Life of Prophet Muhammad PBUH : The Beginning (Discovery of Zamzam)

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ

In the name of Allah the most beneficent, the most merciful.

Dear Brothers & Sisters, 

"السلام عليكم ورحمتہ اللہ وبرکاتہ"Assalamu Alaikum 

(May the blessings of Almighty and peace be upon you) 

The Beginning (Urdu) (Discovery of Zamzam)

مُطّلب کے اِنتِقال کے بَعد مَنصبِ رفادہ اور منصبِ سقایہ کے مُتوَلّی عَبدُالمطّلب بَن گئے کیونکہ یہ ھَاشِم کے بیٹے تھے اور اصل میں یہ انہی کا حَق تَھا۔ عَبدُالمُطّلب ھَاشِم کی طرح بہت نیک اور سَخی تھے وہ کَبھی شَراب کو ہاتھ نَہیں لَگاتے تھے۔

مکّے والوں کو پانی کی بہت تَکلیف تھی کِیونکہ جَب سے زَمزم کا کُنواں بَند ہُوا تَھا اُس وَقت سے مکّے میں کوئی کُنواں نَہیں رَہا تھا۔ یہ کُنواں عبدُالمطّلب کے زَمانے سے سینکڑوں سَال پَہلے بَنی جُرھُم پاٹ گئے تھے اور اَب لوگ یہ بُھول گئے تھے کہ کَبھی یَہاں کوئی کُنواں بھی تھا۔ ایک رَات عَبدُالمُطّلب نے خواب میں ایک شَخص کو دیکھا جو پُکار پُکار کر اُن سے کہہ رَہا ہے۔

’’زَمزَم کا کُنواں کھود ڈَالو!‘‘

عَبدّالمطّلب نے اُس آدمی سے پُوچھا :

’’زمزم کیا ہے؟‘‘

اُس نے بَتایا کہ یہ ایک کنواں ہے جو فلاں جگہ پر ہے اور صُبح کو تُمہیں اُس جگہ ایک کوّا ٹھونگیں مارتا ہُوا نَظر آئےگا۔ صُبح ہوتے ہی عَبدُالمطّلب حَرَم میں پہنچے تو دیکھا کہ وَہاں سَچ مُچ ایک کوّا زَمین کرید رَہا تھا۔ اب عبدالمطّلب نے فیصلہ کرلیا کہ وہ یہ کُنواں ضَرور کھودیں گے۔ مَگر جَب اُنہوں نے قریش سے اِس کا ذِکر کیا تو وہ خود بھی کھودینے پر تیار نَہیں ہوئے اور عَبدُالمطّلب کو بھی مَنع کرنے لَگے مَگر عَبدُالمُطّلب فَیصلہ کرچُکے تھے کہ یہ کنواں ضرور کھودنا ہے۔ اُس وَقت تَک عبدالمطلب کے صرف ایک بیٹا تھا جِس کا نَام حَارِث تَھا۔ عَبدُالمطّلب کو اُس وَقت یہ خَیال ہُوا کہ اگر میرے کئی بیٹے ہوتے تو آج مُجھے کِسی دوسرے کے پَاس جانے کی ضَرورَت نہ ہوتی اِسی لئے اُنہوں نے خُدا تعالیٰ سے دُعا کی:

’’یااللہ! اَگر تو مُجھے دَس بیٹے دےدے جو بَڑے ہوکر میرے کاموں میں میرا ہاتھ بَٹائیں تو مَیں اُن میں سے ایک کو تیرے نَام پَر قُربَان کردوں گا۔‘‘

اِس کے بَعد اُنہوں نے اَپنے بیٹے حارِث کے ساتھ زَمزَم کا کُنواں کھودڈالا۔ اِس کُنوئیں میں سے سونے کا کُچھ سَامان نِکلا اِس سے عَبدُالمطّلب نے کَعبے کو سَجایَا۔ اِدھر اُنہوں نے زمزم کے پاس ایک حوض بنوایا تاکہ لوگ آسانی کے ساتھ اِس میں سے پَانی لےلیا کریں۔

خُداوندِ کَریم نے عَبدالمُطّلب کی دُعا قُبول فَرمالی اور اُن کو دَس بیٹے عَطا فرمائے۔ جَب سب بیٹے جَوان ہوگَئے تو عَبدُالمطّلب کو اَپنی قَسم پوری کرنے کا خَیَال آیَا یَعنی ایک بیٹے کو خُداتعالیٰ کے نام پر ذُبَح کرنے کا۔ عبدالمطّلب نے قسم پوری کرنے کا فیصلہ کرلیا اور سب بیٹوں کے نَام کا قرعہ ڈالا۔ اس قرعہ میں قربانی کےلیے عَبدُاللہ کا نَام آیا۔

یہ عبدالمطّلب کے۔۔۔ (مضمون جاری ہے)

The Beginning (Discovery of Zamzam)

After the demise of Mutallib, the leadership of Makkah was transferred to Abd ul Muttalib as he was the most deserving amongst all of the Bani Hashim Tribe of Quraish and also because he was the son of Hashim. Abd ul Muttalib was the most generous and just leader, Abd ul Muttalib, resembled his father in every manner and in all his decisions. He was a respectable man amongst many tribes which were now living in Makkah. Every one looked upon Abd ul Muttalib, for his deeds were far beyond any ones thought. He was so disciplined and a man of profound character that he never let any miserable person down, he always respected others and took just decisions, he never transgressed the rules of the tribe and held his tribe with high morale. The persona of Abd ul Muttalib was such that any one who would see him even for the first time he/she would pay high regards as he had divine look in his persona, why it would not be, as he is the great grand father of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ PBUH.

The people of Makkah were not aware of Zamzam well which was razed to ground by the Bani Jurhum tribe when they left Makkah after their leadership was taken over. After the well of zamzam was razed, water was scarce in Makkah and people had to bring water from nearby places, it was also difficult for the people who came to perform Hajj in Makkah to quench their thirst as no water was available. Abd ul Muttalib was so worried and wasvvery much curious about discovering Zamzam well as it would bring  water to the people of Makkah and the credit of discovering the same will also be with the tribe of Abd ul Muttalib.  Abd ul Muttalib used to discuss the same with his son Harris.

One night Abd ul Muttalib saw a dream, that a person is calling him and said to dig Taiba,  he didn’t understand what is Taiba, the second day, he saw the same dream wherein the same person asked him to Dig Mazmoonah, he didn’t understand it either, again the third day he saw the same dream wherein he was asked to dig Barrah. Abd ul Muttalib was puzzled and didn’t understand what is Taiba, Mazmoonah and Barrah as it was not clear unto him what did the man in his dreams. On the fourth day, he saw a dream wherein the same man said him to dig Zamzam, to this, he understood that these are the names of Zamzam. Abd ul Muttalib was very happy after seeing this dream that he has been assigned the task of digging Zamzam as the the association of discovering the Zamzam will be with Quraish Tribe and amongst Quraish it will be with Hashim Tribe. Now, he was worried as to how he will search, as there was no technology in those days to identify  where water is located. After few days he again saw a dream wherein the same man said to Abd ul Mutalib to dig zamzam at a place where blood is at one place and dung is at another, a crow  with one of his feather being white will dig at a place, dig at that place, while digging see a city of ants i.e. an ant hill.

Abd ul Muttalib went on to search the place which was shown to him in the dream. Now he was disturbed as he couldn’t find such place and it was not an easy task either to find blood and dung at either places and also a crow with a white feather. He started to ask Allah (swt) to guide him so he can dig the well of Zamzam. One day when he was lying down near Makkah, one man came with a goat to offer sacrifice for the idol kept in front  of Kaaba. When he sacrificed, the animal stood and started running from that place and fell down at a nearby distant place. To substantiate this, whenever an animal is being scarified and if the animal is full of strength, it gives a last try to run away from the sacrifice and this was the case here also. The person who offered sacrifice, went to the place where the animal fell and he cleaned the animal and it is obvious that blood and dung was spilled around that place. Abd ul Muttalib, when he saw this, he coordinated with the signs which was shown to him in his dream and it was look alike as one side there was blood and on the other there was dung. Abd ul Mutallib went to the spot and it is evident that anywhere if there is meat or blood, crow or predator birds use to come over, he suddenly saw that a crow with one of his feathers white was sitting between the blood and dung and started digging. Abd ul Muttalib marked that place and to his amazement he saw a city of ants i.e. ant hill and he found all of them which was shown to him in his dream. 

Zamzam water

Abd ul Mutallib was very happy that he will surely discover Zamzam and he conveyed the entire happening to his son Harris and asked him to accompany to that place for digging the Zamzam well. When he brought all the items for digging, people of Makkah came down and said, Abd ul Mutallib we will not allow you to have the credit of discovering Zamzam alone and we will also participate in this so that our tribes will also be credited for discovering the Zamzam. When, Abd ul Mutallib saw people gathered around and are creating nuisance he asked his sons to converse with them and he and his son Harris started digging while the people were still arguing amongst his other sons. As the argument went on one side and the digging went on the other side by Abd ul Muttalib and his son Harris, Abd ul Muttalib started to get signs of water in that place,  Abd ul Muttalib, yelled with a loud voice saying "Allahu Akbar” (Allah (swt) is the greatest). Though he was not of the believers but still, the moment he saw the the Zamzam water, he praised Allah (swt).

Zamzam Well

When the people of Makkah saw Abd ul Muttalib exclaim with happiness, they said  the credit will not be given only to him and that all of the leaders of tribes will also have a share in this discovery.  After arguments, they all came to a conclusion that they will consult an Oracle in Medina (who was very pious according to the people of Makkah), and her decision will be accepted by all. Hence, the leaders of every tribe started their journey to Medina and when they came to Medina they learned that the Oracle has left for Khyber (a place far away from Medina which is more than a month long journey by camel). As there was no other solution, they again journeyed to Khyber and ended up in a desert in Khyber where there was no water for them to quench their thirst. When they learned that there is no sign of water, they decided that this is the end of their lives and they put their camel to rest and were discussing the ways to move out of this place. When the camels of Abd ul Muttalib were moved from their place of rest, they saw signs of water and when they dig that place, water was found and they all were happy that they survived. When they met the Oracle, she said that, when you were at the verge of perishing, you were provided with water from  Abd ul Muttalib, hence the one who has saved you from perishing in this desert and the one who discovered Zamzam will have the entire credit and no other tribe will be holding any association or credit of discovering the Zamzam. Accordingly, the credit of discovering the Zamzam was given to Abd ul Muttalib.

Abd ul Mutallib had once promised that if he was blessed with ten sons then he will sacrifice one of them, as it was considered pride during those days that whenever a leader comes, he is followed by his sons and if they are large in numbers he will be proud to say to other leaders that he has so many sons. Every leader of the tribe had this wish that he may have as many sons as he can and they felt proud of having more number of children. Abd ul Muttalib was blessed with ten sons and Harris was the eleventh, the youngest son was Abdullah. As Abd ul Muttalib had promised to sacrifice one of his sons if he was blessed with ten sons apart from Harris, he went on to consult with an Oracle in Makkah. The Oracle ordered him to put the names of all his sons in ten different sticks and spill those sticks on to the ground, the name appearing on the stick, after tip over will be the one who is selected for sacrifice. When Abd ul Muttalib did as he was ordered by the Oracle, the name of his youngest son Abdullah name appeared every time.

Continued…………../-

What we learnt/ Guidance:

1. It is learnt from the above, that any dream if it is consecutively appeared for three or more continuous days has the real value of dream and no other dream has any such value. Also it must be understood that a dream dream of common man is entirely different from the dream of a Prophet.  Hence, one should not rely totally on dreams which one may get to see during his sleep if they do not recur three or more times in the same manner.

2. It can be understood from the above that Zamzam has three more names viz., Taiba, Mazmoonah and Barrah. Also it is to be noted that though, Abd ul Muttalib was not of the believers, he praised Allah (swt) out of happiness in discovering Zamzam, which is obvious that if one does any deeds with accordance to Sunnah and to please the Almighty, his heart will become pious and he will surely find the path of righteousness by the grace of Allah (swt).

3. The normal practise of people of Makkah during those times was to name their child as Abd ul Uzza, Abd Ul Manaat, Abd Ul Masse and Abd ul Laat etc. Now if we see the name of Abdullah the father of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ PBUH was totally different from other names in those times. It is as if the selection of the name of the father of the Seal of Prophets Muhammad ﷺ PBUH was also chosen by Allah (swt). No wonder, that the entire universe was preparing for the arrival of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ PBUH.

4.  It can be understood that the credit and association of discovering Zamzam was not happening to any other tribe or person, as if the entire universe is unfolding the events in such a way that the credit of Zamzam also went to the house of the Seal of Prophets Muhammad ﷺ PBUH. Also just like Zamzam is for the entire people of this world, so is the beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺPBUH, whose teachings is not only for a particular sect or for a particular community. His teachings are for the entire people of this world, as he is rightly called Rahmatul Lil Aalmeen (Blessing for the entire World and hereafter).