The Valley and the House

A Valley with No Water

Long before the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was born, the Prophet Ibrahim brought his wife Hajar and their baby son Ismail to a dry valley in the mountains of Arabia. You may know them by their English names: Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael. Nobody lived in the valley, and there was no water. Bukhari 3364

Ibrahim sat them down under a tree near the place where the Ka'bah stands today. He left them a leather bag of dates and a small skin of water, and turned to go home.

Hajar followed him. “Ibrahim, where are you going, leaving us in a valley with no people and nothing in it?” She asked again and again, but he did not turn round. Then she asked a different question: “Has Allah commanded you to do this?”

“Yes,” he said.

Then He will not abandon us.

She went back to her baby. When Ibrahim had walked far enough that they could no longer see him, he turned towards the place of the House, raised his hands and prayed: “Our Lord, I have settled some of my children in a valley without crops, beside Your Sacred House, so that they may establish prayer. So make people's hearts turn towards them, and provide them with fruits, so that they may be grateful.”Qur'an 14:37

Seven Times Between Two Hills

Hajar nursed her son and drank from the water-skin until it was empty. Then she was thirsty, and so was her baby. She watched him twisting in distress until she could not bear to watch any more.

The nearest hill was Safa. She climbed it and looked out over the valley, hoping to see someone. There was nobody. She came down, lifted the hem of her dress and ran across the valley floor like a person in terrible trouble, up to the hill of Marwah. She stood and looked. Nobody. She did this seven times. Bukhari 3364

Centuries later, the Prophet ﷺ explained that this is where the walking between Safa and Marwah comes from. Every pilgrim who performs Hajj or Umrah today walks the same path that a thirsty mother ran.

On the seventh time, at Marwah, she heard a voice. “You have made me hear you,” she said. “Do you have any help?” At the place of Zamzam she saw an angel, who struck the ground until water came out. Hajar quickly built a little wall of earth around it and began scooping water into her skin. The Prophet ﷺ said:

May Allah have mercy on the mother of Ismail. If she had left Zamzam alone, it would have become a flowing stream.

She drank and fed her son. The angel told her not to be afraid of being abandoned: this was the place of the House of Allah, which this boy and his father would build. Bukhari 3364

Tawakkul is often explained with this story. Hajar said, “He will not abandon us”, and then she ran seven times. Trust and effort went together.

Birds Over the Valley

Some time later, a tribe called Jurhum was travelling nearby. They saw a bird circling in the sky, the way birds circle over water. “There was never any water in this valley,” they said, and sent riders to look. The riders found Hajar beside the well.

“Will you let us stay with you?” they asked. She agreed, but on one condition: the water would stay hers. They accepted, settled, and sent for their families. The Prophet ﷺ said that Hajar was glad, because she loved to have people around her. Bukhari 3364

Ismail grew up among Jurhum, learned Arabic from them and won their love and respect. When he was grown, he married a woman of the tribe.

Ibrahim came to visit while Ismail was out hunting. He asked Ismail's wife how they were living. She complained: life was hard, and they were poor. Ibrahim asked her to give Ismail his greetings and to tell him to change the threshold of his door. Ismail understood: his father was telling him to part from her.

On a later visit, Ibrahim met Ismail's second wife. She said they were well, and thanked Allah. He asked what they ate and drank. “Meat and water,” she said, and Ibrahim prayed for blessing in their meat and water. This time his message was to keep the threshold firm. Bukhari 3364

The two answers came from people living the same simple life. One looked at what was missing. The other looked at what Allah had given.

Father and Son Build the House

On another visit, Ibrahim found Ismail sitting under a tree near Zamzam, sharpening his arrows. Ismail stood up to greet him, as a son greets his father.

“Ismail, Allah has given me a command,” said Ibrahim.

“Then do what your Lord has commanded.”

“Will you help me?”

“I will help you.”

Ibrahim pointed to a raised mound: Allah had commanded him to build a house there. So they raised its foundations. Ismail carried the stones and Ibrahim built. When the walls grew high, Ismail brought a stone for his father to stand on, and Ibrahim kept building while Ismail passed him the stones. As they worked, they both prayed: “Our Lord, accept this from us. You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.”Bukhari 3364Qur'an 2:127

They asked for more. They prayed for a community that would submit to Allah, and for a messenger from among their own descendants who would recite Allah's verses, teach the Book and wisdom, and purify people. Qur'an 2:128–129 That messenger would be born in this valley, in the family of Ismail.

The House is the Ka'bah. Muslims face it when they pray, all over the world. They do not worship the building. They worship Allah, the Lord of the House.