Ibrahim took Hagar and his son Ishmael to a deserted valley with no signs of life whatsoever, At this time there was no one in Makkah nor was there any water. Ibrahim gave them a leather bag containing some dates and a small amount of water and left to go back to Sarah. Ishmael was still a baby at this time. His mother, Hagar followed him saying 'Where are you going, leaving us in this valley where there is no other person nor anything else?' She repeated this many times but he did not look back at her. She then asked 'Has Allah commanded you to do this?' To which he responded yes. She said 'Then He will not neglect us'.

Ibrahim continued on his way and when he reached a small pass in the mountain he faced them and prayed.

Our Lord! I have settled some of my offspring in a barren valley, near Your Sacred House, our Lord, so that they may establish prayer. So make the hearts of ˹believing˺ people incline towards them and provide them with fruits, so perhaps they will be thankful.14:37

Ibn Abbas's narration continues that 'Ishmael's mother went on suckling Ishmael and drinking from the water (she had). When the water in the water-skin had all been used up, she became thirsty and her child also became thirsty. She started looking at him (i.e. Ishmael) tossing in agony. She left him, for she could not endure looking at him, and found that the mountain of As-Safa was the nearest mountain to her on that land. She stood on it and started looking at the valley keenly so that she might see somebody, but she could not see anybody. Then she descended from As-Safa and when she reached the valley, she tucked up her robe and ran in the valley like a person in distress and trouble, till she crossed the valley and reached the mountain of Al-Marwa. There she stood and started looking, expecting to see somebody, but she could not see anybody. She repeated that (running between Safa and Marwa) seven times.'

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: 'This is the source of the tradition of the Sa'y (One of the rituals of the hajj and Umrah) the going of people between them (i.e. As-Safa and Al-Marwa). When she reached Al- Marwa (for the last time) she heard a voice and she asked herself to be quiet and listened attentively. She heard the voice again and said: 'O, (whoever you may be)! You have made me hear your voice; have you got something to help me?' And behold! She saw an angel at the place of Zam-zam, digging the earth with his heel (or his wing) till water flowed from that place. She started to make something like a basin around it, using her hand in this way, and started filling her water-skin with water with her hands, and the water was flowing out after she had scooped some of it.

The Prophet ﷺ added: "May Allah bestow mercy on Ishmael's mother! Had she let the Zam-zam (flow without trying to control it or had she not scooped from that water to fill her water-skin), Zam-zam would have been a stream flowing on the surface of the earth."