Mohammed Hanif Explain that In Zam, Zam, there lies a sign for those who seek the truth about Islam.
About 4,000 years ago, a young infant was crying for water and rubbing his feet in the sands of a desolate valley, where stands today the magnificent house of God, the Ka’aba, and the city of Makkah.
His mother was running in between the nearby hills known as Safa and Marwa in search of water, possibly to ask for water from a passing caravan. All of a sudden, she saw water gushing out under the feet of her infant son. This was the beginning of the famous well of Zam Zam that continues to flow even today.
His mother was running in between the nearby hills known as Safa and Marwa in search of water, possibly to ask for water from a passing caravan. All of a sudden, she saw water gushing out under the feet of her infant son. This was the beginning of the famous well of Zam Zam that continues to flow even today.
The infant was Ismael and his mother Hajira, wife of Prophet Ibrahim. At that time, these two were the only habitants of the valley of Makkah, described in the Holy Quran as a valley without a blade of grass. They were left in the then barren valley by Hazrat Ibrahim under the command of Allah who had great designs for the place. They were the first citizens of Makkah, the most revered place and seat of the religion of Islam. Makkah, today, is a city with more than a million people and the well of Zam Zam is located in the heart of the city.
The well of Zam Zam is the oldest flowing well in the world and is located right in the Mutaf (circling area around the Ka’aba), about 150 feet from Baitullah Sharif and towards the eastern side.
As she was trying to contain the newly-appeared spring, Hajira said “Zam Zam” meaning “stop” or “hold on.” Since then, this water has been flowing and carries the name of Zam Zam.
After being in use for many centuries, it disappeared after the Bani Jurham, a tribe of Makkah in whom Ismael was married, filled it up with soil before leaving Makkah. It remained obliterated and untraced for quite a few centuries till its location was disclosed in a dream to Abdul Mutallib, the grandfather of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in the first half of the 6th century AD, that is about 540 AD. Hazrat Abdul Mutallib, in spite of opposition from the local leaders and chieftains of Makkah, excavated the ground with the help of his only son, Haris, till he found the well (in all, he was blessed with ten sons, but nine were borne after the rediscovery of Zam Zam).
The well’s dimension of 18ft x 12ft x 5ft of water depth was measured in 1971 by Tariq Hussain, a Pakistani chemical engineer who was then working with the Saline Water Desalination Corporation at the Jeddah plant. He was assigned to take a water sample from the well of Zam Zam for chemical and biological examination, and to disprove the claim of an Egyptian doctor that the water of Zam Zam is contaminated with sewage leakages from Makkah’s sewage system. The dimensions measured by Tariq Hussain in 1971 are the same to which the well was excavated by Hazrat Abdul Mutallib, and has remained unaltered for 1,400 years.
The city of Makkah is located in a valley with hard, granite mountains on all sides, and the Haram Sharif (Masjid-ul-Haram) located at its lowest point. There is about 50 to 100ft deep sandy silt formation underlain by igneous rocks. The well of Zam Zam is located in this sand/silt formation and its water level is about 40 to 50ft below the natural ground level.
The source of the well of Zam Zam has been traced to an aquifer extending out to the hills of Taif. This was accidentally discovered in June 1982, while a tunnel on the Safa side of Haram Sharif was being excavated. While excavating the tunnel roof, water profusely started flowing, so much so that the contractor was confronted with a difficult situation. At the same time, the flow into the Zam Zam well turned slack and for the first time in 1,400 years, the well almost ran dry. His Majesty, King Fahad of Saudi Arabia, immediately appointed a committee to look into the matter that included Dr Adnan Niazi, professor of Geo-Physics at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
The water tests showed that the tunnel water and the water in the well of Zam Zam were the same and therefore it was confirmed that the tunnelling operation had ruptured the aquifer bringing water to the well. Immediate repairs were undertaken and as the rupture was closed, the Zam Zam flow was restored. A visit to the tunnel saw almost a flood coming out of the ruptured roof of the tunnel in the month of Ramadan in June 1982. The well of Zam Zam used to have a manual system of drawing water, till the early 1950s. In those days, the peak discharge drawn during the Haj season would just suffice the number of Hajis not exceeding a hundred thousand.
No comments:
Post a Comment