Ibraham leaves Hajar and Ishmael

One day, Ibraham woke up and asked his wife Hajar to get her son and prepare for a long journey. In a few days, Ibraham started out with his wife Hajar and their son Ishmael. The child was still nursing and not yet weaned.

Ibraham walked through cultivated land, desert, and mountains until he reached the desert of the Arabian Peninsula and came to an uncultivated valley having no fruit, no trees, no food, no water. The valley had no sign of life. After Abraham had helped his wife and child to dismount, he left them with a small amount of food and water which was hardly enough for two days. He turned around and walked away. His wife hurried after him asking: “Where are you going, Ibraham, leaving us in this barren valley?”

Ibraham did not answer her, but continued walking. She repeated what she had said, but he remained silent. Finally, she understood that he was not acting on his own initiative. She realized that Allah had commanded him to do this.

She asked him: “Did Allah command you to do so?”

He replied: “Yes.”

Then his great wife said: “We are not going to be lost, since Allah, Who has commanded you, is with us.”

Ibraham invoked Almighty Allah thus: “0 our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley with no cultivation, by Your Sacred House (the Kaba at Mecca); in order, 0 our Lord, that they may offer prayers perfectly (Iqamat-as-Salat), so fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (0 Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks. 0 our Lord! Certainly, You know what we conceal and what we reveal. Nothing on the earth or in the heaven is hidden from Allah.” Surah 14: 37-38

Hajar and Ishmael

Ibn Abbass narrates : “Ishmaels mother went on suckling Ishmael and drinking from the water (she had). When the water in the water-skin had all been used up, she became thirsty and her child also became thirsty. She started looking at him (i.e. Ishmael) tossing in agony. She left him, for she could not endure looking at him, and found that the mountain of As-Safa was the nearest mountain to her on that land. She stood on it and started looking at the valley keenly so that she might see somebody, but she could not see anybody. Then she descended from As-Safa and when she reached the valley, she tucked up her robe and ran in the valley like a person in distress and trouble, till she crossed the valley and reached the mountain of Al-Marwa. There she stood and started looking, expecting to see somebody, but she could not see anybody. She repeated that (running between Safa and Marwa) seven times.”

Hajar sees Zam-zam – by Prophet Muhammad
The Prophet Muhammad said: This is the source of the tradition of the Say (One of the rituals of the hajj, or pilgrimage) the going of people between them (i.e. As-Safa and Al-Marwa).

When she reached Al- Marwa (for the last time) she heard a voice and she asked herself to be quiet and listened attentively. She heard the voice again and said: 0, (whoever you may be)! You have made me hear your voice; have you got something to help me?’ And behold! She saw an angel at the place of Zam-zam, digging the earth with his heel (or his wing) till water flowed from that place. She started to make something like a basin around it, using her hand in this way, and started filling her water-skin with water with her hands, and the water was flowing out after she had scooped some of it.”

The Prophet added: “May Allah bestow mercy on Ishmaels mother! Had she let the Zam-zam (flow without trying to control it or had she not scooped from that water to fill her water-skin), Zam-zam would have been a stream flowing on the surface of the earth.”

Mecca is Settled – Told by Prophet Muhammad

The Prophet continued: Then she drank (water) and suckled her child. The angel said to her: Dont be afraid of being neglected, for this is the House of Allah which will be built by this boy and his father, and Allah never neglects His people. The House (i.e. Kaba) at that time was on a high place resembling a hillock, and when torrents came, they flowed to its right and left.

“She lived in that way till some people from the tribe of Jurhum or a family from Jurhum passed by her and her child, as they (i.e. the Jurhum people) were coming through the way of Kada. They landed in the lower part of Mecca where they saw a bird that had the habit of flying around water and not leaving it.

They said: This bird must be flying around water, though we know that there is no water in this valley. They sent one or two messengers who discovered the source of water and returned to inform them of the water. So, they all came (towards the water). Ishmaels mother was sitting near the water. They asked her: Do you allow us to stay with you?

She replied: Yes, but you will have no right to possess the water.

They agreed to that. Ishmaels mother was pleased with the whole situation, as she used to love to enjoy the company of the people.

So, they settled there, and later on they sent for their families, who came and settled with them so that some families became permanent residents there. The child (i.e. Ishmael) grew up and learned Arabic from them and (his virtues) caused them to love and admire him as he grew up, and when he reached the age of puberty they made him marry a woman from amongst them.”

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As-Safa and al-Marwa

Running to Remember a Mother
and Her Trust in Allah

Muslims who perform the Hajj or Umra must run in the middle portion of the distance between Safa and Marwa seven times.

Safa and Marwa are two hills close to the Kaaba.

This is a commemoration of one mothers sacrifice for her son.

That mother was Hajira (may Allah be pleased with her). Her son was the Prophet Ismail (peace be upon him). Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) was Hajiras husband, and Ismails father.

Hajiras example of sacrifice took place when she and her baby was left in the valley of Makkah by Allahs order as pioneers to start a civilization.

Here was the wife of a Prophet, the princess of the king of Egypt, left with her child in the desert. All for the sake of pleasing our Creator.

As Prophet Ibrahim headed for his next responsibility from Allah, he reached an area where Hajira and Ismail could not see him. At that point, he turned back, raising his hands in Dua and said,

“O Our Lord! I have made of my offspring to dwell in a valley without cultivation by Your Sacred House; in order Our Lord, that they may establish regular Prayer: so fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them, and feed them with fruits, so that they may give thanks.” (Quran 14:37).

Hajira returned to her place and started drinking water from the water-skin, and her milk increased for her child.

But when she had used up all of the water, she ascended the Safa hill and looked, hoping to see somebody.

The area was empty.

She came down and then ran up to Marwa hill. She ran to and fro (between the two hills) many times, then went to check on her baby Ismail.

He was dying. And she could find no water for him or herself.

She could not watch her son perish. How could any mother ?

If I go and look, I may find somebody, she told herself. Then she went and ascended the Safa hill and looked for a long while but could not find anybody.

In all, Hajira ran seven rounds between Safa and Marwa, in the hot, waterless valley, where her thirsty baby lay.

She told herself to go back and check on Ismail. But suddenly she heard a voice: it was the Angel Jibreel.

“Help us if you can offer any help,” she said to him.

The angel hit the earth with his heel and water gushed out. Hajira was astonished and started digging.

Allah, as she had rightly proclaimed, had not abandoned them.

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), in the Hadith in Bukhari in which much of this incident is narrated, said, “If she (Hajira) had left the water, (flow naturally without her intervention), it would have been flowing on the surface of the earth.”

Today we are bearing the fruits of this mothers struggle and sacrifice. Many of us drink and have drunk from the well of Zamzam. And those of us who have made Hajj run in a much more comfortable way than Hajira ever did, between Safa and Marwa.

Her commitment to her son, her sense of urgency and her unshakable faith in Allah in such harsh circumstances are all examples of not only what an excellent mother she was, but also what a strong believer in Allah she was.

If youre going to Hajj this year, Insha Allah, remember this incident and think of that great mother, in whose memory Muslims today run between Safa and Marwa.