Ibn Isḥāq listed those wells, giving each one its name, its site in Mecca, and the person who had dug it, until he concluded:
“Zamzam outshone all the other wells. Everyone abandoned them and came to it—because it lies inside the Sacred Mosque, because its water is superior to every other water, and because it is the well of Ishmael son of Abraham. Through it the Banū ʿAbd Manāf boasted over the whole of Quraysh and over all the Arabs.”
It is authentically recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, in the report about the conversion of Abū Dharr, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said concerning Zamzam:
“It is food that satisfies and a cure for illness.”
Imām Aḥmad also related—through ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Walīd, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muʾammal, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh—that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“The water of Zamzam fulfils the purpose for which it is drunk.”
Ibn Mājah transmitted the same ḥadīth through ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muʾammal—about whom the scholars have voiced reservations—with the wording: “Zamzam water is for whatever it is drunk for.”
Suwayd ibn Saʿīd likewise reported it, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī al-Mawālī, from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Jābir, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Zamzam water is for whatever it is drunk for.” Suwayd ibn Saʿīd, however, is weak, and the sound version from Ibn al-Mubārak is the one that passes through ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muʾammal, as mentioned above.
Al-Ḥākim also narrated it, raising it to the Prophet, from Ibn ʿAbbās with the same wording, but that isnād is open to criticism. Allah knows best.
Ibn Mājah and al-Ḥākim further relate from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said to a man: “When you drink from Zamzam, face the Kaʿbah, pronounce the Name of Allah, breathe three times, and drink until you are replete. When you finish, praise Allah, for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘The distinguishing sign between us and the hypocrites is that they do not drink their fill of Zamzam water.’”
It is also reported that ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib said: “O Allah, I do not permit its water to be used for bathing; it is permissible only for drinking to quench one’s thirst.” This saying has been cited