Hajar (Hagar)

Hagar, mother of Isma'il. The Pharaoh of Egypt gave her in service to Sara, who then gave her in marriage to Ibrahim. Ibrahim settled her with her suckling child in the valley of Mecca, where Zamzam burst forth for them, and she granted Jurhum leave to settle ¹.

The Pharaoh of Egypt recognised the strong bond Sara had with God, and so he gave Hagar to her in service as a mark of respect for her. Sara then gave her in marriage to Ibrahim ^{1 2}. The author notes in a footnote that it is commonly said Hagar was a slave woman, but Judge Muhammad Sulayman al-Mansur Furi established that she was free and that she was the daughter of the Pharaoh ^{1 3}. Her origin is therefore a point of disagreement between the widely known report and al-Mansur Furi's finding.

God granted Ibrahim Isma'il by Hagar, and Sara grew jealous until she forced Ibrahim to take Hagar and her small son away. He brought them to the Hijaz and settled them in a barren valley beside the Sacred House, placing them beneath a tree above Zamzam at the highest part of the mosque. No one was in Mecca at that time, and there was no water. He left with them a bag of dates and a waterskin, and returned to Palestine ^{1 4}. Within a few days the provisions and water ran out, and there the well of Zamzam burst forth and became their sustenance and their provision for a time. The full story is well known ¹. See The settlement of Hagar and Isma'il in Mecca.

A Yemeni tribe, the second Jurhum, came and settled in Mecca with the permission of Isma'il's mother. The report of al-Bukhari states that they came down to Mecca after Ibrahim settled them there and before Isma'il grew up ^{1 5 4}.

Isma'il's mother died after Isma'il had grown up and married among Jurhum, and before the second journey of Ibrahim that is recorded ^{5 6}.