The Digging of Zamzam

The Prophet Ibrahim’s son, Prophet Ismail, had twelve sons. Their descendants became so numerous that they could no longer fit in Makkah and spread throughout the entire Hijaz. Among the descendants of one of his sons, Qidar, came Adnan. Adnan’s son was Ma‘add, and his grandson was Nizar. Nizar had four sons, one of whom was named Mudar. From the descendants of Mudar came Quraish ibn Malik, who was also known as Fihr ibn Malik.

The descendants of Quraish became very numerous. They were divided into different tribes. From among his descendants, Qusayy gained authority. After Qusayy, three sons were born. One of them was Abd Manaf, and in his later descendants Hashim was born.

Hashim married the daughter of a chief of Madinah. A boy was born to them, and he was named Shaybah. He had only just been born when Hashim died. His brother al-Muttalib then became the ruler of Makkah.

Hashim’s son continued to be raised in Madinah. When al-Muttalib came to know that he had grown into a young man, he himself went to Madinah to bring his nephew. When he arrived in Makkah with him, people thought that this young man was his slave. Al-Muttalib told them, “He is the son of Hashim and my nephew.” Even after that, the people continued to call him the slave of al-Muttalib. Thus Shaybah came to be known as Abd al-Muttalib.

Abd al-Muttalib had sons named Abu Talib, Hamzah, Abbas, Abdullah, Abu Lahab, al-Harith, al-Zubayr, Dirar, and Abd al-Rahman. From his son Abdullah was born our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

Among all the sons of Abd al-Muttalib, Abdullah was the most handsome and the most pure and chaste. Abd al-Muttalib saw a dream in which he was commanded to dig the well of Zamzam, that is, the well of Prophet Ismail. The chief of the tribe of Jurhum, Mudad, had filled up that well with earth. At that time the people of Jurhum were the chiefs of Makkah and the guardians of the House of Allah.

They began to dishonor the Ka‘bah. Their chief was Mudad ibn Amr. He was a good man and advised his tribe not to dishonor the House of Allah, but they did not listen to him. When Mudad saw that his people were not being influenced, he decided to leave them to their condition.

He took all the wealth, swords, coats of armor, and other valuables out of the Ka‘bah and placed them in the well of Zamzam, then covered the well with earth. The well had already become dry. Its name and location therefore disappeared. For a long time the well remained closed.

Later, Banu Khuza‘ah drove Banu Jurhum out of the area. The periods of leadership of Banu Khuza‘ah and Qusayy passed while the well remained closed, until the time of Abd al-Muttalib arrived.

He had a dream in which he was shown the location of Zamzam and was commanded to dig it.

It is narrated from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that Abd al-Muttalib said:

“I was sleeping near the place of the Black Stone when someone came to me and said, ‘Dig Taybah.’ I asked him, ‘What is Taybah?’ but he left without telling me anything.

“The following night the same person came again in my dream and said, ‘Dig Barrah.’ I asked, ‘What is Barrah?’ but he left without telling me anything.

“On the third night, while I was sleeping, the same person came again and said, ‘Dig Madnunah.’ I asked, ‘What is Madnunah?’ but he left without telling me.

“On the following night, while I was again sleeping, the same person came and said, ‘Dig Zamzam.’ I asked him, ‘What is Zamzam?’

“This time he said, ‘Zamzam is the well whose water never runs out, and which provides water for the great gatherings of pilgrims.’

“Abd al-Muttalib said, ‘I asked him, “Where is this well?” He replied, “At the place where there is filth and blood, and where a crow is pecking.”’”

The next day Abd al-Muttalib went there with his son al-Harith. At that time, this was his only son. They saw filth and blood there and a crow pecking at the ground. There were idols on both sides of the place. The filth and blood were from animals sacrificed to those idols.

All the signs were now present. Abd al-Muttalib brought a pickaxe and prepared to dig. But at that moment the Quraysh arrived and said:

“By Allah, we will not let you dig here. You want to dig a well between our two idols, where we offer sacrifices to them.”

Abd al-Muttalib listened to them and said to his son al-Harith:

“Do not let these people come near me. I will continue digging, because I have been commanded to do this work, and I must complete what I have been ordered to do.”

When the Quraysh saw that he was not going to stop, they stepped back. At last he began digging.

Soon the signs of the well began to appear. When he saw this, he cried out, “Allah is the Greatest!” and exclaimed, “Look! This is the construction of Ismail!”

When the Quraysh saw that he had found the well, they came to him and said:

“Abd al-Muttalib, by Allah, this is the well of our father Ismail, and we also have a right to it. Therefore we will share it with you.”

Abd al-Muttalib replied:

“I cannot make you partners in it. This was my work alone.”

The Quraysh said:

“Then we will dispute with you over this matter.”

Abd al-Muttalib said:

“Then appoint someone to judge between us.”

They agreed to have the matter judged by a female diviner of Banu Sa‘d ibn Hudhaym. She lived in the upper region of Syria.

At last Abd al-Muttalib and the other Quraysh set out toward her. With Abd al-Muttalib was a group of people from the family of Abd Manaf, while the other Quraysh tribes also sent one group each.

At that time there was a barren desert between the lands of the Hijaz and Syria. There was no water anywhere in that region. Their water ran out there. Everyone became extremely thirsty, to the point that they believed they were going to die.

They asked the other Quraysh for water, but they refused to give them any. They then decided to search for water somewhere else.

Abd al-Muttalib got up and came to his riding animal. As soon as the animal stood up, a spring of water burst forth from beneath its feet.

Seeing the water, he exclaimed, “Allah is the Greatest!”

Then Abd al-Muttalib got down from his riding animal. Everyone drank until they were satisfied and filled their water containers.

He then said to the other group of Quraysh:

“Come, you too should drink until you are satisfied.”

They came forward and drank abundantly.

After drinking, they said:

“By Allah, O Abd al-Muttalib, this matter has already been decided in your favor. From now on we will never dispute with you over Zamzam. The One who gave you water in this barren desert is the One who will give you water from Zamzam. So let us return from here.”

Thus the Quraysh realized that Allah was showing favor to Abd al-Muttalib, so disputing with him was useless and there was no benefit in going to the female diviner. Therefore everyone returned.

After returning, Abd al-Muttalib resumed digging the well.

He had only dug a little when wealth, money, swords, and coats of armor began to appear. There was also gold and silver among them.

When the Quraysh saw this wealth, they became greedy and said:

“Abd al-Muttalib, we also have a share in this.”

He replied:

“No, you have no share in it. You should follow the way of justice. Come, let us cast lots with six arrows.”

They agreed.

Two arrows were assigned to the Ka‘bah, two to Abd al-Muttalib, and two to the rest of the Quraysh.

The lots were cast. The wealth went to the Ka‘bah, while the swords and coats of armor went to Abd al-Muttalib. The arrows bearing the names of the Quraysh did not fall on anything.

Thus the matter was decided.

Abd al-Muttalib decorated the door of the Ka‘bah with gold.

Before digging Zamzam, Abd al-Muttalib had prayed:

“O Allah, make the digging of this well easy for me. I will sacrifice one of my sons in Your way.”

Now that the well had been found, he was commanded in a dream:

“Fulfill your vow, meaning sacrifice one son.”