So I slept, and he came to me (1) and said, “Dig Barrah.” I asked, “What is Barrah?” He departed. The next day I returned to my resting-place and slept.

He came to me again and said, “Dig al-Maḍnūnah.” (2) I asked, “What is al-Maḍnūnah?” He departed once more. On the following morning I went back to my couch and slept there,

when he came and said, “Dig Zamzam.” I asked, “What is Zamzam?” He replied, “It will never run dry and it will never be reproached (3). It shall give drink to the greatest host of pilgrims. It lies between offal and blood, at the pecking place of the white-marked crow (4), beside the colony of ants.”

When he had set out its qualities for me, pointed out its location, and I was certain that he had spoken the truth, I went out at dawn with my pickaxe, accompanied by my son al-Ḥārith b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib—at that time I had no other son—and I began to dig. When the rim-stones of the well (5) appeared, I proclaimed the takbīr, and Quraysh realized that I had attained my goal.

They came to me and said, “O ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, this is the well of our forefather Ishmael; we have a right to it, so let us share it with you.”

I replied, “I will not do so. This affair has been assigned to me alone and granted to me to the exclusion of you.”

They said to him, “Then deal fairly with us, for we will not leave you until we litigate with you over it.”

He said, “Appoint between me and you whomever you wish, and I will submit to his judgment.”

They said, “The soothsayer of Banū Saʿd b. Huthaym.”

He said, “Agreed.” She lived on the outskirts of Syria, so ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib set out with a number of men from Banū Umayyah, and each clan of Quraysh sent along some of its men. They travelled across a land of deserts, and when they reached one of its stretches the water of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib and his companions was exhausted. Thirst seized them until they were sure of perishing, so they asked the others for water.

But they refused, saying, “We are in a barren land and fear for ourselves the same fate that has overtaken you.”

ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib then said, “I think each one of you should dig his own grave now, while you still have the strength (6). Whenever a man dies, his companions will roll him into his grave and cover him, until only one man remains; the loss of a single man is lighter than the loss of an entire caravan (7).”

They said, “You have spoken well.” So each man dug (8) his own grave and then sat down awaiting death from thirst. After a time ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib said to his companions, “To throw ourselves into death like this—making no effort to traverse the land and seek relief—is sheer incapacity (9). Perhaps Allah will yet provide us with water somewhere. Mount up!” (10)

So they mounted, and when ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib urged his camel to rise, a spring of sweet water burst forth from beneath its hoof. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib proclaimed the takbīr, and his companions did likewise. He then dismounted and drank.