Philip the Arab and Christianity that appear—save for one reference to Ishmael—figure in the political history of the first three centuries of the Christian era. To Eusebius, the Saracens of the 4th century are direct-line descendants of the biblical Ishmaelites, descendants of the handmaid, Hagar, and the patriarch, Abraham. They are thus outcasts, beyond God's Covenant with the favored son of Abraham, Isaac. The twin images of the Ishmaelite and the Saracen—outcasts and "latrones", raiders of the frontiers—reinforce each other and give Eusebius' portrait of the Arab nation an unhappy color. He may have been reluctant to associate the first Christian emperor with a people
Ishmael in Islam to establish the Hajj, or pilgrimage. These narratives differ in when these events occurred, if and how there was supernatural involvement, the inclusion or omission of the Black Stone, and whether Ishmael assisted his father. Of those that say Ishmael took part in the construction, most describe Abraham visiting Ishmael a third time in Mecca, during which they raise the Kaaba. Some versions say Abraham has Ishmael look for a final stone, but Abraham does not accept the one he brings back. Instead an angel has brought the Black Stone, which Abraham puts into place. Ishmael is left at the