Zamzam It

[Rosham Rosebure]

According to Islamic narratives, the well is a miraculously generated source of water, which opened up thousands of years ago when the son of Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismaʿil (Ishmael), was left with his mother Hajar (Hagar) in the desert. It is stated to have dried up during the settlement of the Jurhum in the area and to have been rediscovered in the 6th century by Abd al-Muttalib, grandfather of Muhammad.

Early Islamic sources use the terms Arabic: زمزم, romanized: zamzama and Arabic: زمازم, romanized: zamāzima to refer to the religious rites of Zoroastrianism and the Zoroastrians. The terms are onomatopoeic and derive from what Arabs perceived to be an indistinct, droning sound of the recitation of Avestan prayers and scriptures by Magi.[a]

Islamic tradition states that the Zamzam Well was opened up in some form by God to assist Hajar, the second wife of Ibrahim and mother of Ismaʿil. In Islamic narratives Ibrahim, commanded by God, led Hajar and Ismaʿil to the area of present-day Mecca, there he left them alone in the desert. The two are narrated to have been suffering severely from thirst. In some versions of the story Hajar walks back and forth between the two hills of Safa and Marwah in search of water.[c] The story of the appearance of the well either involves the infant Isma'il scraping the ground with his feet and water springing out or God sending Gabriel (Jibra'il) who consequently opens up the well using a variety of methods depending on the narration.[8][5][9] The wealth of mystic discourses discussing the history of the well is from the Abbasid era and largely extra-Quranic, as the well is not referred to directly by the Quran.[10]

Commentators of the Abbasid-era mystic discourses surrounding the well, like al-Masʿūdī expanded on these extra-Quranic accounts. They further connect the site to Zoroastrianism via what they interpret to be Zoroastrian religious artefacts uncovered by ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib in combination with their etymological analyses. Ultimately arguing that due to the well's history supposedly being related to (what they perceive to have been) the true religion of the peoples of Iran, the Islamisation of Iran is to be understood and framed as a rediscovery.[11]

In the year 930 a minority branch of Ismaʿilism called the Qarmatians launched an attack on Mecca. They had previously attacked many caravans of the Abbasid Caliphate, including those of pilgrims travelling to the city. They would conquer the Black Stone and move it to the capital of their own state in Bahrayn for 22 years. They were briefly led in 931 by a Persian, al-Isfahani, whom they believed to be God incarnate who unsuccessfully attempted to convert the Qarmatian state to Zoroastrianism. They destroyed the dome covering Zamzam. It is relayed by historians such as Qutb ad-Dīn [de] that in the aftermath of their attack on the city, the Well Zamzam, as well as all other wells in the city were filled with corpses of pilgrims.[19][20][21]

Following the Abbasid relinquishment of the management of the well a quasi-guild called Zamzamis emerged and remained in place at least until the end of the 19th century. While theoretically anyone could go to the well and fill a vessel they brought at the well, in practice this group of specialised men ended up being primarily responsible for distributing the well's water. They did so by storing two kinds of filled jugs, some on wooden podiums with metal cups attached others hidden in the shade. They performed this service in theory without demanding payment. In 19th century practice however a pilgrim would be assigned a Zamzami upon his arrival and would have been obliged to pay him a small initial sum of $1 for a jug to bear his name. This jug would then be kept by the Zamzami for the pilgrim. Payment was in practice also expected for the further services of the Zamzami. These included bringing the pilgrim water throughout his pilgrimage and pouring it over his body for purposes of ritual cleaning (wuḍūʾ) among others. To nudge the pilgrim into donating adequately the Zamzami would show the pilgrim the bad state of the prayer mats he laid out in the Masjid for the pilgrims and explain his dire need for donations. The more generous the pilgrim's donations were, the more expansive the Zamzami's services became; with services such as procuring bottled Zamzam water to be taken home after the pilgrimage and bringing jugs right to the pilgrim's abode in Mecca being reserved for the most generous. To be allowed into the trade of being a Zamzami a costly license from the Grand Sharif was required. During the reign of Awn ar-Rafiq as Grand Sharif for example such a license cost 50.[22][23]

In the 15th century the Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay invested into improving the well's water quality, as well as funding the construction of a new dome covering the well.[24] In 1489, during the reign of Mamluk Sultan Malik an-Nāṣir, reconstruction of the Dome of Abbas, i.e. one of the two Domes of Drinking, occurred. There had been structures bearing this name and function again at least since 1183.[15] The new structure featured a large painted gate made from yellow stone, a large fountain in its middle, three iron windows, and two metal fountains for pilgrims to drink from all housed under a large dome.[25] Following the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk Sultanate and their assumption of power in Mecca, Suleiman the Magnificent funded many construction and renovation works in the city. One of these began in 1540 with the destruction of the roof covering the well, which had remained intact since Qaitbay's rule. While construction was disrupted by a flood, completion of the new roof occurred in January 1542.[24] In 1621 the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I had an iron cage constructed around the well.[26] In 1660 Ottoman authorities constructed a new building over Zamzam.[27] Following their conquest of Mecca in 1803, during the reign of Selim III, the Wahhabis, led by Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud, destroyed the dome covering the well.[28] In 1964 the last building covering the well of Zamzam, which had been rebuilt by Ottoman authorities following the destruction of the building housing Zamzam by the first Saudi State, was demolished by authorities of the third Saudi State (known at that time already as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). In its place the opening of the well was moved to a basement, 2.5 metres (8') deep, to free up space above ground for pilgrims.[29]

The well of Zamzam was excavated by hand, and is about 30 m (100 ft) deep and 1.08 to 2.66 m (3 ft 7 in to 8 ft 9 in) in diameter. It taps groundwater from the wadi alluvium and some from the bedrock. Historically water from the well was drawn via ropes and buckets, but since 1964 the well's opening itself is in a basement room inaccessible to the public, where it can be seen behind glass panels. Two electric pumps, operating alternately, move the water 5 km (3 miles) southwards at a pace of between 11 and 18.5 litres (2 and 4 gallons) per second to the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Zamzam Water Project in Kudai. The center opened in September 2010 costing 700 million Saudi Riyal to construct and being operated by the National Water Company of Saudi Arabia. In this location treatment using filters and ultraviolet light, storage, and distribution take place. Once treated the water is stored in one of two reservoirs, the first at the plant's location in Kudai can hold 10,000 cubic meters (13,000 cu. yd.) of water, the other, the King Abdulaziz Sabeel Reservoir in Medina, has a larger capacity of 16,000 cubic meters (20,000 cu. yd.). The Kudai location is connected via pipes to drinking fountains in the Masjid al-Haram. The Medina location supplies the Prophet's Mosque. Aside from the system of pipes unbottled water is distributed using tanker trucks which transport 150,000 litres (35,000 gal.) per day at normal times and up to 400,000 litres per day (100,000 gal.) during pilgrimage seasons to the Medina location. Unbottled water is available through the before-mentioned drinking fountains, a fountain meant for pilgrims wishing to fill larger containers not intended for immediate consumption, and sterilised containers placed by authorities throughout the holy sites in Mecca and Medina. These latter containers come in several variants, chilled and unchilled, as well as being either stationary or worn as a backpack by employees of the complexes with disposable plastic cups provided in any case. Small filtered water bottles are also distributed free of charge at the holy sites. The water distributed this way in the Masjid al-Haram totals ca. 700,000 litres (175,000 gal.) per day outside of pilgrimage season and 2,000,000 litres (500,000 gal.) per day during said season. Distribution outside the Islamic holy sites within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occurs with the water being bottled in 10-litre (2 gallon) containers which are sold directly at a warehouse at the site of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Zamzam Water Project or via hypermarkets and super stores throughout the state. In 2018 the number of 10-litre (2 gallon) containers distributed per day was 1.5 million.[29][30][31] In 2010 the annual limit on how much water can be extracted from the well was stated as c. 500,000 cubic meters (700,000 cu. yd) per year, though due to annual variations in rainfall patterns there exists a lot of deviation with regards to how much water can be extracted without lowering the well's water level too drastically each year.[2]

The Saudi Geological Survey has a "Zamzam Studies and Research Centre" which analyses the technical properties of the well in detail. Water levels were monitored by hydrograph, which in more recent times has changed to a digital monitoring system that tracks the water level, electric conductivity, pH, Eh, and temperature. All of this information is made continuously available via the Internet. Other wells throughout the valley have also been established, some with digital recorders, to monitor the response of the local aquifer system.[2]

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