His companions drank as well, drawing water until their waterskins were full. Then, while the various clans of Quraysh were looking on, he called out to them:

“Come to the water, for Allah has given us drink.”

They came, drank, and filled their skins. After that they said,

“By Allah, judgment has truly gone in your favour against us. By Allah, we shall never again dispute with you about Zamzam. The One who granted you this water in this wilderness is the very One who granted you Zamzam. Return, then, to your watering duty—with our good wishes.”

So he returned and they returned with him; they did not go on to the soothsayer, and they left Zamzam entirely in his hands.

Ibn Isḥāq said: This is what has reached me from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib concerning Zamzam.

Ibn Isḥāq also said: I heard someone relate on the authority of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib that he was told, when he was commanded to dig Zamzam:

Then call forth the generous, limpid water—
It will refresh Allah’s pilgrims at every stopping-place;
No harm will ever be feared from it as long as it endures.

He continued: When that was said to him, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib went out to Quraysh and announced, “Know that I have been commanded to dig Zamzam.”

They asked, “Has its site been shown to you?”

He replied, “No.”

They said, “Return to the bed in which you saw what you saw. If it is truly from Allah, it will be made clear to you; if it is from Satan, it will not come back to you.” So he went back and slept.

He was then told:

“Dig Zamzam; if you dig it you will never regret it.
It is the legacy of your greatest forefather.
It will never run dry, nor will it ever be reproached.
It shall water the vast host of pilgrims—
Like a plentiful herd of camels, not yet divided.
Vows will be offered therein to the Bestower of favors.
It shall remain an inheritance and a firmly fixed covenant,
Not reserved for only some of those you know.
And it lies between offal and blood.”

Ibn Isḥāq said: They allege that when this was said to ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib he asked, “And where is it?” He was told, “At the ant mound where the crow will peck tomorrow.” Allah knows best where that was.

So ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib set out at dawn with his son al-Ḥārith—he had no other son at the time (al-Umawī adds: and his freedman Aṣram). He found the ant colony, and the crow pecking there between the two idols Isāf and Nāʾilah, beside which Quraysh used to sacrifice. He brought his pickaxe and stood ready to dig where he had been commanded, but Quraysh approached him and said, “By Allah, we will not allow you to dig between these two idols of ours at which we slaughter.” So ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib said to his son