The Forefathers of Rasulullah ﷺ – Part Five

The first people to live in the land of Makkah Mukarramah were Nabi Ismaa‘eel (‘alaihis salaam), his mother, Sayyidah Haajar (‘alaihas salaam), and the Jurhum tribe from Yemen.

Many, many years later, after Nabi Ismaa‘eel (‘alaihis salaam) passed away, the people of the Jurhum tribe became evil and bad. They started to rule Makkah Mukarramah and were bad to the other people. Finally, because the Jurhum tribe were so bad, all the other tribes got together and chased them out of Makkah Mukarramah. However, before they ran away from Makkah Mukarramah, they covered the well of Zamzam with sand and hid it so that nobody could find it and enjoy the water.

For years and years, the well of Zamzam was hidden, until the time of ‘Abdul Muttalib, the grandfather of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). At that time, Allah Ta‘ala wanted the people to find the well of Zamzam, so he showed ‘Abdul Muttalib a dream. In the dream, ‘Abdul Muttalib was shown a certain place and was told to dig in that place to uncover the well of Zamzam.

‘Abdul Muttalib went to dig for the well of Zamzam, and he only had one son, Haarith, to help him. ‘Abdul Muttalib made du‘aa to Allah Ta‘ala and said that if Allah Ta‘ala gave him ten sons, then he would slaughter one son for Allah Ta‘ala like a qurbaani.

‘Abdul Muttalib and Haarith dug, and after some time, they found the well of Zamzam. ‘Abdul Muttalib was so excited and happy that he began to call out, “Allahu Akbar!” He then built some ponds close to the well of Zamzam. He would fill these ponds with Zamzam water for the people coming for hajj.

After finding the well of Zamzam, Allah Ta‘ala began to bless ‘Abdul Muttalib with the sons that he wanted, until finally, he had ten sons. Then, one night, when he was fast asleep by the Ka’bah, he saw a person in a dream telling him that he must keep to his promise of slaughtering his son for Allah Ta‘ala.

‘Abdul Muttalib called all his sons and told them about his dream, and they all told him that he must keep to the promise that he made to Allah Ta‘ala and slaughter one of his sons. But now, which son should he slaughter? To decide, he drew lots. This means that he put each son’s name on a piece of paper, and then without looking, he took one of the papers out. When he did this, the paper that came out was the one with the name of ‘Abdullah, his most beloved son.

Even though ‘Abdullah was his most beloved son, ‘Abdul Muttalib knew that he had to keep to his promise. He took a knife and started going with ‘Abdullah to the place where he was going to slaughter him. When ‘Abdullah’s sisters saw this, they started to cry and did not want him to be slaughtered. They begged their father to draw lots again, this time ‘Abdullah’s name would be on one paper, and ten camels would be on the other paper. If he took the paper with the ten camels, then he would slaughter the camels and ‘Abdullah would be safe. But if ‘Abdullah’s name came out, then he would add another ten camels and draw lots again.

In this way he carried on drawing lots, and every time, it was ‘Abdullah’s name that came out. Finally, when the camels reached one hundred, the paper with the camels came out. So ‘Abdullah, who was going to be the father of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), was saved, and ‘Abdul Muttalib slaughtered one hundred camels for Allah Ta‘ala between the Mountains of Safaa and Marwaa.