, I see in a dream that I am sacrificing you. What do you think?" Ismail answered, "O my father, do what you are commanded to do. You will find me, GOD willing, patient" (37:102). "They both submitted," and Abraham put his son's forehead down. Then God called out: "You have believed the dream," and "We ransomed (Ismail) by substituting an animal sacrifice" (37:103-107). Dr. Khalifa stresses that God never ordered this. "The Most Merciful never advocates evil (7:28)," he writes. Just as with Job, Satan claimed that Abraham loved his son too much and was allowed to test him. God then stepped in to save Abraham and Ismail from Satan's plot (37:102). Only after this does the Quran give the good news of Isaac's birth (37:112). That order shows that Ismail was the son on the altar. Dr. Khalifa makes the same point from the Bible. Genesis says Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born and 100 when Isaac was born. So Ishmael was his only son for 14 years, yet Genesis 22 calls Isaac "thine only son." Dr. Khalifa calls this an obvious tampering.
Ismail also worked with his father on the Ka'aba. God commissioned "Abraham and Ismail" to purify His house for those who visit, live there, bow and prostrate (2:125). As they raised the shrine's foundations together, they prayed for three things: that God would accept their work, make them and their descendants submitters, and teach them the rites of their religion. They also asked God to raise among their descendants "a messenger to recite to them Your revelations" (2:127-129). Generations later, Jacob's children promised to worship "the god of your fathers Abraham, Ismail, and Isaac; the one god" (2:133).
The Quran draws a clear lesson from Ismail: total submission to God. Father and son "both submitted" (37:103), and Dr. Khalifa holds up Ismail as just as good an example as Abraham, because he was ready to give himself if God required it. The story also teaches that God never commands sin. A "command" to do evil can only come from Satan, and God rescues those who submit (37:105-107). Finally, Ismail is part of "the religion of Abraham," in which the prayers and rites were taught and passed down (2:128, 2:135). In my reading, the prayer he and his father made for a messenger among their descendants points to Muhammad, the Arab prophet who came from Ismail's line and was told to follow Abraham's religion.
SubmissionAI can make mistakes. Check the sources.
We gave him good news of a good child.
When he grew enough to work with him, he said, "My son, I see in a dream that I am sacrificing you. What do you think?" He said, "O my father, do what you are commanded to do. You will find me, GOD willing, patient."
*37:102 The Most Merciful never advocates evil (7:28). As with Job, Satan claimed that Abraham loved his son too much, and was permitted to put Abraham to that severe test.
They both submitted, and he put his forehead down (to sacrifice him).