The Zamzam Well ( ar, بئر زمزم, translit=Biʾru Zamzam ) is a
well
A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
located within the
Masjid al-Haram in
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. It is located east of the
Kaʿba
The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...
,
the holiest place in
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
.
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
Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam.
For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam.
Ibrahim may also refer to:
* Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people ...
(
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
),
Ismaʿil (
Ishmael
Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...
), was left with his mother
Hajar (
Hagar
Hagar, of uncertain origin; ar, هَاجَر, Hājar; grc, Ἁγάρ, Hagár; la, Agar is a biblical woman. According to the Book of Genesis, she was an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to he ...
) in the desert. It is claimed to have dried up during the settlement of the
Jurhum
Jurhum ( ar, جرهم, Jurhum; also Banu Jurhum or The second Jurhum) historically referred to as Gorrhamite by the Greeks, was an old Arab tribe in the Arabian peninsula. Traditionally, they were a Qahtanite tribe whose historical abode was Yemen ...
in the area and to have been rediscovered in the 6th century by
ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, grandfather of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
. Millions of pilgrims visit the well each year while performing the ''
Hajj
The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
'' or ''
Umrah
The ʿUmrah ( ar, عُمْرَة, lit=to visit a populated place) is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca (the holiest city for Muslims, located in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia) that can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to t ...
'' pilgrimages in order to drink its water.
Etymology
The origin of the name is uncertain.
According to
Chabbi the noun ar, زمزم, translit=Zamzam is an
onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...
.
She associates the noun with the adjectives ar, زمزم, translit=zamzam and ar, زمازم, translit=zumāzim which are onomatopoeic denoting a dull sound stemming from either a distant roll (of thunder) or a guttural sound emitted with a closed mouth by animals or people, however meaning either 'an abundant supply of water' or 'a source of water which does not dry up' if applied to . She states that this latter meaning of an unintelligible guttural sound encompasses a layer of meaning associated with the sacred and mystical, in addition to the basic notion of the sound possibly being related to the concept of an abundant flow of water.
Early Islamic sources use the terms ar, زمزم, translit=zamzama and ar, زمازم, translit=zamāzima to refer to the religious rites of
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
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
Magi (; singular magus ; from Latin '' magus'', cf. fa, مغ ) were priests in Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the western Iranians. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius t ...
.
Mediaeval Arabic writers like
al-Masʿūdī
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Historiography of early Islam, Arab historian, geographer and Explorer, traveler. He is ...
generally claim the well is named on the account of ar, زمزم, translit=zamzama, lit=prayers recited by Zoroastrians. They argue that based on their "kinship with
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
" Zoroastrians regularly made pilgrimages to Mecca to pray over the well. A later account by
al-ʿAynī claims that the well is named after ar, زمازم, translit=zamāzima supposedly meaning "bridles" which had been donated to the well by and named after
Sasan
Sāssān (Middle Persian 𐭮𐭠𐭮𐭠𐭭 Sāsān > Persian ساسان, also known as Sasan), considered the eponymous ancestor of the Sasanian (or Sassanid) Dynasty (ruled 224-651) in Persia, was "a great warrior and hunter" and a Zoroas ...
, the Zoroastrian progenitor of the
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...
.
Other mediaeval Arabic sources connect the name to the
Angel Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
being the source of the murmuring being captured by this onomatopoeia.
Hughes
Hughes may refer to:
People
* Hughes (surname)
* Hughes (given name)
Places Antarctica
* Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency
* Mount Hughes, Oates Land
* Hughes Basin, Oates Land
* Hughes Bay, Graham Land
* Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...
additionally identifies a tradition of deriving the name from an exclamation supposedly made by Hajar either being or supposedly
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
meaning "Stop, stop!".
Traditional accounts
Traditional Origins
![Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage mxd 0366](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Khalili_Collection_Hajj_and_Arts_of_Pilgrimage_mxd_0366.jpg)
Islamic tradition states that the Zamzam Well was opened up in some form by God to assist
Hajar, the second wife of
Ibrahim
Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam.
For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam.
Ibrahim may also refer to:
* Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people ...
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 Marwa
Safa and Marwa ( ar, ٱلصَّفَا وَٱلْمَرْوَة, Aṣ-Ṣafā wal-Marwah) are two small hills, connected to the larger Abu Qubais and Qaiqan mountains, respectively, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, now made part of the Masjid al-Haram. Mus ...
h in search of water. 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
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
(
Jibra'il
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek language, Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin language, Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic language, Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, transli ...
) who consequently opens up the well using a variety of methods depending on the narration.
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.
According to Islamic tradition, Ibrahim rebuilt a shrine called near the site of the well. A building supposedly first constructed by
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
, which Muslim tradition regards as the origin of the
Kaʿba
The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...
. The well is meant to have dried up (possibly as punishment) during the settlement of the tribe of the
Jurhum
Jurhum ( ar, جرهم, Jurhum; also Banu Jurhum or The second Jurhum) historically referred to as Gorrhamite by the Greeks, was an old Arab tribe in the Arabian peninsula. Traditionally, they were a Qahtanite tribe whose historical abode was Yemen ...
, who initially are meant to have migrated to the area from Yemen. In some narrations focused on the objects deposited in Zamzam the well simply dries up, then prior to the Jurhum being forced to leave Mecca because of God expelling them for their misdeeds their leader buries sacred objects from the Kaʿba in the location of Zamzam. In others, focused on the well itself, the objects are placed in Zamzam itself, with the well ultimately being buried by the leader of the Jurhum.
Traditional rediscovery
According to traditional Muslim accounts,
ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, grandfather of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
, is responsible for the rediscovery of the well. He supposedly had a divine
precognition
Precognition (from the Latin 'before', and 'acquiring knowledge') is the purported psychic phenomenon of seeing, or otherwise becoming directly aware of, events in the future.
There is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition is a ...
about the well at some point in his life. A common narrative relayed by
Ibn Ishaq via
Ibn Hisham involves four dreams, the first three concern mysterious objects called and he is meant to dig for, the fourth then names Zamzam. Other accounts omit the third dream naming . Following ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib's precognitions to dig, he is claimed to have found a number of artefacts: golden gazelle figurines, armour, and several specimina of a type of sword called .
Ibn Saʿd relays two separate traditions regarding the discovery of a well by ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, one involving Zamzam's discovery and water disputes among the
Quraysh
The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
, the other involving the series of dreams and said artefacts but neither water nor the name Zamzam.
Hawting's analysis argues that the oral traditions surrounding the ar, بئر الكعبة, translit=Biʾru 'l-Kaʿba, lit=Well of the Kaʿba, a dry well inside the Kaʿba reputed to have been used as the treasury of the Kaʿba and as a place for religious offerings in pre-Islamic Mecca and Zamzam merged at some point with stories concerning the former being adapted to feature the latter.
Subsequent history
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.
The traditional Islamic account of the well's history relayed by
al-Azraqī traces the lineage of its management via to
Abū Tālib as inherited from its (re)-discoverer and his father
ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. The usage rights to the well were then supposedly sold due to Abū Tālib's financial troubles to his brother,
al-ʿAbbās, who is meant to have instituted the first new ordinance concerning the well by banning all non-religious body-hygienic uses of it. Thus the management of the Zamzam Well was reputedly a hereditary position of the
Abbasids
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
, ie the progeny of al-ʿAbbās, who ended up seizing control over Mecca as a whole using their
caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
. Buildings called the , variously referred to also as the , were structures used to store jars of Zamzam water away from the heat. One of which is claimed to have been initially built on orders from and named after
Abbas, founder of the Abbasid Dynasty himself.
In the years 775-778 CE the second Abbasid caliph,
al-Mansur
Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) w ...
, sponsored extensive construction projects in the Masjid al-Haram, which included paving the area around Zamzam with Marble.
Beginning in the years 833-855 CE, during the rule of
al-Muʿtasim, a civil servant called ʿUmar ibn Faraǧ ar-Ruḫḫaǧī began a series of construction projects related to the well, all marked by their intricate use of
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s. He ended up constructing a dome covering the well and demolishing a previous structure surrounding it. Additionally a dome connecting the new dome over the well and the House of Drinking was constructed. Ar-Ruḫḫaǧī had the House of Drinking demolished in 843-844 CE, during the rule of
al-Wathiq
Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ( ar, أبو جعفر هارون بن محمد المعتصم; 17 April 812 – 10 August 847), better known by his regnal name al-Wāthiq bi’llāh (, ), was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 842 until 84 ...
, and went on to have three small domes surrounding the dome covering Zamzam built in its stead.
In the year 930 CE a 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
The Black Stone ( ar, ٱلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَد, ', 'Black Stone') is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an ...
and move it to the capital of their own Caliphate in
Bahrayn
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ad ...
for 22 years. They were briefly led in 931 by a Persian Caliph,
al-Isfahani
Abu al-Fath Mahmud ibn Muhammad ibn Qasim ibn Fadl al-Isfahani , Latinized 𝐀𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬, 𝐀𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬, was a 10th-century Persian mathematician. He flourished probably around 98 ...
, 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 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.
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 a group of specialised men ended up being 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 obliged to pay him $1 for a jug to bear his name. This jug would then be kept by the Zamzami for the pilgrim. Payment was de facto expected for the services of the Zamzami. These included bringing the pilgrim water throughout his pilgrimage and pouring it over his body for purposes of ritual cleaning (
wudu
Wuḍūʾ ( ar, الوضوء ' ) is the Islamic procedure for cleansing parts of the body, a type of ritual purification, or ablution. The 4 Fardh (Mandatory) acts of ''Wudu'' consists of washing the face, arms, then wiping the head and the fe ...
) 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 his need for donations. The more generous the pilgrim's donations were, the more expansive the Zamzamis 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
The Sharif of Mecca ( ar, شريف مكة, Sharīf Makkah) or Hejaz ( ar, شريف الحجاز, Sharīf al-Ḥijāz, links=no) was the title of the leader of the Sharifate of Mecca, traditional steward of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and ...
was required. During the reign of
Awn ar-Rafiq
‘Awn al-Rafīq Pāshā ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Mu‘īn ibn Awn ( ota, عون الرفيق پاشا بن محمد بن عبد المعين بن عون; ar, عون الرفيق باشا, '; February 184117 July 1905), also known as Awn al- ...
as Grand Sharif for example such a license cost £50.
![1888_Ka'aba_and_Zamzam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/1888_Ka%27aba_and_Zamzam.png)
In the 15th century the
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
Sultan
Qaitbay
Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay ( ar, السلطان أبو النصر سيف الدين الأشرف قايتباي) (c. 1416/14187 August 1496) was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872 to 901 A.H. (1468–14 ...
invested into improving the well's water quality, as well as funding the construction of a new dome covering the well.
In 1489 CE, during the reign of
Mamluk Sultan Malik an-Nāṣir, reconstruction of the Dome of Abbas, ie one of the two Domes of Drinking, occurred. There had been structures bearing this name and function again at least since 1183 CE.
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. Following the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk Sultanate and their assumption of power in Mecca,
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...
funded many construction and renovation works in the city. One of these began in 1540 CE 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 CE.
In 1621 CE the
Ottoman Sultan
Ahmed I had an iron cage constructed around the well. In 1660 CE Ottoman authorities constructed a new building over Zamzam. Following their conquest of Mecca in 1803, during the reign of
Selim III, the
Wahhabis
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
, led by
Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud
Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud ( ar, عبد العزيز بن محمد آل سعود ''ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin Muḥammad Āl Suʿūd''; 1720–1803), also known as ''Abdulaziz I'', was the second ruler of the Emirate of Diriyah. He was the eldest ...
, destroyed the dome covering the well. In 1964 CE 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
The Emirate of Diriyah (), also known as the First Saudi State, was established in February 1727 (1139 AH). In 1744, the emir of Najdi town called Diriyah Muhammad bin Saud and the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab formed an alliance ...
, was demolished by authorities of the
third Saudi State
The Third Saudi state is the heir to the two Saudi states: the first and the second, founded on (January 13, 1902), by Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, who managed to restore the city of Riyadh to establish the modern and contemporary Saudi state ( Kingdo ...
. In its place the opening of the well was moved to a basement, 2.5 m deep, to free up space above ground for pilgrims.
Technical information
The well of Zamzam was excavated by hand, and is about deep and in diameter. It taps groundwater from the
wadi
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...
alluvium
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...
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 southwards at a pace of between 11 to 18.5 litres per second to the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Zamzam Water Project in Kudai. The center opened in September 2010 CE costing 700 million
Saudi Riyal to construct and is operated by the National Water Company of Saudi Arabia. In this location treatment using filters and ultraviolet light, storage, and distribution takes 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 of water, the other the King Abdulaziz Sabeel Reservoir in
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
has a larger capacity of 16,000 cubic meters. 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 the water is distributed using tanker trucks for unbottled water, transporting 150,000 litres at normal times and up to 400,000 litres during pilgrimage seasons per day to the Medina location. The water is available through the before-mentioned drinking fountains, a fountain meant for pilgrims filling 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 per day outside of pilgrimage seasons and 2,000,000 litres per day during said seasons. Distribution outside the Islamic holy sites within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occurs with the water being bottled in 10-litre-containers which are sold directly at a warehouse at the site of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Zamzam Water Project or via
hypermarket
A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including ...
s and
super stores throughout the state, in 2018 the number of 10-litre-containers distributed per day was 1.5 million.
In 2010 the annual limit on how much water can be extracted from the well was stated as 500,000 cubic meters (500,000,000 litres 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.
Hydrogeologically, the well is in the ''Wadi Ibrahim'' (Valley of Abraham). The upper half of the well is in the sandy alluvium of the valley, lined with stone masonry except for the top metre (3 ft) which has a concrete "collar". The lower half is in the bedrock. Between the alluvium and the bedrock is a section of permeable weathered rock, lined with stone, and it is this section that provides the main water entry into the well. Water in the well comes from absorbed rainfall in the Wadi Ibrahim, as well as run-off from the local hills. Since the area has become more and more settled, water from absorbed rainfall on the Wadi Ibrahim has decreased.
The
Saudi Geological Survey
The Saudi Geological Survey (SGS; ar, هيئة المساحة الجيولوجية السعودية) is the national geological survey of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
History and profile
The SGS was established as an independent entity attached ...
has a "Zamzam Studies and Research Centre" which analyses the technical properties of the well in detail. Water levels were monitored by
hydrograph
A hydrograph is a graph showing the rate of flow (discharge) versus time past a specific point in a river, channel, or conduit carrying flow. The rate of flow is typically expressed in cubic meters or cubic feet per second (cms or cfs).
It can als ...
, 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
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...
system.
[
Zamzam water is colourless and odorless, but has a distinctive taste, with a pH of 7.9–8, and so is slightly alkaline.
]
Safety of Zamzam water
The Zamzam Well is tested on a daily basis, in a process involving the taking of three samples from the well, and that these samples are examined in the King Abdullah Zamzam Water Distribution Center in Mecca, which is equipped with advanced facilities.
The Zamzam well was recently renovated in 2018 by the Saudi authorities. The project involved sterilisation of the areas around the Zamzam well by removing the debris of concrete and steel used in the old cellar of the Grand Mosque. During Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
, 100 samples are tested every day to ensure that the water is in good quality.
Historical controversy
Cholera epidemics and the Hajj had become an issue of debate since a 1866 CE International Sanitary Conference in Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
. The conference however identified British steam-ships transporting Indian Muslims
Islam is India's second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, approximately 172.2 million people identifying as adherents of Islam in 2011 Census. India is also the country with the second or third largest number of Muslim ...
to the Hajj as mainly responsible for the globalisation of cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
. The Ottoman state consequently instituted a quarantine
A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...
system using the Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
to protect public health. Britain tried to undermine this system in the coming decades fearing public backlash in India and restrictions on its ability to engage in free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...
.
The first controversy surrounding the safety of water from the Zamzam Well began in 1883 CE. In 1881 CE, James Zohrab, British Consul in Jeddah
Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
sent samples of Zamzam water to Edward Frankland
Sir Edward Frankland, (18 January 18259 August 1899) was an English chemist. He was one of the originators of organometallic chemistry and introduced the concept of combining power or valence. An expert in water quality and analysis, he was ...
, who published his findings in 1883 CE. Frankland claimed the water from the well to be six times more contaminated by animal waste than sewage in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Arguing that due to human waste being simply buried in the ground in Mecca, the groundwater had become highly contaminated and a source of cholera. This situation, coupled with the city's visitors from all around the Muslim world
The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
, is meant to spread the disease effectively throughout it. He ultimately called for the closure of Zamzam as a public health measure to protect the people of Asia and Europe.
Frankland's report became the basis for a treatise presented to the Ottoman Board of Health by the Dutch emissary thereto. The treaty was received very negatively and interpreted to be anti-Islamic propaganda. Mehmed Şakir Bey, an epidemiologist
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
, was so outraged that he consulted Bonkowsky Paşa
Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitari ...
, the Sultan's head chemist, and Ahmet Efendi
Effendi or effendy ( tr, efendi ; ota, افندی, efendi; originally from grc-x-medieval, αφέντης ) is a title of nobility meaning '' sir'', ''lord'' or ''master'', especially in the Ottoman Empire and the Caucasus''.'' The title i ...
, professor of chemistry at the Ottoman War College, for further scientific inquiry. Their testing revealed nothing dangerous about the water of Zamzam. By comparing their results to the results Frankland had published they began to publicly doubt the authenticity of his sample, as his sample was almost as saline as sea water. Additionally they explained that the water in Mecca's aqueducts and that from Zamzam came from entirely different sources, that pilgrims did not so much as bathe near the Masjid al-Haram, and that Zamzam could not be a cholera source because Mecca did not see annual cholera epidemics during Hajj.
Related to their doubts of the waters authenticity they began to speculate that Yusuf Kudzi, a British protected person and associate of Zohrab, had been the source of the water and had contaminated the water to embarrass the Muslim world. Kudzi was of Russian-Jewish ancestry, had been born in Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and had converted to Islam. The Ottoman establishment of that time had grown to doubt the authenticity of any Muslim cooperating with the British as possibly being a spy.
Britain's intellectuals ended up rejected Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the Vibrio ...
's (presently widely accepted) findings about cholera being caused by bacteria and kept arguing that cholera must be caused by local causes and in a manner which cannot be mediated via quarantine. British scientists would continue publishing anti-Zamzam and anti-contagionist articles up to 1895 CE. Their anti-contagionist views would fall further and further away from scientific consensus in the following decades, while Ottoman authorities were in a constant process of improving water quality in Arabia.
BBC allegation and responses
In May 2011 CE, a BBC London
BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily ''BBC London News'' and weekly '' Sunday Politics'' on television, ...
investigation alleged that water taken from taps connected to the Zamzam Well contained high levels of nitrate
Nitrate is a polyatomic ion
A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...
and arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
at levels three times the legal limit in the UK, the same levels found in illegal water purchased in the UK.
Saudi Arabian authorities' claim
The Saudi authorities rejected the BBC's claim and said that the water is fit for human consumption. An official from the Saudi Arabian embassy in London stated: "...water from the Zamzam well is not contaminated and is fit for human consumption. Genuine Zamzam water does not contain arsenic." The president of the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), Zuhair Nawab, has stated that the Zamzam Well is tested on a daily basis, in a process involving the taking of three samples from the well.
The BBC article concentrated on bottled water supplied by individuals rather than the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques' Affairs, according to Fahd Turkistani, advisor to the General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection. Turkistani stated that the Zamzam water pollution may have been caused by unsterilized containers used by illegal workers selling Zamzam water at Makkah gates.
Council of British Hajjis
In the same month that the BBC report was released, the Council of British Hajjis later declared that drinking Zamzam water was safe, contradicting the BBC report. The council noted that the Government of Saudi Arabia
The politics of Saudi Arabia takes place in the context of a unitary absolute monarchy along Islamic lines, where the King is both the head of state and government. Decisions are, to a large extent, made on the basis of consultation among the Ki ...
does not allow the export of Zamzam water for resale. They also stated that it was unknown whether the water being sold in the UK was genuine and that people should not buy it and should report the sellers to the Trading Standards
Trading Standards are the local authority departments with the United Kingdom, formerly known as ''Weights and Measures'', that enforce consumer protection legislation.
Sometimes, the Trading Standards enforcement functions of a local authority a ...
if they saw it for sale.
See also
* List of reduplicated place names
This is a list of places with reduplication in their names, often as a result of the grammatical rules of the languages from which the names are derived.
Duplicated names from the indigenous languages of Australia, Chile and New Zealand are l ...
Footnotes
Notes
References
*
{{Authority control
Holy wells
Hajj
Islamic pilgrimages
Springs of Saudi Arabia
Masjid al-Haram
Abraham in Islam
Hagar