Earlier nations in the Sunnah 5 min read
Hajar and her baby son Ismail were left by Ibrahim in a dry valley where Makkah now stands, and Allah opened the spring of Zamzam for them. The story is told in Sahih al-Bukhari, and it is the background of the walk between Safa and Marwa in Hajj and Umrah.
The full story comes from the Sunnah, in Sahih al-Bukhari 3364 and 3365. Both reports go back to the companion Abdullah ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and several sentences in them are clearly attributed to the Prophet ﷺ.
The Quran does not name Hajar or Zamzam, but it mentions Ibrahim settling some of his family in an uncultivated valley near the Sacred House (Quran 14:35-41), and Ibrahim and Ismail raising the foundations of the House (Quran 2:125-129).
Ibn Abbas said that Ibrahim brought Hajar and her baby Ismail, whom she was nursing, to the place of the House and set them down beneath a large tree. No one lived in Makkah then, and there was no water. He left a bag of dates and a skin of water with them, and then he turned to leave.
Hajar followed him and asked, again and again, why he was leaving them in a valley with no people and nothing. He did not turn around. Then she asked whether Allah had commanded him to do this. He said yes. She answered, "Then He will not let us be lost." (In Sahih al-Bukhari 3365, he told her he was leaving them to Allah, and she said she was pleased with Allah.)
Where they could no longer see him, Ibrahim faced the House, raised his hands and made the supplication in Quran 14:37, asking Allah to make hearts incline toward his descendants there and to provide them with fruits, so that they may be grateful.
Hajar nursed Ismail and drank from the water until it ran out. Then both were thirsty, and she saw her son in distress. She could not bear to watch, so she went to the nearest hill, Safa, and looked toward the valley to see whether anyone was there. She saw no one.
She went down, and when she reached the valley she lifted the edge of her garment and ran like a person in distress until she crossed it, and then she reached Marwa and looked again. She did this seven times. Ibn Abbas said that the Prophet ﷺ said: "That is the running of people between them" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3364).
On Marwa she heard a voice. She said, "Quiet," and listened again. Then she said that she had heard it, and asked for help if the speaker had any aid. She found an angel at the place of Zamzam. In Sahih al-Bukhari 3364 the angel dug with his heel or wing until water appeared. In Sahih al-Bukhari 3365 the angel is named as Jibril.
She made a basin around the water and scooped from it into her skin, and the water kept gushing after she scooped. The Prophet ﷺ said: "May Allah have mercy on the mother of Ismail. Had she left Zamzam, or he said, had she not scooped from the water, it would have been a flowing spring."
She drank and nursed her son. The angel told her not to fear being lost, because this was the place of the House of Allah, which the boy and his father would build, and Allah does not let His people be lost.
Some time later, a group of the tribe of Jurhum passed by and saw a bird circling. They said it must be over water, because they knew this valley and it had none. Their scouts found the water, and they asked Hajar's permission to stay with her. She agreed, but told them that they had no right to the water. The Prophet ﷺ said that this came to the mother of Ismail while she was longing for company.
Ismail grew up among them and learned Arabic from them. When he was grown, they married a woman from among them to him. Hajar died. Ibrahim later returned and told Ismail that Allah had commanded him to build a house there, and Ismail replied that he would obey his Lord and help him. Ibrahim built, Ismail brought stones, and when the walls grew high, Ibrahim stood on a stone (the Maqam) to continue. As they worked they said words that the Quran also records, and this is the meaning of the verse: "Our Lord, accept this from us. Indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing" (Quran 2:127).
The Quran says that Safa and Marwa are among the symbols of Allah, and that there is no blame on those who perform Hajj or Umrah in walking between them (Quran 2:158). The hadith explains the background: pilgrims walk between the two hills seven times, as Hajar did, and the Prophet ﷺ said this is why people do it.
In Sahih Muslim 2473a, the Prophet ﷺ said of Zamzam: "It is blessed, it is food that nourishes."
The narrations do not give Hajar's age, the date of these events, or how much time passed between the parts of the story. They do not name the leader of Jurhum or say how many people came. We should keep to what is reported.
General information for learning, not a fatwa. For your own situation, ask a qualified scholar.
Updated 6 October 2026
They follow the memory of Hajar, who ran between the two hills searching for water for her son Ismail. The Quran calls Safa and Marwa symbols of Allah (Quran 2:158), and the Prophet ﷺ said that this is the origin of the people's running between them.
According to Sahih al-Bukhari 3364 and 3365, an angel dug the ground with his heel (or wing) at the place of Zamzam, and water appeared for Hajar and Ismail. The Prophet ﷺ said that had she not scooped it, it would have been a flowing spring.
Hajar is not named in the Quran. The Quran mentions Ibrahim settling his family in an uncultivated valley near the Sacred House (Quran 14:37), and the details of Hajar and Zamzam come from Sahih al-Bukhari.
