Muslim authors recount several related—though likely embellished—stories describing the discovery of the bodies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob within the Cave (or Tomb) of the Patriarchs at Hebron in A.H. 513 (14 April 1119 CE – 1 April 1120 CE), when the city was under Crusader rule. Some versions claim that the corpses, which by that time would have been nearly three millennia old, had miraculously remained undecayed. Several accounts also mention gold and silver lamps found—or placed—beside the bodies.

According to one author, ʿAlī of Herat (as quoted by Yāqūt), a collapse of the cave exposed the remains, though no cause for the collapse is given. Other writers do not explain how the discovery occurred, yet the most plausible scenario may be that probing or limited excavation outside the caves revealed burial cavities that were later transformed, through retelling, into a narrative of miraculously preserved patriarchal bodies. Nearly all the reports, with perhaps one exception, cite second-hand testimony originating from Jerusalem and/or Hebron.

A study by Kohler (1896) appears to present one or more accounts from Western or Crusader perspectives, describing a purposeful excavation rather than an accidental discovery resulting from a collapse.