Although Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la created the husband and the wife to always be there for each other
and to help each other grow, to support one another,
to rely on one another
and to value each other as gifts given to each other by Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la,
there comes times when the loved ones can't always be there for each other.
Circumstances change in life,
either because Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la is the one who changed it
or because of other reasons that are natural in life.
The love of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la therefore comes before anyone and anything else.
And we have to be careful not to invest our love completely and wholeheartedly into one person or one thing,
because when that goes away, we often don't know where to go after that
and some people even resort to a terrible end and mental illnesses.
May Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la save us from that.
Hajar (Alaiha Assalam) and her relationship with Ibrahim (Alaihi Assalam)
gives us a little glimpse into some solution to keep our well-being continued and to help us
understand that we always have Allah no matter what.
Allah order Ibrahim (Alaihi Assalam) to take his wife Hajar
and his only newborn son who was still an infant,
a suckling baby not more than about two or three months old,
into a barren land, uninhabited by anybody and no water,
no vegetation in the middle of nowhere
which is now called Makkah.
Imagine, ordered by Allah without explanation,
and the husband tells his wife – we are going somewhere without knowing where to go.
And she doesn't know that he's going to leave them there without any prior warning,
with the only newborn son in the middle of nowhere and return.
Ibrahim (Alaihi Assalam) truly relied on Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la
but now we are going to be introduced to the power and strength of a role model woman.
When he arrived there, there were only mountains,
desert, vultures and scorpions and snakes.
As they laid to rest they only had a few bits of dates and water,
suddenly Ibrahim (Alaihi Assalam) stood up without a single word,
turned his back and started walking alone back to Jerusalem.
Usually he would inform his wife and communicate with her,
Hajar (Alaiha Assalam) was not used to that.
This was extremely odd.
So she got up and frantically ran towards her husband Ibrahim
trying to tap him from the back, but he wouldn't turn around,
asking him:
Ibrahim (Alaihi Assalam) would not reply,
he just kept walking with his head down.
Perhaps if Ibrahim (Alaihi Assalam) looked up his compassion
and mercy would kick in and then his weakness of emotions and love
will prevent him from carrying out Allah's Subhana Wa Ta'la order.
But we Hajar (Alaiha Assalam) insisting on finding out the answer,
which is totally understandable.
But after only a few moments Hajar (Alaiha Assalam) took a step back and when she noticed
that her husband who she knows is a messenger and prophet of Allah
would not reply, she asked him an ultimate question:
And without looking at her, he just nodded his head and said: "Hajar, yes."
So she took a step back again,
relaxed and was at full peace and tranquility and said the following words:
Allahu Akbar.
Such reliance and trust.
She forgot about her husband,
she no longer needs her husband's support, for without Allah her husband can do nothing.
Without Allah no one can do anything.
But the fact that she had Allah on her side,
you can keep her in the most terrifying places
but she knows He's there and she'll be safe.
She went back to her son,
you can imagine her like a single woman, a single mother who has been abandoned,
although Ibrahim (Alaihi Assalam) did not abandon her willfully.
As the food ran out,
she got a little bit scared and nervous, it's quite natural.
So she started to walk between two hills as you know,
these two hills that existed at that time are now named Safa and Marwah.
As she walked between these two hills climbing on each one,
she would look far and wide to see if she can see anybody
coming forward to get some help, she needed food, water,
she had no more milk left in her body to feed her son,
her son is crying and wailing, there's no food, there's no water.
And the vultures were circulating above them.
She kept going back and forth and there was a little section,
if you don't mind I would like to focus on this small seemingly insignificant section,
which has an amazing moral to it.
There was a little section between the two hills that was like a ditch,
as soon as Hajar would reach that ditch she would have to go down that ditch
until she could no longer see her own baby crying.
A motherly instinct is that
she cannot keep her eye away from her child,
so she would run or jog through that ditch every time she got there.
She went back and forth seven times until she reached Marwah
and then she heard a noise at her baby where he was.
She said to herself:
In their language meaning – silince, silience, listen.
She came back and there she found water gushing out of the ground beneath the feet of Ismail (Alaihi Assalam)
while he's laughing and giggling.
Jebreel (Alaihi Assalam) the Angel had come down with
the order of Allah and he stamped his foot into the ground
and ZamZam water came out.
Where did ZamZam come from, the name?
Well, Hajar (Alaiha Assalam) she thought this is too much water,
so she started to gather the dust in the sand and the soil and trying to make it smaller and saying:
Zumi Zumi – which means shrink, shrink.
So the name came ZamZam.
Brothers and sisters,
Hajar (Alaiha Assalam) waited and there came a tribe called Bani Jurhum
who was an Arab tribe who had received a drought in their own land
and there was no more reason to live there, they were looking for a new home
and when they saw the vultures circulating above them,
they thought there was a tribe there or a city.
When they arrived, they made a deal with Hajar to use the water
and she charged them rent to use the water,
so not only was she reliant on Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la
but she was also wise and smart in the way she used her mind.
There was some business skills in her and Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la allowed it.
My brothers and sisters,
did you know that because of this great role model Hajar (Alaiha Assalam)
today and for over four thousand years, especially in the last 1400 years since Muhammad ﷺ came out,
men and women from all around the world, every single day and night without fail,
walk between these two hills Safa and Marwah.
Check this out.
Remember when we said that there was a ditch she jogged through,
today there's no ditch, it's just tiles, but men have to jog through it.
Do you see how even the walk, even the style and the manner that Hajar (Alaiha Assalam) did,
we all do it.
As a commemoration of that time and to remember the true meaning of trust
and loyalty and reliance upon Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la from a woman.
How many women, my dear brothers and sisters?
One woman.
Billions of people go from Safa and Marwah, emulating this one woman whom Allah honored till the end of time.
Brothers and sisters, women, daughters and mothers
are important in our religion
and we must give them respect and value
as Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la showed us through our great mother Hajar (Alaiha Assalam).
May Allah bless our mothers, our sisters,
our daughters, our wives, our aunts,
Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la fill their hearts and minds with wisdom,
iman and make them among the strong and patient.
May Allah reward you all.