Would I have to get circumcised to convert to ISLAM and to marry Muslim women?
truth will prevail says that they are getting themselves circumcised because they are following Prophet Abraham and that he was a muslim. Abraham was NOT a muslim. The Jews are the descendants of Isaac, they are the LEGITIMATE descendants of Abraham. If we read the quran we will come to know that mohammad himself said that he was the first muslim. Mohammad says in the quran 39:12 YUSUFALI: "And I am commanded to be the first of those who bow to Allah in Islam." PICKTHAL: "And I am commanded to be the first of those who are muslims (surrender unto Him)". SHAKIR: "And I am commanded that I shall be the first of those who submit." And mohammad is credited to have founded mohammadanism. I don't want to bash islam here but if they claim to be the followers of the religion of Abraham, why don't they adhere to all the laws? like not eating shells, not drinking camel piss (not joking) etc. These foods are not kosher. You can't have the cake and eat it too. Anyways the covenant was for Isaac (Abraham's legitimate & promised son) and his descendants. muslims do it only because they want to show that they too are part of the covenant and are part of Judaism and nothing else. Truth will prevails post has given proof to what I have said. Edit: Muslims are very famous in talking about Genesis 17:10-14, the promise which was for ISAAC but WHY don't they talk about the promise for Ishmael? Ishmael too was given a promise. Do you want to know what was the promise for Ishmael? Here goes: Genesis 16:12. "He (Ishmael) will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” Now you see why they don't talk about Ishmael's promise.
What role does Abraham play in Christianity, Judaism and Islam? Is there a link?
To make a long shory really short, in the book of Genesis, God creates the world and man but is unhappy with how man turned out. He throws his two children out of the nest to fend for themselves. Later he destroys all of mankind in a flood, wanting to start over, but he makes the mistake of seeding the new population with a sample from the old, so it doesn't improve the stock at all. So finally he decides to pick one guy and make a deal with him. He says if you follow me and get your people to follow me, and to serve me, I will make your people powerful and prosperous, and prolific. You will rule the world. So long as you serve me. This is called 'The Covenant'. The Jews believe they are the direct descendants of Abraham's people (and chronologically they were first). They believe they are the 'chosen people' because of this covenant. They see it as a birthright, which is wrong. God only said 'so long as you serve me'. It's a contract that goes both ways. Christians believe that the Jews lost the covenant because they murdered their Messiah, so they, the Christians, are the new holders of the contract. Islam believes Abraham was the first Muslim, and traces Abraham's descendants a little differently. They believe that their prophet, Muhammed, is a direct descendant of Abraham. All three are called the Abrahamic family of religons, and all share many characteristics.
Why is the Bible so obsessed over race, lineage, genealogy?
The Torah was written by delusional men who were promoting the Jewish "Purity" of Race and was, therefore, quite racist. Islam, similarly, was authored by a man who was promoting Arab Supremacy, which is why he twisted all the earlier records and claimed that they were corrupted. The Torah was written by more than one man who bore witness to the events as he or she saw an heard them. Therefore, it is somewhat credible. Whereas, with Islam, Mohammad was the only one who claimed "Divine Inspiration" as his source and could not back it up with even just one, single, solitary shred of evidence to prove his false claims. Ishmael really lived and died in the present day town of Beersheba in the Negev Desert where the legend says that the miraculous Zamzam spring sprang from under his toes. According to Mohammad, it was Mecca where a nearby well was the miraculous spring. How do we know that Ishmael lived and died in Beersheba? Well, we have the narration of many people of that time who recorded it so that we could know. What have we to be able to give credence to Mohammad's words? Nothing. Except for his saying Allah said so. The Jews do promote the family of Isaac - the 12 Tribes of Isaac from which they are descended. There is no doubt about it. Mohammad, on the other hand, promotes the family of Ishmael - the 12 Tribes of Ishmael, from which he is descended. That is clear from his changing the stories of History. But then, question is whom can we give credence to? A man who was born over a millennium later, in a land that was almost a thousand miles away and couldn't provide even just one, single solitary shred of evidence to his wild claims except to say that God told him so; or the people who lived in that time and in that place who wrote their testimony at that time? You be the judge. .
Was Abraham going to sacrifice Ishmael or Isaac??
This is a point one must accept on faith, I think. I believe it was Issac, from whence came the the Jewish people. I am a Jew. However, I would never dispute the fact that in Islam, the son was Ishmael. I can accept that whichever son it was, it was Abraham's faith in G-d that is the point of the matter. I have stood on top of Mt. Moriah, and I had a feeling of Abraham, Issac, and Ishmael being there. But, this is just my feelings--------------
Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, and Esau. who started what religion?
I'll give you the answer from the Islamic perspective. The short answer to your question is that none were Jewish or Muslim, but they all were monotheist. Here is a longer answer if you are interested to learn the explanation of the short answer. According to Islam, the faith never changed since creation of Adam, which is monotheism (i.e. there is only one God). This is the same faith that was preached by all the prophets since then, including Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad and many other prophets throughout history. Many of those prophets were mentioned by name in the Quran, and many more were not mentioned by name. In other words the faith never changed, but only some of the details changed, like the method of prayer, how to fast, laws of how people deal with each other, etc. This faith is the faith of Islam, Christianity, Judaism and monotheism before those religions got their names. According to Islam, Judaism got its name with Moses, and its holy book is the Torah. Islam got its name when Mohammad became a prophet, and its holy book it the Quran. Christianity started with Jesus, and its holy book is the Gospel (Injeel in Arabic انجيل). If you actually make a comparison between the religions, you will find that Islam is closer to Judaism and Christianity that each of Judaism and Christianity are to each other (though Islam has much more in common with Jewish faith than with Christianity). That is more indication to my first point that faith never changed, as Muslims believe that the trinity was an add-on to Christianity some time after Christ, and was not part of the original faith.