Marwah
Marwah is one of the two sacred hillocks located within the precincts of al-Masjid al-Ḥarām in Makkah, the other being Ṣafā. The two hills hold great religious and historical significance in Islam because the ritual of saʿy—walking between Ṣafā and Marwah during ḥajj and ʿumrah—is directly associated with the life of Hājar and her search for water for her son Ismāʿīl. Marwah therefore occupies an important place in the Qurʾān, sunnah al-nabawiyyah, and sīrah tradition.
The Qurʾān explicitly refers to Ṣafā and Marwah as among the symbols of Allah: “Indeed, Ṣafā and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever performs ḥajj to the House or performs ʿumrah, there is no blame upon him for walking between them” (Qurʾān 2:158). Classical exegetes explained that this verse affirmed the legitimacy and sacred nature of the ritual practice associated with the two hills after some early Muslims hesitated because of pre-Islamic customs formerly connected with the site.
According to Islamic tradition, the origin of the ritual of saʿy dates to Hājar’s desperate search for water in the valley of Makkah after Prophet Ibrāhīm left her and Ismāʿīl there by divine command. She repeatedly ran between Ṣafā and Marwah seeking help and water until Allah caused the spring of Zamzam to emerge. The sunnah al-nabawiyyah preserves this account in authentic narrations, especially in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, where Ibn ʿAbbās narrated the story of Hājar and the origin of Zamzam and saʿy.
Marwah also holds significance in sīrah literature because Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ performed saʿy between Ṣafā and Marwah during both ḥajj and ʿumrah and instructed Muslims regarding the rites of pilgrimage. During the Farewell Pilgrimage (Ḥajjat al-Wadāʿ), the Prophet ﷺ demonstrated the ritual practices associated with the sacred sites of Makkah, including ṭawāf and saʿy. Consequently, the ritual became permanently established within Islamic worship through Prophetic practice and sunnah.
Classical Muslim historians and scholars such as al-Azraqī, al-Fākihī, and al-Nawawī discussed the history, virtues, and legal rulings associated with Ṣafā and Marwah. Islamic jurists generally regarded saʿy between the two hills as an essential rite of ḥajj and ʿumrah.
Within Islamic spirituality and sīrah tradition, Marwah symbolizes devotion, perseverance, trust in Allah, and divine mercy. The ritual remembrance of Hājar’s struggle continues to connect Muslims spiritually with the sacred history of Makkah and the prophetic legacy of Ibrāhīm, Hājar, Ismāʿīl, and Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ.
## References
1 Top of FormAl-Qurʾān, 2:158. 2 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ḥadīth nos. 3364–3365. 3 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ḥadīth nos. 1277–1278. 4 Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, trans. Syed Muḥammad Ibrāhīm and Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān Ṣiddīqī (Karachi: Nafīs Academy, 1990), 1: 183. 5 Ṣafī al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī, al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm (Urdu) (Lahore: Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, 1995), 614. 6 Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār and Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Hishām, Sīrat Ibn Hishām, Urdu trans. Syed Yāsīn ʿAlī Ḥusnī Niẓāmī (Lahore: Idārah Islāmiyāt, 1994),2:386. 7 Abū ʿUbayd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Saʿd al-Baṣrī, Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd, trans. ʿAbdullāh al-ʿAmadī (Karachi: Dār al-Ishāʿat, 2003), 1:56-58. 7 Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Zād al-Maʿād, trans. Rais Aḥmad Jaʿfarī (Karachi: Nafīs Academy, 1990),1- 2: 511- 42. 8 F. E. Peters, The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994). 9 Ziauddin Sardar and Zafar Abbas Malik, Mecca: The Sacred City (London: Bloomsbury, 2014). Michael Wolfe, “The Hajj: Pilgrimage to the House of God,” Saudi Aramco World 52, no. 3 (2001): 2–13.