Sa’i

The rite of Sa’i commemorates the actions of Hajar P, the wife of Ibrahim S who walked between the hills of Safa and Marwa seven times in search for water for her son Ismail S.

Tradition states that Ibrahim was living with his wife, Sarah P and her slave girl Hajar in Palestine. According to Nasir al-Din al-Rabghuzi V, the famous Khwarezmian author of Qisas al-Anbiya (Stories of the Prophets), Hajar was the daughter of the King of Maghreb and a descendant of the Prophet Salih S. After her father was killed by the Egyptian Pharaoh, she was taken into slavery and later given to Sarah.

As the years passed and as she grew older, Sarah remained childless, so she suggested to her husband that she should have a child with her slave girl, Hajar.

Not long thereafter, as a result of their union, Hajar gave birth to a son, Ismail S, who was to become the father of the Arabs and the forefather of the blessed Prophet ﷺ.

In response to a divine revelation, soon after Hajar had given birth, Ibrahim brought her and Ismail to Makkah (then known as Bakkah) and left them under a tree with a waterskin and few provisions.

Initially, Hajar was reluctant at being left alone in the desert but after she learnt that it was a divine instruction, she became satisfied and put her trust in Allah. Ibrahim then recited the following supplication after leaving them in Makkah:

رَّبَّنَا إِنِّي أَسْكَنتُ مِن ذُرِّيَّتِي بِوَادٍ غَيْرِ ذِي زَرْعٍ عِندَ بَيْتِكَ الْمُحَرَّمِ رَبَّنَا لِيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ فَاجْعَلْ أَفْئِدَةً مِّنَ النَّاسِ تَهْوِي إِلَيْهِمْ وَارْزُقْهُم مِّنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَشْكُرُونَ ❁

Our Lord, I have settled some of my descendants in an uncultivated valley near Your sacred House, our Lord, that they may establish prayer. So make hearts among the people incline toward them and provide for them from the fruits that they might be grateful.
[Surah Ibrahim, 14:37]

After a while, the water in the waterskin ran out, and Hajar, who was still nursing Ismail, could no longer produce milk. As a result of the thirst, Ismail began having seizures and was close to death before Hajar desperately started looking for water in the desert.

Desperate, she climbed the hills of Safa and Marwa to get a better view of the area and to seek out any passing desert travellers before running between them seven times.

After returning to check the state of her son, she heard a voice which turned out to be that of the angel Jibril S, who was scratching the ground with his heel (or with his wing, according to other narrations), bringing forth water. Hajar immediately started drinking from this spring and was able to feed her son thereafter, saving his life. She later dug a well around the spring, which came to be known as the Well of Zamzam.

Jibril S assured Hajar that she shouldn’t worry about dying and informed her that her son and his father would someday build the House of Allah at that very location.

Not long after, a group of people whose water supplies had run out were travelling through the desert. In search of water, they noticed birds flocking to a particular area. Knowing that birds congregate at water sources, they headed in that direction.

When they arrived, they sought permission from Hajar to drink from the well of Zamzam, to which she obliged. This group of people, known as the tribe of Jurhum, settled in and populated this area, bringing about the establishment of Makkah al-Mukarramah.