Ishmaelas was still a child when his step-mother Sarahas, at one occasion, in her anger, asked Abrahamas to expel Hagaras and her son from home. Naturally, Abrahamas was very grieved by the thought of this. However, God the Almighty instructed Abrahamas, “Grieve not, nor be offended, rather, do as Sarah has suggested – Isaac is also your offspring but I wish to produce a nation from Hagar’s son, Ishmael”.1 Hence, in accordance with this divine instruction, Abrahamas travelled hundreds of miles in order to settle Ishmaelas and his mother Hagaras in the Valley of Becca situated in the Arabian region of Ḥijāz. This valley is where Makkah is now populated. At that time it was a completely uninhabited and desolate valley. In this valley, near the mountains of Ṣafā and Marwah, Abrahamas left these two helpless and forlorn souls in the midst of the desert with diminutive provisions, and left for his homeland. On observing Abrahamas leaving, Hagaras followed him anxiously and inquired in words of extreme pain, “Where are you going? And why do you abandon us in this manner?” Abrahamas silently stepped forward and did not respond. At last, Hagaras said, “At least say something – has God commanded you?” “Yes” responded Abrahamas, and once again continued moving forward in silence. At this, Hagaras responded, “If it is God who has commanded this, then without a doubt, you may depart. For God shall not forsake us.” After this statement, Hagaras returned.2 The Holy Qur’ān alludes to this instance in the words of Abrahamas as follows:
In other words, when Abrahamas began to depart, after leaving Hagaras and Ishmaelas in the Valley of Makkah, at some distance he cast a glance back and supplicated before God in the following manner:
“Our Lord, I have settled some of my children in an uncultivable valley near Thy Sacred House – Our Lord – I have done so that they may worship Thee and their lives may be dedicated to Thee. So make men’s hearts incline towards them and provide them with the best of fruits, that they may be grateful to Thee”3
Generally, historians narrate, and it is also mentioned in Ḥadīth, that upon the complete depletion of her provisions, due to natural human necessity; Hagaras became concerned for the well-being of her child. She began to dash here and there in search of water but not a drop of water was to be found and the infant’s condition continued to deteriorate. Ultimately, Hagaras could not bear the sight of Ishmael’sas worsening condition. Hence, she got up, so that she would not be compelled to witness the death of her child by thirst and looked towards the heavens and cried. Again she began to run here and there in search of water. She climbed up the mountain of Ṣafā, but when she was unable to find anything, she ran to the mountain of Marwah. From there, she once again ran back to Ṣafā, and in this manner, performed seven circuits between these mountains in a state of extreme anxiety and helplessness. At the same time she would cry bitterly and would supplicate continuously before God, but no water could be found, nor was there a man in sight. At last, when Hagar’sas anguish reached its pinnacle, after her seventh circuit she heard an unseen voice saying, “O Hagar! God has heard the cry of you and your son.” Upon hearing this voice, she returned to where her child writhed in agony and found an angel of God striking the ground with the heel of his foot, in a manner, as if excavating, in the extraction of something. As Hagaras moved forward she found a spring of water gushing forth where the angel ploughed the earth by the heel of his foot. Hagar’sas joy knew no bounds. She immediately quenched the thirst of her infant child, and in her concern that water be not wasted, she placed stones at the surrounding perimeter of the spring, thus transforming it into a reservoir. It is narrated by Ḥaḍrat Ibni ‘Abbāsra that the Holy Prophetsa would say, “May God have mercy on Hagar, for had she not controlled this water, it would have become a flowing stream.” The Holy Prophetsa would also state, “During the pilgrimage, the Sa‘ī4 between Ṣafā and Marwah is in sacred remembrance of Hagar.”5 A brief and somewhat transposed and altered version of these accounts is mentioned in the Bible as well.6
The Holy Prophetsa honoured the sacred remembrance of Hagaras with such magnitude that in another narration, at one instance the Prophetsa said to his companions, “When God makes you the victors of Egypt, treat the people of Egypt with goodness and kindness. On account of our mother Hagar (who was Egyptian), the people of Egypt possess a distinct right upon you.”7 In any case, after Abrahamas left Hagaras and Ishmaelas in the abandoned land of Makkah and then departed, a divine spring came into being. Afterwards, due to this spring of water, which is known as the fountain of Zamzam in Islāmic history, other people also began to settle in the Valley of Becca and the habitation of Makkah commenced. It is recorded that the first tribe to settle there was the tribe of Jurhum, which was a branch of the Banū Qaḥṭān. This tribe emigrated from Yemen and was initially settled at some distance from the Valley of Becca. However, when they were informed of the existence of Zamzam, their chieftain named Maḍāḍ bin ‘Amr Jurhumī sought the permission of Hagaras to settle in the close proximity of the water spring. Hagaras gladly granted permission and this is how the tribe of Jurhum settled in the Valley of Becca.
1 * Genesis (21:12-13)
* Tārīkhul-Khamīs, By Ḥusain bin Muḥammad bin Ḥasan Dayār Bakrī, By Ḥusain bin Muḥammad bin Ḥasan Dayār Bakrī, Dhikru Hājirah, Volume 1, p. 86, Muwassasatu Sha‘bān, Beirut
2 * Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābu Aḥādīthil-Anbiyā’, Bāb 10, Ḥadīth No. 3364
* Tārīkhul-Khamīs, By Ḥusain bin Muḥammad bin Ḥasan Dayār Bakrī, Al-Manṭaqu ka-mimbari Shiqqah Talbasuhā, Volume 1, p. 93, Muwassasatu Sha‘bān, Beirut
3 Ibrāhīm (14:38)
4 Refers to the running to and fro between Safā and Marwah during the Ḥajj (Publishers)
5 * Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābu Bad’il-Khalq
* As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Malik bin Hishām, p. 96, Bābu Ishāratin ilā Dhikri Iḥtifāri Zamzam, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001)
6 Genesis (21:14-21)
7 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitābu Faḍā’iliṣ-Ṣaḥābah, Bābu Waṣiyyatin-Nabīsa li Ahlil-Miṣr, Ḥadīth No. 6494