Arabia Before Islam
2 of 6 · Ancient times · The age of Ibrahim · The valley of Makkah
A Mother and Child in a Barren Valley
The story of Makkah begins with a family. Ibrahim (Abraham, peace be upon him) brought his wife Hajar (Hagar) and their infant son Isma'il (Ishmael) to a dry, empty valley where no one lived and nothing grew. He left them with a bag of dates and a skin of water, and turned to go.
Hajar followed him, asking again and again why he was leaving them in such a place. He did not look back. Then she asked, "Did Allah command you to do this?" He said yes. Her reply has echoed through the centuries: "Then He will not abandon us" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3364).
Out of sight, Ibrahim turned towards the valley and prayed: ﴿رَّبَّنَا إِنِّي أَسْكَنتُ مِن ذُرِّيَّتِي بِوَادٍ غَيْرِ ذِي زَرْعٍ عِندَ بَيْتِكَ الْمُحَرَّمِ … فَاجْعَلْ أَفْئِدَةً مِّنَ النَّاسِ تَهْوِي إِلَيْهِمْ وَارْزُقْهُم مِّنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَشْكُرُونَ﴾ (“Our Lord, I have settled some of my offspring in a valley without cultivation, near Your sacred House… so make the hearts of people incline towards them, and provide them with fruits, that they may be grateful”) (14:37). He prayed for a city that did not yet exist, beside a House not yet built.
Hajar's trust — obeying a command she did not fully understand — became the foundation on which Makkah was built.
When have you had to trust that you would not be abandoned, without seeing how things would work out?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3364 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Qur'an 14:37
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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