young child, reassured that God must have a purpose for their arrival in that lifeless desert. She felt no need to despair. For a few days she and her son survived on the dates and water Abraham had left. She praised God for His bounty and prayed Him to be merciful to her and to her son. Soon, however, her supply of dates and water was exhausted. She had nothing to feed herself or her young boy. The two were soon very hungry and thirsty. With the cries of the little boy sharp in her ears, Hagar felt desperate, helpless. She was running here and there, hoping that she would find something to quieten Ishmael. She climbed the nearest hill to try to observe the area around her. That hill was al-Ṣafā. But she could see no one. She came down and climbed the next hill, al-Marwah. Again, there was no sign of life around. She went back to the first hill and kept going to and fro between the two hills. Each time she thought she heard voices from the other direction. When she had run between the two hills seven times, and was on the top of al-Marwah, she heard a voice very close to her, but she could not see anyone. She said: “Whoever you are, help us if you can.” Turning towards her child in the bottom of the valley, she saw him rubbing the earth with his leg. She then heard the angel asking her who she was. She answered: “I am Hagar, the mother of Abraham’s son.” He asked her: “To whom has he entrusted you in this barren place?” She replied: “He entrusted us to the care of God.” The angel rejoined: “He has then trusted you to the All-Merciful, the Compassionate.”
At this point, while the boy was still rubbing his leg against the earth, water gushed forth between his feet. Hagar shouted: “God is Supreme.” She rushed back to her son and began to form a barrier around the new-found spring so that the water would not run into the valley. She filled her water container and the water continued to gush forth. After giving her child enough to drink, she drank herself and prostrated herself in a gesture of thankfulness to God for His grace. She felt that she had been brought into that area in order that a definite purpose of God be accomplished.
The water continued to gush forth and attracted birds. It so happened that an Arabian tribe called the Jurhum was travelling north across the desert when they saw a bird flying nearby. They realized that there must be a spring in the area for birds would only fly across an area where they saw water. Keen to replenish their stock of water, they tried to determine the exact position of the spring. Their emissaries soon came back with the happy news and they moved over to wash and drink. When they saw Hagar, they realized that the spring was hers. She, however, was more than pleased to see them and said that they were welcome to encamp.
The Jurhum liked the place, and Hagar was very happy to have them. They felt that they could settle there without the need to travel any further north. This was the beginning of settled life in the valley of Makkah. Ishmael grew up among the Jurhum tribe, learning their language, Arabic, and mixing with their children. When he was a young man, he married a Jurhum girl who gave him a number of sons and daughters. Ishmael was in effect one of the Jurhum. He and his children lived in that valley, and many generations later Muhammad, God’s Messenger and a direct descendant of Ishmael, was born in that very place.
Abraham did not just abandon his young child with his lonely mother and forget about them. Prophets do not abandon their families in that manner. Despite the long distance between Palestine and the place where Ishmael had been left, Abraham visited Hagar and Ishmael every now and then. He recognized God’s grace, which was manifest in the fact that the Jurhum came to settle in that valley, so that Ishmael could grow up among them.
The Great Sacrifice
On one of his visits, Abraham saw in a dream that he was commanded to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, for God’s sake. At that time Ishmael was in his teens, able to understand the fact that Prophets like his father did not see any ‘false’ dreams. It is the first mark of prophethood that the dreams a Prophet sees are as true as anything he sees in real life. The dream was repeated on three consecutive nights and Abraham realized that he had no choice but to carry out the Divine order. He put the matter as gently as he could to his son, who was still in the prime of youth, and asked him: “What do you say, son?”
Since Ishmael was brought up by a mother whose firm belief in God did not forsake her even at the moment when she was abandoned alone with her young boy in the middle of the desert, and by a father who was a Prophet, faith had been instilled in him ever since he was very young. He therefore faced the problem squarely and announced his readiness to submit himself to God’s will: “Father, do as you are bid. You will find me, God willing, patient and able to face death with fortitude.” (37: 102)
Both father and son went some distance out of the city, to the place known today as Minā, where they prepared to obey God’s command. Satan tried to dissuade Abraham from sacrificing his son. He tried to arouse fatherly love in him. Abraham’s submission to God’s will, however, showed no sign of weakness whatsoever. He stoned Satan in three different spots. His action is commemorated by pilgrims when they stone the Jamrahs as one of the duties of their pilgrimage. At the point when Abraham was about to cut his son’s throat in complete submission to the Divine will, an angel came to him and bade him stop. He was told that God had accepted his offering and was pleased with his obedience. He had spared Ishmael for the sake of his elderly father. The angel gave Abraham a fully grown sheep to sacrifice instead.
Building the Kaʿbah
On another visit, perhaps when Ishmael was already married and had some children, Abraham told him that God had ordered him to erect a House in that place, to serve as a consecrated temple. Ishmael expressed his readiness to help his father build the desired structure. Both father and son worked hard to lay the foundations and erect the building. Ishmael carried the stones and put each one in its place while Abraham made sure that the building was firm and well established. When the building was higher than Abraham’s reach, Ishmael brought a large stone for his father to stand on and continue the work. As father and son laboured to complete the building, they prayed God to accept their work and bless their seed. The Qur’ān quotes their prayers:
When Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House, they prayed: “Our Lord, accept You this from us, for You are indeed the One Who hears all and knows all. Our Lord, make us submit ourselves to You, and make out of our offspring a community which will submit itself to You, and show us our ways of worship, and accept our repentance. You are indeed the One Who accepts repentance, the Merciful. Our Lord, raise up in the midst of our offspring a messenger from among themselves, who shall convey to them Your revelations, and instruct them in the Book and in the wisdom, and cause them to grow in purity. You alone are the Almighty, the truly Wise.” (2: 127-129)
God accepted the work done by Abraham and Ishmael, and answered their prayers. He made the building they erected a centre of worship to which people from all over the world came on pilgrimage. God instructed Abraham to announce to mankind that God required them to make the pilgrimage to that House. Abraham asked: “How far can my voice reach, my Lord?” God told him that it was his task to make the announcement and God Himself would ensure that it was heard all over the world. Abraham complied, and God caused his announcement to be heard far and wide. People started coming to the House, which was called the Kaʿbah, from the time of that announcement. Abraham taught them the rituals of pilgrimage, as he was taught them by God through an angel. God told Abraham that it was His will that Makkah should be a consecrated city where fighting was forbidden. Its animals were to move about safely without fear of being hunted. It was forbidden to cut down its trees. People were secure and safe there. Such has been the status of Makkah ever since Abraham built that House which was the first ever to be erected as a centre of worship for mankind.
Abraham was instructed by God to build the Kaʿbah so that it could serve as a focal point for those who worshipped God alone and ascribed no partners or equals to Him. It was also meant to be a refuge, where everyone felt secure. The Kaʿbah was always a structure of dark stones which had no special significance of their own. The ceiling was raised over pillars made of the best wood. The sanctity the Kaʿbah has come to acquire is the result of the memories with which it has been associated. More importantly, its
