Chief of the Prophets — Page 20
Chapter Two 20 She ran up the hill named Ṣafā opposite her in search of water but did not find any, then ran up a hill named Marwah on the other side. In a state of great anxiety and despair, she went back and forth seven times between the two hills. While running back and forth, Hagar ra continuously cried and prayed to Allah, the Exalted. Finally, when she ran between the hills for the seventh time, she heard the voice of an angel: O Hagar, Allah has listened to you and your child’s plea. Hagar as went back to her child and saw an angel striking his heel on the ground as if digging out something. Hagar as observed that a spring had erupted from that place, which today is known by the name of the Well of Zamzam. On this Divine miracle, she expressed gratitude to God and gave water to the child. She made a small boundary wall around the spring to secure the water. There is a tradition narrated by Ibn ‘Abbās ra that Muḥammad sa said, “May Allah have mercy on Hagar as ; if she would not have stopped the water, it would have turned into a flowing spring. ” It is also recorded that Muḥammad sa said that the running back and forth between the Ṣafā and Marwah hills (at the time of Ḥajj ) is practiced in the blessed memory of Hagar as. 1 When people found out about the existence of the Well of Zamzam, they, with the permission of Hagar as , started settling there. It is recorded that Maā bin ‘Amr, the chieftain of the Banū Jurham, which was part of Banū Qaḥṭān was the first person to settle there. Abraham as occasionally visited Makkah. When Ishmael as reached the age of 13 years, Abraham as had a dream in which he saw that he was slaughtering Ishmael as. 2 As human sacrifice was commonly practiced at the time and Abraham as had not been told about its 1 Bukhārī (Book of the Beginning of Creation) and Ibni Hishām. 2 According to the Bible, Issac as was to be sacrificed, but other statements of the Bible and the Islamic traditions support that Ishmael as was to be sacrificed. For a detailed discussion, see Sīrat Khātamun-Nabiyyīn, Urdu edition, published by Islam International Publications, 1996, p. 69–74.