Hajj · a Light

Two hills of a woman's search now stand inside a mosque

Safa and Marwa are two rock outcrops a little under four hundred metres apart. Muslims walk between them seven times during Hajj and Umrah, a distance of roughly three kilometres, in memory of Hagar going back and forth looking for water for her son Ismail. The Qur'an names both hills and calls them among the symbols of Allah. For most of history the walk was along an open street with shops on it. The Saudi expansions enclosed the whole route inside the mosque, air conditioned it and later stacked it on several levels to move larger crowds. The bare rock of Safa is still exposed at one end, fenced behind glass, so that what people are walking between can still be seen.

Masjid al-Haram, Makkah

Source · Qur'an 2:158