Makkah, called the Ṣafā and the Marwah. In the devotional acts of ḥajj, it occupies a place next to the ṭawāf. In fact, in the case of ‘umrah, the minor pilgrimage as it is called, ṭawāf and sa‘y are the only functions of importance, and the ‘umrah therefore ends with the sa‘y unless of course there is an animal to be sacrificed when ‘umrah alone is to be performed. The sa‘y is spoken of in the Holy Qur’ān: “The Ṣafā and the Marwah are truly among the signs of Allāh, so whoever makes a pilgrimage to the House or pays a visit (to it), there is no blame on him if he goes round about them” (2 :158). The word used in the Holy Qur’ān is not sa‘y but a derivative of ṭawāf (yaṭṭawwafa). These two hills were the scene of Hagar’s running to and fro in quest of water for her baby Ishmael, when she was left there by Abraham (Bu. 60:9). They have thus become monuments of patience under the hardest trials, and it is in connection with the teaching of patience that the ṭawāf of Ṣafā and Marwah is spoken of in the Holy Qur’ān, as the context of 2:158 would show. Between these two hills there is now a street with houses and shops on both sides.
Ṭawāf and sa‘y are the individual acts of every pilgrim when he first arrives at Makkah, whether he intends to perform the ‘umrah or the ḥajj, or unites ḥajj with ‘umrah (qirān) or combines the two (tamattu‘). In case it is simply an ‘umrah or in case of tamattu‘, the pilgrim emerges from the state of iḥrām after performing the ‘umrah, the ḥajj proper beginning on the 8th of Dhi-l-Ḥijjah when the whole body of pilgrims moves together. It is called the yaum al-tarwiyah.16 The pilgrims who have got out of the state of iḥrām on account of tamattu‘, again enter into iḥrām on the morning of the 8th, and so also do the residents of Makkah who wish to perform the pilgrimage (Bu. 25:81). The whole body of pilgrims then moves to Minā, a plain which is midway between ‘Arafāt and Makkah, about four miles distant from the Holy City. The way into this plain which is about a mile long goes over a hill which is called the ‘Aqabah famous in the history of Islām because of the two pledges taken there by the Holy Prophet from the Madīnah Muslims. To the north side rises Mount Thabīr. During the ḥajj proper, the pilgrims’ longest, and in fact the only stay, is in Minā.
16 Lit., the day of watering or satisfying the thirst, because on that day the pilgrims provide themselves with water for the following days (N.), or because the commencement of the ḥajj proper means the satisfaction of spiritual thirst.