Father Abraham had many sons...

Muhammad is now second only to Jack as the most popular name for baby boys in Britain and is likely to rise to No 1 by next year, a study by The Times has found. The name, if all 14 different spellings are included, was shared by 5,991 newborn boys last year, beating Thomas into third place, followed by Joshua and Oliver.

Scholars said that the name’s rise up the league table was driven partly by the growing number of young Muslims having families, coupled with the desire to name their child in honour of the Prophet.

Overall, Muslims account for three per cent of the population, about 1.5 million people. However, the Muslim birth rate is roughly three times higher than the non-Muslim one.

It would seem that even if they consider the Torah as from God, but presently corrupted by man, some of Father Abraham's children do still take seriously the exhortation to "Be fruitful and multiply."