The Settlement of Hajar and Ismail at Mecca

Abraham settled his wife Hagar and her infant Ishmael in a barren valley at the site of the Sacred House; Zamzam burst forth, and Jurhum settled by her leave — the beginning of Mecca's settlement in the Sira narrative.

Abraham brought out Hagar and her child Ishmael and settled them in a barren valley beside the Sacred House, whose site was then a rise of land like a hillock that floods reached ¹. He left them a bag of dates and a water-skin, then returned to Palestine ².

When the provisions and water ran out, the well of Zamzam burst forth by God's favour and became their sustenance and provision for a time ¹. Then a Yemeni tribe, Jurhum, came and settled by Ishmael's mother's leave; Bukhari's account states plainly that they settled in Mecca even before Ishmael grew up, and that they used to pass through this valley before that ².

Abraham would journey to Mecca from time to time to look in on his descendants; the sources preserve not all the journeys but four of them ¹. Ishmael learned Arabic from Jurhum, won their affection and pleased them, and they married him to a woman of theirs ².