Recordings › Between Authenticity & Paganism: The Black Stone and Safa & Marwa -Mufti Abu Layth · 8 Jul 2019 › Segment 2 of 3
Is the story of Hajar running seven times between Safa and Marwa true?
hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith ka'bah ka'ba kaabah muftis koran quraan al-quran ayah aya ayat ayaat aayah aayat sahabah sahabi sahabiyyah sahabiyat companions mecca makka mekka madina al-madinah madeenah yathrib shiah shiite shi'i twelver ithna ashari dhikr zikr zikar dhikar zikir adhkar azkar ibadah ibada ibaadah ibadatDid Hajar run seven times between Safa and Marwa? He thinks the story was added
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This segment15:38 to 24:46 · 9 min 08 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth thinks the story of Hajar running seven times between Safa and Marwa was most likely added later to give the ritual an Abrahamic link, though he believes the Zamzam story is true. The Quran mentions Safa and Marwa only as a remembrance of God, without linking them to Hajar or Abraham.
In more detail
Asked about the story of Hajar and Ismail and the running seven times between Safa and Marwa, Mufti Abu Layth says that in all honesty he thinks it was made up. He suggests that when Islam spread to the Arab kingdoms of the Levant and Iraq, the Christian Ghassanids and the Lakhmids of al-Hira, Muslims overemphasised the link with Abraham, from whom all Arabs claimed descent, much as one might speak Urdu or Hindi to build a bond with an Indian audience, and so the ritual was given an Abrahamic link. He asks how anyone could know she ran precisely seven times when nobody was there, and says that God making everyone run until eternity because He liked a despairing mother's running makes no sense and sounds absurd. He says he believes the Zamzam story is most likely true, noting that a spring near Ishmael is also mentioned in the Bible, but that it need not be connected with the running, and that Zamzam is not on Safa and Marwa. He says many Sahaba from Madinah rejected the ritual as an invention of the disbelievers of Quraysh, and that the Quran speaks of Safa and Marwa without linking them to Hajar or Abraham, only as a remembrance of God. Responding to a comment, he adds that people are sensitive on the subject, that he is still researching whether Arafah has any link with Ibrahim, and closes with an Urdu couplet about untangling such things another day.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedWhat about the story of Hajar and Ismail, and the running seven times between Safa and Marwa?
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says the story that Hajar ran seven times between Safa and Marwa was most likely invented later to give the ritual an Abrahamic link, while he believes the story of the Zamzam spring is most likely true.
“what I'm trying to say is that story seems to be manufactured”
Category: historical claim
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine15:38 to 24:46 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
seek the truth people and the truth shall set you free Allah so I hope that answer somebody said the story about Roger Ali asylum and a smile going between the seven and seven times between what is it's often Marwa in all honesty i think that's made up it's very difficult come on like we have to be reasonable here that how what it seems is that later on when Islam spread to the other arab
kingdoms in the Middle East some of the Muslims in order to show the Arabs that we are one and two have a familial bond with them they overemphasize the link of Abraham aleihsalaam because all Arabs claimed descent from Abraham so obviously if I'm like if I'm approaching let's say I'm approaching an Indian non Muslim let's say I'm approaching an Indian Muslim now and I want to speak about a message but I want to build a good bond with them so I suppose I will I may speak in urdu or Hindi same thing I mean I'm because you automatically
you're showing some similarity you're showing that we're not that different you know we've got similar roots we've got similar so it's at that time that when the when Islam spread into what was the Hasani Kingdom the Christian Kingdom of the Arabs in in parts of sham today which would have been Damascus Jordan Lebanon or the Levant Palestine all this was pretty much under there's a sunny Kingdom and on the east side was the Lamy Kingdom here are and all these are the places now when the Arabs went there
they obviously stressed that look we are one that you guys believe in Jesus we also Arabs we our link is Abraham and the Prophet Muhammad SAW Allah Ali sallam he came with this messy and that made the message more palatable to the Arabs at the time who accepted and and I think that's when they invented the story of Raja al-islam running for safa marwah so they could add an Abrahamic link to it otherwise it makes no sense because yes it is true that Ismail Ali Salim would have been the but this thing that okay couldn't find Waterman she struggled
that sounds reasonable that she may have struggled because she couldn't find water but this thing that she ran seven times looking for water and what are we doing we're celebrating that is that what we're doing we're celebrating the struggle of and how does that link into a remembrance of God like what does that have to do with God like if she ran seven times and who said she ran seven times and where do you get like how do we know she ran seven times nobody was there so so this point of saying that all well really what we're commemorating here is
a mother's despairing spirits when she couldn't find water and thought her son was gonna die so she ran seven times and that's and God really liked that running that's making God look so evil God like that running so much that he said everybody run like that we're saying that God said he said like yeah I like this
Jonas public job this is this that's that doesn't make any sense so why would why would God do that I mean I get the fact that she would have struggled but the fact that somebody said it was precisely seven and then now God loved that so much that he said everybody run till eternity or pronounce off our Marwa doesn't make any sense I mean this most
likely clearly it seems like this part was made up it was this part was Abraham ax sized if you like so it was Abraham a sized by the the the Muslim Arabs that wanted to connect with the other Arabs and they wanted to show them why is our Makkah Cobham important because to the Christian why do we care about your maka oh because it's of Abraham and any created that link okay so that's most likely what happened cool people
right the Samson thing no I'm not saying Samsung might not have that it's my heel ELISA Lam and know slightly some some story I believe most likely is true I do believe that that small I mean I believe that's true a lot of eylem but I believe it's true but the Zemzem story doesn't have to be connected to running seven times up announcer fan Marwa it's just that you've been told that so remember that it's not like the Zemzem isn't even on Safa and Marwah so it doesn't even so this because the whole point is what they trying to say is these were two
hills yeah two hillocks and you've got a smile ELISA Nam is there crying and so Safa are so Hodja is running up this mountain looking can't see anyone now she's running down up that mountain looking can't see anyone and she's running down up this mountain looking can't see anyone and she does this seven times but by then Zam Zam begins that's the story that part the running and all this I'm not convinced with and neither were many Sahaba many Sahaba rejected it from Medina they said this was not nothing to do with Abraham this was made up by the kafar of Quraysh and why
should we follow it and even Allah when speaking in the Quran about Safa Marwah doesn't say it's because of Hodja he doesn't say oh yeah in the Safa Marwah mean Shia era Hodja in Amman you know whatever sad my being a human this an idol or didn't say that he just says yes people use this to remember God today so whosoever does this as a ritual act of worship and a large grateful that's what Allah says the rest what I'm trying to say is that story seems to be manufactured the son something most likely I believe did happen that this
this this spring and that is also mentioned in the Bible as well this about this spring close to Ishmael so these things already had a precedent and they had a history but the running thing just doesn't add up doesn't add up that's now a mandatory part of Umbra and HUD just because Roger was distressed and she was running up and down that God got so happy with the way she's running it said he said I'm gonna make everyone run like that that just sounds so sadistic that just sounds so absurd
that's just like you can imagine the Angels going so you know that's it doesn't sound that doesn't sound like that's not how rituals would be done so okay I hope that shed some light and make sense people right let's let's take a look at the verse because I've got to speak about Zyra what seem as well
somebody said hey I'm just being real anytime I'm not trying to you know because the problem is people are so sensitive as well you know people like oh and you must remember at all times allah addresses the issue of Safa Marwah in the quran and he does not make any association with abraham so there's a big question but it's very unlikely at anything to do with ibraheem alehissalaam just as alpha I'm not sure I'm still researching into the history of Arafah where our effort comes into it because I
don't think that was linked to Ibrahim Ali sanam either but anyway that's for a different day we'll unpack that on a different day as the poet says cuddle me Lovato soldier didn't get a diesel phone call tomorrow if I get time I'll untangle your hair to soldier the Yeti risen Funko our origin focus on anime that today today I'm a bit distracted in untangling time itself so tomorrow when I have time
I'll look at that amazing here and untangle it today I'm a bit busy if that's not the poet says right so let's take a look at right so there's this hadith I want to go over this hadith somebody said what if the Kaaba black stone special and his followers the prophets chose to bring back the real rituals of the Kaaba Safa and Marwah and black stone is that possible no because it's not possible because you have to remember when Ibrahim aleihsalaam goes to Makkah there's
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Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2019-07-08-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-opjez12nq8/s/2/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2019, July 8). Is the story of Hajar running seven times between Safa and Marwa true? [Video, segment 2019-07-08-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-opjez12nq8/s/2/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2019. "Is the story of Hajar running seven times between Safa and Marwa true?" Video, segment 2019-07-08-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded July 8, 2019. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-opjez12nq8/s/2/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2019-07-08-S02, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Is the story of Hajar running seven times between Safa and Marwa true?}}, year = {2019}, month = {7}, date = {2019-07-08}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-opjez12nq8/s/2/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-opjez12nq8/s/2/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2019-07-08-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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