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International columnist, political analyst and senior journalist Ahmed Mohiuddin Siddiqui’s articles are published across Asia, Africa and Europe. He writes for The Moroccan Times, The Tunis Times, India Tomorrow, Kohram News, The Etemaad Urdu Daily and for news papers published from Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. You can follow him on Twitter at: @journopolana[/symple_box]
Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) lived with his milkmother Halimah and her family for about the first 3-5 years of his life. His age was estimated to be between 2 and 4 at the time when his chest was split open. Since he remembered this incident so clearly, Islamic scholars say he was close to 4 or 4 ½ years.
Four-year-old Abdullah, Halimah’s biological son, comes running to Halimah and her husband Al-Hadith, yelling and panting, “Over there! Over there! Akhi al-Qurayshi! My brother! My brother!”
- The parents rush toward the direction Abdullah was pointing
- Muhammad and Abdullah were running around and playing where the goats and sheep were grazing behind the tents area of their farm. They were playing when Abdullah went running to his parents, very terrified.
In one narration, while they were running, Abdullah tells his parents what scared him:
- “Two men came down. They were wearing white clothes. They laid Muhammad down and started cutting him open.”
- In the 2nd narration, Muhammad (PBUH) himself gave his nursing parents a full account of what happened
- The 3rd narration says Muhammad (PBUH) tells his companions (Sahaba) years later this story. He pulled his shirt off to show the cut from the “hollow of the neck to his navel”.
Halimah, Al-Hadith, and Abdullah reach over to Muhammad (PBUH).
- They find Muhammad (PBUH) standing there, looking very pale
- Al-Hadith asks Muhammad(PBUH), “My dear son, what happened to you?”
- Muhammad (PBUH) says, “Two men came to me. They were wearing white clothes. They laid me down on my back and then they split me open. They took something out from me and threw it away. Then they put everything back.”
As Muhammad (PBUH) recalled this memory years later, he said:
- “The two men came down from the sky, as if they were flying down. They took my heart out & split it. They took some sort of black blood clot. They pulled it out from my heart & threw it away.”
- One of the 2 men said, ‘Where’s the dish?’ The dish was made of gold.
- There was ice in the Zam Zam water in the dish.
- They took my heart out, took out some black element (represents evil/sin), and then washed my heart. They also washed my inside and put the heart back in.
- After the men perform the procedures, they have a conversation:
- Angel: “Weigh him against 10 people of his ummah.”
- Muhammad (PBUH), recalling years later, said, “I outweighed them.”
- Angel: “Then weigh him against 100 people.”
- Muhammad: “I outweighed them.”
- Angel: “Then weigh him against 1000 people.”
- Muhammad: “I outweighed them.”
- Angel: “Then leave him.”
- The angels were weighing Muhammad’s faith (Imaan), endurance, his emotional fortitude – all of it outweighed everyone else’s, Mashallah!
“My roof was opened when I was in Makkah, and Jibreel (peace be upon him) came down and opened my chest, then he washed it with Zamzam water. Then he brought a gold basin full of wisdom and faith, poured it into my chest, and closed it up again. Then he took me by the hand and ascended with me into the first heaven.”
Hadith No. 3/429 Al Bukhari Sharif
In 1971, an Egyptian doctor wrote to the European Press, a letter saying that Zam Zam water was not fit for drinking purpose. His statement was based on the assumption that since the Kabah was a shallow place (below sea level) and located in the center of the city of Makkah, the wastewater of the city collecting through the drains fall into well holding the water. The then Saudi King Faisal got extremely angry and decided to disprove the Egyptian doctor’s provocative statement. He immediately ordered the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources to investigate and send samples of Zam Zam water to European laboratories for testing the potability of the water. The ministry then instructed the Jeddah Power and Desalination Plant to carry out this task. A chemical engineer was chosen to carry out this assignment. At this stage, he had no idea what the well holding the water looked like. He went to Makkah and reported to the authorities at the Kabah explaining his purpose of visit. They deputed a man to give him whatever help was required. When they reached the well, it was hard for him to believe that a pool of water, more like a small pond, about 18 by 14 feet, was the well that supplied millions of gallons of water every year to Hajis (pilgrims) ever since it came into existence at the time of Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH), about 4,000 years ago to quench the thirst of his beloved baby Ismail, who is revered as Prophet Ismail (PBUH) today.
The chemical engineer started his investigations and took the dimensions of the well. He asked the man accompanying him to the well to show him the depth of the well. First, the man took a shower and descended into the water. Then he straightened his body and the engineer saw that the water level came up to just above his shoulders. His height was around five feet, eight inches. He then started moving from one corner to the other in the well standing all the while since he was not allowed to dip his head into the water in search of any inlet or pipeline inside the well to see from where the water came in. However, the man reported that he could not find any inlet or pipeline inside the well.
The engineer thought of another idea. The water could be withdrawn rapidly with the help of a big transfer pump which was installed at the well for the Zam Zam water storage tanks. In this way, the water level would drop enabling us to locate the point of entry of the water. Surprisingly, nothing was observed during the pumping period, but the engineer knew that this was the only method by which one could find the entrance of the water to the well. So, he decided to repeat the process. But this time, he instructed the man to stand still at one place and carefully observe any unusual thing happening inside the well. After a while, he suddenly raised his hands and shouted, Alhamdullillah! I have found it. The sand is dancing beneath my feet as the water oozes out of the bed of the well. Then he moved around the well during the pumping period and noticed the same phenomenon everywhere in the well. Actually, the flow of water into the well through the bed was equal at every point, thus, keeping the level of the water steady. After the engineer finished his observations, he took the samples of the water for sending them to European laboratories for testing. Before he left the Kabah, he asked the authorities about the other wells around Makkah. He was told that these wells were mostly dry.
in Jeddah, he reported his findings to his boss who listened with great interest but made a very irrational comment that the Zamzam well could be internally connected to the Red Sea. How was it possible when Makkah is about 75 kilometers away from the sea and the wells located before the city usually remain dry? The results of the water samples tested by the European laboratories and the one analyzed in the Saudi laboratory were found to be almost identical.
The difference between Zam Zam water and other water (city water) was in the quantity of calcium and magnesium salts. The content of these was slightly higher in ZamZam water. This may be the reason why Zam Zam water refreshes tired Hajis (pilgrims). More significantly, the Zam Zam water contains fluorides that have an effective germicidal action. Moreover, the remarks of the European laboratories showed that the water was fit for drinking. Hence, the statement made by the Egyptian doctor was proved false.
When this was reported to King Faisal, he was extremely pleased and ordered the contradiction of the report in the European press. In a way, it was a blessing that this study was undertaken to show the chemical composition of the water. In fact, the more you explore, the more wonders surface and you find yourself believing implicitly in the miracles of this divine water that Allah bestowed as a gift on the faithful coming from far and wide to the Balad Al Amin –Makkah for Haj and Umrah pilgrimages.
Prominent features of Zam Zam water are as follows:
The Zam Zam well has never dried up. On the contrary, it has always fulfilled the demand for water. It has always maintained the same salt composition and taste ever since it came into existence. Its potability has always been universally recognized as pilgrims from all over the world visit Kabah every year for Haj and Umrah, but have never complained about it. Instead, they have always enjoyed the water that refreshes them. Water tastes different at different places. Zam Zam water’s appeal has always been universal. This water has never been chemically treated or chlorinated as is the case with water pumped into the cities in modern times.
‘‘Biological growth and vegetation usually take place in most wells around the world. This makes the water unpalatable owing to the growth of algae causing taste and odour problems. Subhanallah, but in the case of the divine Zam Zam water well, there have never been any signs of biological growth and algae during the last 4,000 years!’’
Hajar (May Allah be pleased with her) searched desperately for water in the hills of Safa and Marwa to quench the thirst of her newly born son, Ismail (PBUH). As she ran from one place to another in search of water, her child rubbed his feet against the sand. A pool of water surfaced by the Grace of Allah and it came to be called ZamZam water as the blessed Hajar asked the water to stop flowing lest it goes waste. In Arabic, Zam Zam means to stop! The water stopped there but never stopped flowing since then and took the shape of a well. According to the Muslim collection of Hadith, Syedna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, a Companion (Sahabi), noted that when he first arrived in Makkah during the early days of Islam, not only did he satisfy his hunger and thirst but he survived only on Zam Zam water for a whole month.
A Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto has had a unique experience with Zam Zam. He said that he had read in a book that each snowflake falling from the sky is unique. He said that his scientific instincts told him that this was not true. The geometric shape of the snowflake is determined by its chemical composition. The composition of water is well-known – two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. So how come snowflakes that fall from the sky are different from one another? He said: “I was determined to prove that this theory was false.” He built a laboratory, consisting of a deep freezer with a regulator, because no liquid, subjected to sudden freezing, can assume a geometric shape. The freezing must be slow, so the atoms have the chance to crystallize into the shape decreed by Allah (SWT). There was a deep freezer with a regulator, a cold room at the temperature of -7°C, and several microscopes equipped with cameras, so he could photograph the snowflake before it melted. The scientists working in this room wore warm clothing. He said: “I took samples from two faucets in the laboratory, I froze them, and each sample gave me a different snowflake. The samples came from two different wells, two different rivers, from two different lakes. I almost went crazy and thought this was witchcraft.” A Saudi student at the University of Tokyo happened to meet Masaru and asked him what was wrong. Masaru told him his problem. The student said to him: “We have blessed water, called Zam Zam water. I will give you a sample of this water so that you can experiment on it. Zam Zam water is not affected by witchcraft or Jinns, so using it can prove or disprove the whole theory.” Masaru Emoto took a sample of Zamzam water, and said: “I couldn’t crystallize it, even by diluting the water by 1,000.” In other words, he turned one cubic centimeter into one litre.
He said that when he diluted the water by 1,000 and froze it, he got a uniquely-shaped crystal. Two crystals were formed, one on top of the other, but they assumed a unique form. When he asked his Muslim colleague why there were two crystals, he told him it was because “Zam Zam” is composed of two words: “Zam” and “Zam.” Masaru Emoto said: “My Muslim colleague offered to recite Quranic verses over the water. He brought a tape-recorder and played some Quranic verses, and we got the most perfectly-shaped crystals. Then he played the 99 names of Allah (SWT). Each name produced a uniquely-shaped crystal. The quality and purity of Zam Zam water cannot be found in any other water anywhere else on this earth. Masaru Emoto used the NANO technology and researched a lot on Zam Zam water. He found out that if one drop of Zam Zam water was mixed in 1000 drops of regular water, regular water will get the same quality like Zam Zam water.
He also found that a mineral in one drop of Zam Zam water has its own importance that will not be find any other water on this earth. He also found in some tests that the quality or ingredients of Zam Zam water cannot be changed, why, science does not know the reason! Even he re-cycled the Zam Zam water, there was no change. it was still pure. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “The best water on the face of the earth is the water of Zam Zam; it is a kind of food and a healing from sickness.”
72% of our body is made up of water. Imagine how our words affect our own bodies. When somebody says, “I won’t be strong,” or “I’m hopeless about this life,” or “I won’t get well,” imagine, how these words weaken his health! Quran is recited on water and given to the sick. Allah cures and heals them. Make a choice to say the best words out there. Say often, “I’m wonderful,” and “I’m beautiful”. Zam Zam shows the way. The saying – Water is life holds truth especially about Zam Zam!
