The Expeditions. Maʿmar ibn Rāshid
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first thing mentioned regarding ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the grandfather of the Messenger of God, is that when the Quraysh left Mecca’s Sacred Precincts1 fleeing the Elephant Troop2 he was still a young man, a youth. He said, “By God, I will not forsake the Sacred Precincts of God to seek glory elsewhere!” He sat down next to the Sacred House,3 even though the Quraysh had abandoned it. Then he declaimed:
O Lord, a man protects his mount, so protect your mounts.
Do not allow their cross4 and stratagem to defeat your stratagem tomorrow.
He remained steadfast in his place until God destroyed the war elephant and its troop. The Quraysh then returned, and ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib became greatly esteemed among them for his perseverance and reverence for the holy things of God.
1.1.2
فبينا هو١ على ذلك، وُلد له أكبرُ بنيه فأدرك، وهو الحارث بن عبد المطّلب، فأُتي عبدُ المطّلب في المنام، فَقِيلَ٢ له: احفر زمزم خبيئة الشيخ الأعظم.
قال: فاستيقظ، فقال: اللهمّ بيّنْ لي. فأُري في المنام مرةً أخرى: احفر زمزم تكتم بين الفرث والدم في مبحث الغراب في قرية النمل٣ مستقبلة الأنصاب الحمر.
قال: فقام عبد المطّلب، فمشى حتّى جلس في المسجد الحرام ينظر ما خُبّئ له من الآيات، فنُحرت بقرة بالحزورة، فأفلتت٤ من جازرها بحشاشة نفسها حتّى غلبها الموت في المسجد في موضع زمزم. فجزرت تلك البقرة في مكانها حتّى احتُمِلَ لحمها. فأقبل غراب يهوي حتّى وقع في الفرث، فبحث في قرية النمل.٥
فقام عبد المطّلب يحفر هنالك، فجاءته قريش فقالوا لعبد المطّلب: ما هذا الصنيع؟ لم نكن نُزِنّك بالجهل، لِمَ تحفر في مسجدنا؟ فقال عبد المطّلب: إنّي لحافر هذه البئر ومجاهد من صدّني عنها! فطفق يحفر، هو وابنه الحارث، وليس له يومئذ ولد غيره. فيسعى عليهما ناس من قريش فينازعونهما ويقاتلونهما وينهى عنه الناس من قريش لما يعلمون من عتق نسبه وصدقه واجتهاده في دينه يومئذ حتّى إذا أمكن الحفر واشتدّ عليه الأذى نذر إنْ وُفي له بعشرة من الولدان ينحر أحدهم. ثمّ حفر حتّى أدرك سيوفًا دُفنت في زمزم. فلمّا رأَت قريش أنّه قد أدرك السيوف، فقالوا لعبد المطّلب: أَحْذِنا ممّا وجدت! فقال عبد المطّلب: بل هذه السيوف لبيت الله.
ثمّ حفر حتّى أنبط الماء، فحفرها في القرار، ثمّ بحرها حتّى لا تُنزف، ثمّ بنى عليها حوضًا. وطفق هو وابنه ينزعان، فيملآن ذلك الحوض، فيشرب منه الحاجّ. فيكسره ناس من حسدة قريش بالليل، ويصلحه عبد المطّلب حين يصبح. فلمّا أكثروا إفساده، دعا عبد المطّلب ربّـه، فأُري في المنام. فقيل له: قل: اللهمّ إنّي لا أحلُّها لمغتسل ولكن هي لشارب حلّ وبلّ. ثمّ كفيتَهم. فقام عبد المطّلب حين أجفلت٦ قريش بالمسجد، فنادى بالّذي أُري، ثمّ انصرف. فلم يكن يفسد عليه حوضه أحد من قريش إلّا رُمي بداء في جسده حتّى تركوا له حوضه ذلك وسقايته.
١ ز، بد؛ مم: هم.
٢ ز، بد؛ مم: قال.
٣ ز، بد ؛ مم: الدم.
٤ مم: فأفتلت؛ ز، بد: انفلتت.
٥ ز، بد؛ مم: الدم.
٦ مم؛ ز: احفلت؛ بد: اختلفت.
In the midst of these events, the eldest of his sons was born to him and came of age. His name was al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. By and by, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib received a visitation in his sleep,5 a voice that said to him, “Dig out Zamzam and that which was cached by the most honored shaykh.”6 He awoke and prayed, “O Lord, make this clearer to me!” Then he was granted another vision in his sleep: “Dig Zamzam, hidden between the viscera and blood,7 where the crow searches, in the anthill, facing the red-stained altars.”8
ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib got up and strode over to the Sacred Mosque, where he sat down inside looking for the sacred signs that were hidden from him. At the Ḥazwarah market a cow had been slaughtered, but it broke free with its last gasps and fled from its butcher until death overtook it inside the Mosque where Zamzam lay. The cow was butchered at that spot and its meat carried away. A crow then approached, swooping down to land in the cow’s inedible remains, and began searching in the anthill.9
ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib stood and began digging at that very spot. The Quraysh came to him and asked, “What are you doing? We have never taken you for an ignorant man. Why are you digging in our mosque?”10 ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib replied, “I am digging this well, and I will defy anyone who prevents me from doing so!” Straightaway he began digging, he and his son al-Ḥārith. In those days, he had no other son besides him. People from the Quraysh would watch them both warily, often even intervening and fighting them. Others from the Quraysh forbade them from doing so because of what they knew of the prestige of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib’s lineage, his honesty, and his commitment to his religion in those days. Thus it was that, although it was possible for him to dig, he was also subjected to harm and abuse; and so he swore an oath: if ten sons were to be granted to him, he would sacrifice one of them. Continuing to dig, he eventually discovered swords that had been buried in Zamzam.11 When the Quraysh saw that he had unearthed the swords, they said, “Give us a share of what you have found.” “No!” ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib replied. “These swords belong to God’s House.”
He dug still more until water sprang forth. Then he dug out the bottom and dredged the well so that it would not run dry. Next he built a basin over the well. Straightaway he and his son began to draw out water and to fill that basin so that pilgrims might drink from it, but some of the Quraysh, full of resentment, would break the basin at night. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib would repair it when he awoke, but after they had ruined it several times, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib called out to his Lord. Again he was granted a vision in his sleep, and