Hagar/Hajar

Happy Eid al-Adha to my Muslim followers! 

Today is a special festival for Muslims centred around the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) for Allah. Hagar is also an important figure in the Jewish and Christian traditions, but I’m going to focus on her role in Islam not only because it’s Eid but also because it is here that she is attributed greatest importance. While the two principal characters of the Eid Al-Adha story are (unsurprisingly) male, I wanted to highlight the often overlooked female character –  Hagar (aka Hajaar, in Arabic) – Abraham’s wife and Ismael’s mother. Eid al-Adha is also closely associated with the Islamic pilgrimage (Hajj), and Hagar is also a central part of this pilgrimage, and the rituals millions of Muslims perform during it.

Hagar was the wife of the patriarch and Islamic prophet Ibrāhīm (Abraham) and the mother of Ismā'īl (Ishmael). She is a revered woman in the Islamic faith.

According to Muslim belief, Hagar was the slave of an Egyptian king who gifted her to Ibrahim’s wife "Sarah". Ibrahim, a prophet of Allah, was childless and burdened by the worry of who would take the prophetic office after him. His wife, Sarah, was believed to old to bare a child, so Ibrahim married a pharaoh's daughter, whose name was Hagar. Hagar subsequently bore a child, and named him Ismail, meaning "God has heard".

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The story goes that following Ismail’s birth, Sarah began to feel jealous, so she asked Ibrahim to send Hajar and her son away. Allah revealed to Ibrahim that he should take them to Mecca (what would later become the holiest city of Islam). Ibrahim followed the command. However, on arrival, Ibrahim left his wife and son in a bleak, isolated place without water, and returned alone to Canaan. Understandably distraught, Hagar asked her husband: 'For whom are you leaving us in this forsaken valley?' She then asked: 'Has Allah commanded you to do this?” He said “yes” and she was instantly calm, saying, 'Then Allah will not cause us to be lost.'

Ibrahim submitted to the command of his Lord and patiently bore the separation from his wife and child. Then he turned towards where they were and prayed for them: 'O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivatable valley by Your Sacred House (the Kaaba ('Cube') at Mecca) in order, O our Lord, that they may perform As-Ṣalāt. So fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks'[Qur'an 14:37]

In the unbearable heat, Hajar and her son soon became immensely thirsty. Hagar ran between the Safa and Marwa hills in search of water for her son. After the seventh run between the two hills, an angel appeared before her. He told her that God had heard Ismail’s cries and would provide them with water. Immediately, a well appeared beside Ismail’s heel, and thereafter Mecca became known for its excellence and abundance of water. The well was subsequently named Zamzam, and become a holy source of water.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hagar’s running between Al-Safa and Al-Marwah hills is remembered by Muslims when they perform their at Mecca. Part of the pilgrimage is to run seven times between the hills, in commemoration of Hagar's courage and faith in God as she searched for water in the desert and to symbolize the celebration of motherhood in Islam. To complete the task, some Muslims also drink from the Zamzam Well and take some of it back to their own loved ones.

Hagar is honoured by Muslims as a wise, brave and pious woman as well as the believing mother of the Adnani Arab people. Although not mentioned by name in the Qur'an, she is referenced and alluded to via the story of her husband. She eventually settled in the Desert of Paran, seen as the Hejaz in the Islamic view, with her son. Hagar is honoured as an especially important matriarch of monotheism, as it was through Ismail that the Prophet Muhammad would come.  

In a religion that is often condemned as patriarchal, I think its is so important to highlight the centrality of women to the Islamic tradition, Islamic rituals, and Islamic history. (In pre-covid times) 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims go on Hajj every year and re-enact Hagar’s desperate fight to save her son in acknowledgement of the sacrifice and strength that mother’s show for their children. I think that’s pretty amazing, for a woman whose story was first told thousands of years ago.