Ishmael's power source

We know that Yishmoel (Ishmael, i.e. Arabs) calls himself a descendant of Abraham. They’re considered monotheists and their faith is very strong. The Children of Ishmael continue to manifest the main aspect of faith that Abraham introduced into the world which is the belief in One Creator and this allows them to go by the name of "pere adam” - wild man. Wild, but man nonethless. 

In the Torah, there are several descriptions that indicate gradations of man: Adam, Ish, Gever, and Enosh. The word "adam" means a person at a level close to the ideal. Other nations of the world from the prophecy of Daniel which describes images of animals, do not have the complete spiritual form of Adam, and therefore, their full control isn’t possible (as the Maharal from Prague teaches that their kingdoms exist due to the fact that they draw power from Israel). 

But Ishmael, Abraham's descendant, has the nuance of belonging to a spiritual form of Adam. In this way, since Ishmael is still a descendant of Abraham, he has its own claim to reign, "drawing" power not from Israel but directly from the source. However, this spiritual form of Adam, the inherent Ishmael is pere - wild, i.e. imperfect, unfinished.

Part 2

Abraham is called the "Father of many nations" (Genesis 17:5) since besides Jacob, his descendants were the progenitors to European nations (Esau), the arabs (Ishmael) and peoples of the East (India, etc. thru his progeny with Hagar/Ketura). Neverthless, his true descendants, in the sense of embodying his innate divine qualities, are the Jewish people or righteous proselytes. If that’s the case, how can the nations, whose spiritual status is reflected in the animals that the prophet saw, are able to connect to Abraham? After all, all mankind will worship the oen Creator, G-d of Israel in the Messainic age. This can happen through "pere adam" - Ishmael, who, on the one hand, is connected with Abraham (in the aspect of the spiritual man, "Adam"), on the other hand, it is on the side of blocked divine consciousness and unchecked self-indulgence "wild animals" (the aspect of "pere"). As a general rule, two different entities can be connected only through an intermediary. That is, the Jewish people (Adam) can not interect directly with the nations, that’s why there is an intermediate stage - Ishmael. In spite of their many shortcomings, Ishmael’s descendts don’t serve idols, they wholeheartedly believe in the one G-d and that’s how they could influence the world to unite around the true faith. That’s the reason why Abraham was under the impression that the coventant could be fufilled through Ismael. The Creator, in fact, did not refute this idea, but did indicate something else: that Sarah would give birth to Yitzhak, and he would become the true descendant of Abraham, his full-feldged, unblemished successor.

Part 3

In Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer (ch. 30) on the verse in Numbers (24:23) "Who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when he appears?" there’s the following midrash: "Balaam said: "Of all the 70 languages ​​that G-d created in the world, He did not bestow his name on anyone, except Israel." Nevertheless, Ishmael carries a powerful connection to G-d's name. In other words: who will survive when the name of Ishmael is connected with the name of G-d? Ismael does get his strength and power due to G-d ‘s name combined with his own name. The significance of this association is that Ishmael is attached to G-d directly, not through us. Creator's name Kel is associated with the aspect of controlling Creation through the quality of Chesed (kindness) which associates itself with these two names, Israel and Ishmael, descendants of Abraham. Abraham had other children from Ketura, but they were idolaters, and therefore they have no relationship to Chesed and G-d’s name is not attached to the names of their peoples. In this context we can understand why the Rambam in the Yemen Letter, felt that they should not be antagonized because we (Jews) were powerless to overcome them at that time. One can only overpower those who take away one's power. An example of this are the events of Chanukah and the Hashmonaim’s victory over the Greeks. The main miracle was that, thanks to the selfless devotion to the faith of our fathers, we regained our strength and automatically the Greeks' authority over us ceased. Thus we can understand the meaning of "handed over the many into the hands of the few." But Ishmael has its own source of strength beyond our control, and so he cannot be subdued for as long as G-d continues to supply it them. The name of Kel is translated as "a source of strength", which gave them strength, just as G-d gave us. But if Israel conducts itself properly then it will be obvious to the world that we are the true seed of Abraham and then it will be revealed that "You, Yitzhak shall be called the offspring" (Genesis 21:12). This is the explanation of the great influence of Ishmael, which the Rambam laments: he has its own power due to the fact that he is an offspring of Abraham, and as is written in the Zohar (Vayyera chapter 32), he observes the covenant of circumcision received from Abraham.

Part 4

In Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer there is a midrash about the 9th test of Abraham: “Ishmael was born and grew up with a bow and arrow. He would frequently hunt birds. One time he saw Isaac and tried killing him. Seeing that, Sarah told Abraham: "Such and such did Ishmael to Isaac. Rise and write a will to give to Isaac everything that G-d swore to give to your descendants. I swear by your life, that this son (Ishmael) of a slave woman shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac. And write a letter of divorcement and send this slave woman and her son away from me and my son in this and future worlds. " Of all of the trials that had befallen Abraham, this was the hardest, as it says (Genesis 21:11): "And it was very bad in the eyes of Abraham about his son." Rabbi Yehuda says that that the night G-d spoke to Abraham, saying: "Abraham! What Sarah told you is true. " Abraham got up early in the morning and wrote a letter of divorcement and gave it to Hagar and expelled her (and her son) from him and from Isaac his son, from this and future worlds, as it says, "And Abraham got up early in the morning and took the bread and a skin of water ... "(ibid. 14) and tied it to her belt that dragged behind her for all to see that she was a slave woman and that if he wanted, he could find his son Ishmael by the trail that the skin left on the ground so that everyone would know that she was still his slave". Thus Abraham could still visit them and in the merit of Abraham, water was not depleted in the skins. But when Hagar got to the desert and started worshiping idol of her father's house, the water immediately stopped. It was then that it was revealed to them the source of water which was established with the creation of the world - before the first Sabbath. "And they went and drank, and filled the skins" – this is Miriam‘s Well from which the Jews in the desert drank water but the first to drink from it was Ishmael! Ishmael took a wife from Moab named Isa. Three years later, Abraham went to visit Ishmael. Before he left, he swore to Sarah that he would not get off the camel. When Abraham got to where Isamel was living, he met his wife and asked: Where is Ishmael? She replied: He went with his mother to bring grain and dates from the desert. Abraham responded: Give me a little bit of water and a bit of bread, I’m very tired from the trip through the desert. She replied: No bread and no water. Abraham said to her: When Ishmael returns, tell him that an old man from Canaan was visiting and said that the doorpost at home is in bad shape. When Ishmael came, his wife told him what had occurred and he kicked her out. Then he sent his mother to look for a wife for him and she took him a wife from her father's house and her name was Ptuma. After another 3 years, Abraham went back to visit his son Ishmael. When he arrived, he asked Ptuma: Where is Ishmael? She replied: He went with his mother to feed the camels in the desert. Abraham then said to her: Give me a little bit of water and a bit of bread, very tired is my soul because of the trip through the desert. She did and then Abraham stood up and prayed for Ishmael and his house was filled with all good things and blessings. When Ishmael came home, his wife told him everything, and he realized that his father still loved him. Our Sages tell us a Jew, even though he may sin, remains a Jew whereas Ishmael, when separated from the source, loses merit. All his power is based on belonging to the faith of Abraham and his connection to the aspect of Chesed (kindness). Thus we see that it is not sufficient to assume that all our strength lies in the fact that a Jew, in spite of sin, is always a Jew. Jews must act more like Abraham’s true offspring and the more this is done, the quicker will Ishmael will be driven out of this and future worlds.

Part 5

Rabbi Chaim Vital in his book "Etz HaDaat Tov" explains the verse (Psalms 124:1,2): "Had it not been the LORD who was on our side! Say so, Israel “Had it not been the LORD who was on our side when men rose up against us" and states the following: We live under two threats. The first threat comes from all the nations of the world, and about it, it says: "If not for G-d, that He was with us, Say so, Israel!". The second danger comes from Ishmael, David prayed about it separately and said: "If not for G-d, that He was with us when Adam rose up against us." There are four exiles and at the end of days, the Jews will be in the exile of Ishmael, who was named pere adam because of the fact that he circumcised his flesh, but did not do priya (meaning that it is an incomplete circumcision, whereas Jewish infants go through circumcision plus a separation of the skin, this second step is impossible to do at the age when Arabs normally do circumcision because by then the skin has fused and separation is not possible.) These four exiles are compared to animals of wich the Jews will say: "If it was not G-d, who was with us..” However the fifth exile, that of under Ishmael, is the hardest because he has the merit of the Fathers and the merit of circumcision (albeit imperfect). He is called Adam and his kingdom is stronger than other realms. And Jews will be afraid and G-d will hear their cry. Then He will reign over the Jews and the whole world. Thus the last verse of the psalm: "Help with the name of G-d Who makes heaven and earth" – also speaks about the exile of Ishmael in the sense that there’s no hope except for G-d to save us. After all, He created heaven and earth so that the Jewish people could observe the Torah. And if so, then, of course, He will save us in order that heavens and the earth will continue existing. There is no other salvation, except for the Torah which makes possible the existence of heaven and earth.