RECORD OF THE CAUSES OF THE FILLING UP OF THE WELL ZAMZAM, AND ITS BEING DEEPENED IN CONSEQUENCE OF A REVELATION OF THE BENIGN SOVEREIGN, WHOSE MAGNIFICENCE BE GLORIFIED!

When during the time of the prophecy of the Lord Ebrâhim the water of the Zamzam had made its appearance near the sanctuary during the full tide of the ocean of donation, and by the propitious advent of Esma’il, as chronicles relate in detail, some men of the tribe of Jorham, who were travelling in the vicinity of Mekkah, had alighted for the purpose of rest, they beheld a flock of birds soaring round and round, as if over the surface of some water. They said to each other: ‘We have several times passed through this desert, but have never found water; has now, per­haps, a fountain burst forth around which the birds are thus circling?’

Distich: Wherever a sweet spring is found,
Men, birds and ants flock around.

After a little search and examination they discovered the water, and saw near it Hâjar [Hagar], the mother of the prophet Esma’il [Ishmael]. When the Arabs contemplated the fountain they rejoiced greatly, and after having con­versed with Hâjar they knew that God, the gracious Bestower of benefits, had distinguished her son by this favour. They requested her to allow them to settle in that region, and Hâjar, considering her loneliness, readily assented, but on the condition that they would not con­sider that water as their own property. Thus in a short time countless numbers of people settled near the spot, who collected and heaped up so much soil near the fountain that it became a celebrated well.

It is related that Esma’il the prophet—u. w. b.—was brought up by, and remained connected with, the tribe of Jorham. Afterwards he helped Ebrâhim to build the Ka’bah, and as long as Esma’il lived he was the chief of Mekkah, headman of the tribe, and governor of the Ka’bah. When he was removed from this perishable mansion to the eternal world his son Thâbat became the chief and governor; when Thâbat departed to the abode of joy his children were not yet of age, therefore the office of judging and governing devolved on Mazâz, the son of A’mru and father of the wife of Esmai’l, under whose protection and kindness the progeny of Thâbat joyfully spent their lives. After the demise of Mazâz his sons reigned from generation to generation, with whom the descendants of Esma’il never contended for supremacy, despite of their numbers and power, for the sake of the gratitude of having been brought up together and to keep up the ties of consanguinity; but when the descendants of Esma’il had increased in such a manner that Mekkah could no longer hold them, they left the vicinity of the sanctuary and established themselves in various parts of Arabia.

After some time the tribe of Jorham and the descendants of Mazâz began to be tyrannical, iniquitous, and oppressive; they laid violent hands upon the offerings sent from distant and near places to the house of the Ka’bah, commenced to misappropriate the legacies bequeathed to the house of Allah, so that inhabitants and travellers suffered from their misdeeds. The grandees and princes of the tribes around Mekkah reproved them in vain, until at last the Bani Bakr Bin Wâil and the Kananah of the descendants of Esma’il despatched a company of valiant Arabs, with an ambas­sador, to the Jorhamites, bearing the following message: ‘For the sake of peace, and considering our kinship, we had hitherto laid no claim to the supremacy due to us by right of inheritance; but as you have now swerved from the path of rectitude to that of crookedness, and are practising oppression and unrighteousness reproved at all times and in all places, and aspire to the sole possession of the noble city of Mekkah, we enjoin you to depart from the country of Tahâmah and to establish yourselves wherever you like.’ At first the tribe of Jorham refused to obey this summons, and resorted to arms, but perceiving their inability to cope with the Bani Bakr they sued for peace, and agreed, after long discussions, to abandon Mekkah. On that occasion their chief, A’mru, the son of Hâreth, was obliged to relinquish his command, but envy induced him to remove the black-stone from the corner of the Ka’bah, and to bury it with two golden fawns, which one of the kings of Persia had sent as a gift to the Ka’bah, and several stands of arms, in the well, which he then filled up to the level of the surrounding ground, so that it became unknown to the people, and the spring of the water Zamzam was hidden from the world like the water of life, and remained thus filled with black soil till the time of A’bd-ul-Muttalleb.

When the time was drawing near that the fountain of Muhammadan guidance—u. w. b.—should irrigate and fertilize the garden of the hopes of those who were wander­ing in the desert of error, A’bd-ul-Muttalleb heard in his sleep a voice saying: ‘Dig the well Zamzam.’ He asked what the word ‘Zamzam’ meant, but awoke that moment from his dream, and plunged into the sea of meditation to ascertain the signification. The next time, however, he received in his sleep the explanation that Zamzam was a water-pit, which had formerly originated by the blessed approach of Jebrâil, and had been the drinking-place of Esma’il with his followers. When A’bd-ul-Muttalleb awoke, he exclaimed: ‘O God, explain to me this dream,’ because the details of the locality were unknown to him. The third time, however, a messenger from the invisible world explained to him in a dream the signs of the place.

Hemistich: What a sublime dream, which is better than wakefulness!

In short, A’bd-ul-Muttalleb was informed that the site of the well Zamzam was near the two Qoraish idols, called Asâf and Nâilah, and that on the morrow, when he perceived a raven of such and such a colour scraping the ground with his beak and discovering a nest of ants, he must begin to dig there. A’bd-ul-Muttalleb did as he had been com­manded, saw the raven, and began to dig with his son, the only one he had as yet had at that time. He continued his work—despite the threats of the Qoraish, who said that they would not allow him to make a well near their idols— and swore on that day a vow that if, after succeeding in his enterprise, the Gracious Bestower of favours should bless him with more sons, he would, in imitation of his ancestor the Friend of the Merciful,* sacrifice one of them. After great efforts he opened the ancient well, and took possession of what the chief of the tribe of Jorham had buried therein. The Qoraish knew this, and insisted that he should divide with them what he had found, as they were all descendants of Esma’il, and he had merely renewed the well again; but A’bd-ul-Muttalleb replied that these were legacies made to the holy house. The Qoraish, how­ever, coveted the property so much that this affair ulti­mately resulted in strife and in contention. At last both parties agreed to go to the priestess of Bin Sa’d Bin Hudâin, who resided in Syria, in order to obtain an equitable decision from her, because at that time all persons labouring under a difficulty submitted it to her penetrating judgment. Accordingly A’bd-ul-Muttalleb started with all the chiefs of the Qoraish in that direction, but in most of the stages they found neither water nor grass.

Distich: A soil more waterless than sulphur,
The air more heart-burning than hell.

In one of these stations A’bd-ul-Muttalleb and his followers were overpowered by hunger and thirst, but endured them according to the best of their ability. When they were, however, at the height of their distress, they asked some water from their opponents; these, on the other hand, returned a cold answer, and said that if they were to give away any water the same misfortune would befall them. A’bd-ul-Muttalleb despaired of life, and wished immediately to start; but when he impelled his camel he perceived that Divine mercy had under its hoof produced a sweet fountain surpassing in salubrity and pleasantness the water of life and the well Zamzam. Therefore he thanked the Almighty Bestower, and gave all the vessels to be filled with that water, each drop whereof was more precious than a pearl of O’mân. He also told his antagonists to pour out their water, which had become heated in the air, and to draw from this cold and fresh spring as much of it as they needed, so that they might continue their journey. When the Qoraish beheld with their own eyes this strange event, they repented, and assured him that the Creator of water and earth and Supporter of the stars and heavens, who is a righteous Judge, had already decided their case. They said that henceforth no enmity should arise between them, requested him to return to his home, promised that they would always honour and obey him, besought him to pardon their error and offence, and said that he was worthy of keeping possession of whatever he had discovered [in the well Zamzam].

Hemistich: God bestows prosperity on no one by mistake.

Accordingly A’bd-ul-Muttalleb returned from that journey to his country, after having obtained his desires.

Distich:

I went like the pilgrims to the Ka’bah;
I returned like Ahmed from the ascension.*

His dignity and station became higher than in former times, and he was again installed as the governor and ruler of Mekkah. Some say that at the discovery of the well Zamzam, the golden fawns and weapons concealed therein by A’mru Bin Hâreth, the Jorhamite, fell into the possession of A’bd-ul-Muttalleb; but when the Qoraish had taken some, A’bd-ul-Muttalleb reproached them with having not only not aided, but even resisted, him in digging the well, and that in order to settle this affair it would be necessary to resort to the casting of lots, according to the usual custom. They agreed to this proposal, whereon the property was divided into two shares, and the fawns became a gift to the Ka’bah, but the weapons fell to the lot of A’bd-ul-Muttalleb, so that the Qoraish reaped only loss and disappointment. For the sake of ornament A’bd-ul-Muttalleb suspended the fawns, such as they were, from the door of the Ka’bah, and they were named ‘the antelopes of the Ka’bah’; he sold the arms and spent the proceeds in the expenses of his household. The fawns remained suspended until one night Abu Lahab happened to take them both down, and to sell them to merchants, as will be narrated further on.

When the number of the sons of A’bd-ul-Muttalleb began to exceed units and amounted to ten, he wished to fulfil his vow by sacrificing one of them, as was at that time customary among the Arabs. He consulted his sons, and the lot fell on the name of A’bdullah, whom he informed of the result, and the youth exclaimed:

Distich: If life be acceptable to one beloved like thee,
How could anyone retain life who has life?

The Bani Makhzum, however, who were relatives of A’bdullah, on the maternal side, dissuaded A’bd-ul-Muttalleb from taking such a step; therefore he laid the details of this matter before the penetrating mind of a priestess of the name of Shujaa’, who had no peer nor equal in the craft of soothsaying, and she asked him what the ransom of one man was in his tribe? He replied that it amounted to ten camels; thereon she ordered him to throw lots between ten camels and his son, and that in case the lot fell upon the camels he was to sacrifice them, but if not he must increase their number.

Hemistich: Until heaven itself decides the case.

A’bd-ul-Muttalleb acted as he was bid; the lot, however, fell again on A’bdullah, and continued in this way till the number of camels had reached one hundred, when it struck them, and A’bdullah, being saved from that peril, the camels were sent to graze in the meadows of eternity. Among other coincidences, it may here be observed that, according to the law of Ahmed the elect—u. w. b.—the ransom of a freeman depends upon lots:

Hemistich: When the star passed away that omen was verified.