According to the Book of Genesis, Hagar is an Egyptian Woman, concubine of Abraham. Abraham's firstborn son through Hagar, Ishmael, became the progenitor of the Ishmaelites, generally taken to be the Arabs. Various commentators have connected her to the Hagrites (sons of Agar), perhaps claiming her as their eponymous ancestor. Hagar is alluded to, although not named, in the Quran, and Islam considers her Abraham's second wife.
Biblical narrative Abram, Sarai, Hagar and the angel According to the Bible, Hagar was the Egyptian slave of Sarai, Abram's wife (whose names later became Sarah and Abraham). Sarai regarded herself as barren - "But Sarai was barren; she had no child." - "Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children [...]." - "And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing [...]." and sought a way to fulfil God's previous promise that Abram would have descendants. - "In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, nd the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."A subsequent pronouncement specified that Abram would become "a father of many nations": - "And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations." Since she had grown old, she offered Hagar as a concubine to Abram. - "And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife."
Hagar became pregnant and tension arose between the two women. Genesis states that when she knew she was pregnant, Hagar began to despise Sarai. Sarai complained to Abram who said "Your servant is in your hands, do with her whatever you think best". Then Sarai mistreated Hagar, so Hagar fled from her.
Hagar fled into the desert on her way to Shur. At a spring en route, an angel of the appeared to Hagar and instructed her to return to Sarai and to submit to her mistress. - "And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands." In wording which "mirrors the covenantal blessings given to Abram",Topical Encyclopedia, The Promise to Hagar, Biblehub.com, accessed on 21 April 2026 the angel promises Hagar that her offspring will multiply and become uncountable.
Then she was told by the angel that she would give birth to a son and that she should call her son "Ishmael".<ref >: "And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction." </ref> Afterward, Hagar referred to God as "El Roi" (variously "god of sight"; "god saw me"; "god who appears"). She then returned to Abram and Sarai, and soon gave birth to a son, whom she named as the angel had instructed.
Hagar cast out
Later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and the tension between the women returned. At a celebration after Isaac was weaned, Sarah found the teenage Ishmael mocking her son (Genesis 21:9). She was so upset by the idea of Ishmael inheriting their wealth that she demanded that Abraham send Hagar and her son away. She declared that Ishmael would not share in Isaac's inheritance. Abraham was greatly distressed, but God told Abraham to do as his wife commanded because God's promise would be carried out through Isaac; Ishmael would be made into a great nation as well because he was Abraham's offspring. Abraham brought Hagar and Ishmael out together. Abraham gave Hagar bread and water then sent them into the wilderness of Beersheba. She and her son wandered aimlessly until their water was completely consumed. In a moment of despair, she burst into tears. God heard her son crying and came to rescue them. The angel opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well of water. He also told Hagar that God would "make a great nation" of Ishmael. Hagar found her son a wife from Egypt and they settled in the Desert of Paran.
Sayings of Agur A verse in the Sayings of Agur (Proverbs 30:23) has been associated with Hagar: "[Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up]: ... a maidservant when she displaces her mistress". The Septuagint has this wording, whereas the Masoretic text refers to a maid "inheriting from her mistress".Jerusalem Bible (1966), footnote g at Proverbs 30:23, London: Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday and Co. Inc. John Gill observes that such a servant "might be exemplified in the case of Hagar, the bondmaid of Sarah, a type of those that are under the law of works, and seek the inheritance by it; and who trust in themselves that they are righteous, and despise others."Gill, J. (1746-63), Gill's Exposition on Proverbs 30, accessed on 24 April 2026
Islamic narrative
Hagar does not directly appear in the Quran, but she features in various Islamic traditions, which do not portray her as a slave but as a maid (of Sarah or of Abraham) named Hājar.For example:
The Islamic narrative slightly differs from the biblical account, in that it is God alone who commands Abraham to take Hagar and Ishmael down to the desert, later Mecca, and leave them there. Due to the scarcity of water in the desert, it did not take long for both mother and son to suffer from a great thirst, and so Hagar ran between the hills of Safa and Marwah in search of water for her son. After the seventh run between the two hills, an angel appeared before her. He helped her and said that God heard Ishmael cry and would provide them with water, and Hagar found the sacred Zamzam Well. Mecca was later known for its perfection and abundance of water, and an Arab tribe called the Banu Jurhum settled there with Hagar and her son Ishmael, because of the presence of the water.Muhammad Ashraf Chheenah, (2nd Ed. 2016) Hagar the Princess, the Mother of the Arabs and Ishmael the Father of Twelve Princes, p. 111, Interfaith Studies and Research Centre, Islamabad (ISBN 9789699704000)
Religious views Rabbinical commentary
Rabbinical commentators asserted that Hagar was Pharaoh's daughter. The midrash Genesis Rabbah states it was when Sarah was in Pharaoh's harem that he gave her his daughter Hagar as servant, saying: "It is better that my daughter should be a servant in the house of such a woman than mistress in another house." Sarah treated Hagar well, and induced women who came to visit her to also visit Hagar. Hagar, when pregnant by Abraham, however, began to act superciliously toward Sarah, provoking the latter to treat her harshly, to impose heavy work upon her, and even to strike her with her slipper.
Some Jewish commentators identify Hagar with Keturah (), the woman Abraham married after the death of Sarah, stating that Abraham sought her out after Sarah's death. It is suggested that Keturah was Hagar's personal name, and that "Hagar" was a descriptive label meaning "stranger"."The Return of Hagar", commentary on Parshat Chayei Sarah, Chabad."Who Was Ketura?", Bar-Ilan University's Parashat Hashavua Study Center, 2003."Parshat Chayei Sarah" , Torah Insights, Orthodox Union, 2002. This interpretation is discussed in the MidrashBereshit Rabbah 61:4. and is supported by Rashi, Judah Loew ben Bezalel, Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz, and Obadiah ben Abraham Bartenura. Rashi argues that "Keturah" was a name given to Hagar because her deeds were as beautiful as incense (hence: ), and/or that she remained chaste from the time she was separated from Abraham— derives from the Aramaic word "restrained". The contrary view (that Keturah was someone other than Hagar) is advocated by the Rashbam, Abraham ibn Ezra, David Kimhi, and Nachmanides. They were listed as two different people in the genealogies in the Book of Chronicles (1 Chronicles 1:29–33).
Rabbinic literature According to the Midrash (Gen. R. xlv.), Hagar was the daughter of Pharaoh, who, seeing what great miracles God had done for Sarah's sake (Gen. xii. 17), said: "It is better for Hagar to be a slave in Sarah's house than mistress in her own." She was at first reluctant when Sarah desired her to marry Abraham, and although Sarah had full authority over her as her handmaid, she persuaded her, saying. "Consider thyself happy to be united with this saint." Hagar is held up as an example of the high degree of godliness prevalent in Abraham's time, for while Manoah was afraid that he would die because he had seen an angel of God (Judges 13:22), Hagar was not frightened by the sight of the divine messenger (Gen. R. l.c.). Her fidelity is praised, for even after Abraham sent her away she kept her marriage vow, and therefore she was identified with Keturah (Gen. xxv. 1), with allusion to (Aramaic, "to tie"; Gen. R. lxi.). Another explanation of the same name is "to adorn," because she was adorned with piety and good deeds (l.c.). It was Isaac who, after the death of Sarah, went to bring back Hagar to the house of his father; the Rabbis infer this from the report that Isaac came from Beer-lahai-roi, the place which Hagar had named (Gen. xvi. 14, xxiv. 62; Gen. R. lx.; see commentaries ad loc.).
Other homilies, however, take an unfavorable view of Hagar's character. Referring to the report that when she had conceived she began to despise her mistress, the Rabbis say that she gossiped about Sarah, saying: "She is certainly not as godly as she pretends to be, for in all the years of her married life she has had no children, while I conceived at once" (Gen. R. xlv.; Sefer ha-Yashar, Lek Leka). Sarah took revenge (Gen. xvi.) by preventing her intercourse with Abraham, by whipping her with her slipper, and by exacting humiliating services, such as carrying her bathing-materials to the bath (l.c.);she further caused Hagar by an evil eye to miscarry, and Ishmael, therefore, was her second child, as is inferred from the fact that the angel prophesied that she would bear a child (Gen. xvi. 11), while it had been narrated before that she was pregnant (Gen. xvi. 4). It is further inferred, from the words "she went astray" (Gen. xxi. 14, Hebr.), that as soon as she had reached the wilderness she relapsed into idolatry, and that she murmured against God's providence, saying: "Yesterday thou saidest: 'I will multiply thy seed exceedingly' [Gen. xvi. 10]; and now my son is dying of thirst." The fact that she selected an Egyptian woman as her son's wife is also counted against her as a proof that her conversion to Judaism was not sincere, for "throw the stick into the air, it will return to its root" (Gen. R. liii., end). This ‘Egyptian wife’ is explained in the Targum of pseudo-Jonathan to refer to Khadija and Fatima, the widow and the daughter of Mohammed respectively (see Zunz, "G. V." 2d ed., p. 288, note a).Jewish Encyclopedia
Christianity
In the New Testament, Paul the Apostle made Hagar's experience an allegory of the difference between law and grace in his Epistle to the Galatians.Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 2011, p. 561 Paul links the laws of the Torah, given on Mount Sinai, to the bondage of the Israelite people, implying that it was signified by Hagar's condition as a bondswoman, while the "free" heavenly Jerusalem is signified by Sarah and her child. The Biblical Mount Sinai has been referred to as "Agar", possibly named after Hagar.Charles Forster (1844). The Historical Geography of Arabia, Duncan and Malcolm, p. 182.
In addition, in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well the author of the Gospel of John alludes to the ancient story of Hagar to "transports meaning from one text to another". Similar to the way that Hagar names God "The God Who Sees", the Samaritan woman gives Jesus a name "by saying, 'I know that Messiah is coming,' and Jesus confirms, 'I am he, the one who is speaking to you.'"