The story begins nearly 4000 years ago when a prophet named Ibrahim ‘alaihis salaam was born in a place called Ar. His people worshiped idols made of stone and wood or the celestial bodies in the heavens. But from a very early age he was given very special spiritual understanding. As Allah says:
“And indeed We bestowed aforetime on Ibrahim his guidance.” (Surah 21:51)
Allah had opened his heart to the Truth. He explained to his people the beauty of Allah’s creation, His power and wisdom. But they would not give up and clung fast to idolatry.
Ibrahim decided to do something about their state of disbelief. There was to be a great celebration out of the city which all the people of the town were attending. Ibrahim said he felt he was about to be sick and excused himself from going. When the city was empty he came out of his house with a sharp axe and went to the temple that housed idols and statues of all kinds. The priests too had left the place of worship for the festival.
Ibrahim went there carrying a sharp axe. He looked at the stone and wood statues of the gods and at the food laid in front of them as offerings. He approached one of the statues and asked: "The food in front of you is getting cold. Why don't you eat?" the statue kept silent and rigid. Ibrahim asked all the other statues around him: "Will you not eat of the offering before you?" (Ch 37:91)
He was mocking them for he knew they would not eat.
He once again asked then: "What is the matter with you that you do not speak?" (Ch 37:92)
After that he swung his axe and smashed to bits all the false gods except the biggest on whose shoulder he hung the axe. He left then, hoping it would teach his people a lesson and waited for the reaction.
When the people returned they could not believe their eyes! Who could commit such wickedness? All and one thought of the same name…Ibrahim, it had to be him.
Allâh the Almighty said:
They said: "Who has done this to our aliah (gods)? He must indeed be one of the wrongdoers." They said: "We heard a young man talking against them who is called Ibrahim." They said: "Then bring him before the eyes of the people, that they may testify." they said: "Are you the one who has done this to our gods, O Ibrahim?" Ibrahim said: "nay, this one, the biggest of them (idols) did it, Ask them, if they can speak!"
So they turned to themselves and said: "Verily you are the Zalimun (polytheists, and wrongdoers)." Then they turned to themselves (their first thought and said): "Indeed you (Ibrahim) know well that these idols speak not?" Ibrahim said: "DO you then worship besides Allâh, things that can neither profit you nor harm you? If upon you, and upon that which you worship besides Allâh! Have you then no sense?" (Ch 21:59-67 Qur'an)
Instead of thinking with sense they became furious and caught Ibrahim alaihis salaam to punish him. This was what he had actually wanted so he could publicly prove them their foolish behaviour. He did so with logical reasoning but while they did come to realize their error in their hearts, their arrogance would not allow them to admit it. They did what tyrants usually do. They kept Ibrahim in custody and planned a monstrous punishment for him.
For days a huge pit was dug by the people, then it was filled with firewood till the hole in the earth was choked full and then it was set ablaze. When the flames reached the sky and the fire was black with ferocity, they put Ibrahim on a catapult and flung him in.
His fall was as a descent into a cool garden for Allah Ta’ala had ordered the fire, “O fire! Be you coolness and safety for Ibrahim.” (21:69)
You see, fire too is a creation of Allah. It burns at His command and now it became coolness at His command. The flames could still be seen but their effect was the opposite. The same can be said for any other thing; water wets but it can burn if Allah so desires; sunshine dries but it can wet if Allah so wills.
Ibrahim alihis salaam sat in the fire as if he were sitting in a shady garden. He remembered Allah and praised Him, his love deepening for his Creator who had saved him despite no apparent means and honored him before the idolaters.
All the people, the king, the priests, and chieftains sat there watching the fire burn like hell. Their faces were black with the smoke and scorched with the heat but their feeling of vengeance made them sit there gloating at what they had done to the person who had dared to challenge them.
Slowly the fire died out and what do they see but Ibrahim coming out of it as calm and cool as if he had been sitting there relaxing in it. It was astounding! But still the people refused to accept his beliefs.
Only one woman and one man had accepted the Truth. The woman was Hadhrat Sarah who became his wife. The man was his cousin Hadhrat Lut ‘alaihis salaam who became a prophet.
When Ibrahim ‘alaihis salaam realized that no one else was going to accept his call, at Allah’s command he migrated to Palestine with his wife. He used it as headquarters to spread the message to neighboring areas. When he went to Egypt on his mission, Hadhrat Sarah was given Hagar (The Arabic pronunciation of Hajrah) the daughter of the then Pharaoh. She gave her to her husband as a wife. Hagar soon had a son named Isma’eel alaihis salaam. It is said that Ibrahim alaihis salaam was nearly 85 at the time.
TO MAKKHAH: One day Ibrahim alaihis salaam woke up and took Lady Hagar and Isma’eel with him on a long journey. They traveled through farmland, crossed deserts, climbed over mountains until they reached a bleak place with no water or food in sight. There Hadhrat Ibrahim left his family with only a little water and a small leather pouch of dates and turned away to go. Seeing that he was setting off without them Hadhrat Hagar ran after him asking, “Where are you going, Ibrahim, leaving us in this barren valley?”
He did not answer but continued walking. She repeated what she had said but he remained silent. Finally, she realized that he was not acting of his own will but Allah had commanded him to do so. She asked,
“Did Allah ask you to do so?”
He replied, “Yes”.
Hearing this she was immediately at peace.
“We are not going to be lost” she said, “since Allah who has so decreed, is with us.”
See how strong her faith in Allah was? She was being left alone in the vast loneliness with hardly a creature in sight, a small baby with her, no shelter for protection, and food enough only for a couple of days, but her love for Allah and her belief in His love for her made her so strong and calm.
When Ibrahim alaihis salaam reached Thaniya, where they could not see him, he turned towards the Ka’bah and prayed to Allah:
“O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Your Sacred House, in order, O our Lord that they may offer prayers perfectly. So fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks.” (Surah 14:37)
After Hadhrat Ibrahim ‘alaihis salaam had left Hadhrat Hagar and Isma’eel at Makkah and returned to Palestine, the story is narrated by Ibn-e-‘Abbas radhiyallahu ta’ala anh thus:
“ Isma’eel’s mother went on nursing Isma’eel and drinking from the water (she had). When the water in the water-skin had all been used up she and her child became thirsty. She saw him tossing in agony and could not bear it. She looked around and found that the mountain of Al-Safa was the nearest mountain to her on that land. She stood on it and looked about her keenly so that she might see somebody (to call for help) but there was no one.
She descended from Al-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 for somebody but she could not. She repeated that (running between Safa and Marwa) seven times.”
Our Prophet sallalla hu ‘alaihi wasallam has said that this is the source of the tradition of the Sa’i, one of the rituals of Hajj or ‘Umrah, the running between the mounts of Safa and Marwa. Scholars say that this honour was bestowed upon Hadhrat Hagar because of her unfailing trust in Allah when she had been left there on her own with a little baby and scarce sustenance.
When Hadhrat Hagar reached Marwa for the last time she heard a voice. She listened attentively and heard it again. She said:
“O! (Whoever you may be) you have made me hear your voice, have you something to help me (by)?”
And behold! She saw an angel at the place where the well of Zam-zam is. He was digging a hole in the earth till water flowed from that place. In another tradition it is said that the water flowed where Hadhrat Isma’eel had been rubbing his heels in the sand. Hurriedly so as to save as much of the water as she could, she started making a basin around it scraping sand and also filling her water-skin, but the water continued to flow, not diminishing and it is still doing so after thousands and thousands of years.
Hadhrat Hagar drank the water and fed her child. She lived that way for some time. One day a caravan landed in the lower part of Makkah. The people saw a bird that had the habit of flying near water. They were curious, as they knew that there was no water in that valley. Following the bird one or two of the people came to investigate and what do they find but a young mother with her baby, sitting beside the water. They asked her, “Do you allow us to stay with you?” Hadhrat Hagar said yes but the water would be her property. The people were of the tribe of Jurhum, who some say used to live in the valleys around Makkah or Bakkah as it was then called. Hadhrat Isma’eel ‘alaihis salaam grew up among these people and learned Arabic from them. And this is how the city of Makkah, the backdrop of the Muslims, was settled.
