Prophet Ismail (Ishmael) (إسماعيل) — Complete Story in the Quran

A report from Ibn Abbas in Sahih al-Bukhari tells the early sequence in the valley. Ibrahim brings Ismail’s mother and the son she is still nursing to Makka. He leaves them beside a tree near the site of the House, at the place of Zamzam. Nobody lives there then, and there is no water.

Ibrahim places a bag of dates and a water-skin beside them. Then he leaves. Ismail’s mother follows. “Ibrahim, where are you going? You are leaving us in this valley with no people and nothing here.” She repeats her question several times, but he does not turn towards her.

Then her question changes: “Has Allah commanded you to do this?” Ibrahim answers yes. She responds: “Then He will not let us be lost.” She returns, and Ibrahim continues.

When they can no longer see him, he faces the House and raises his hands in prayer. The Quran preserves the plea the report cites here. Ibrahim has settled some of his descendants in an uncultivated valley beside Allah’s Sacred House so that they may establish prayer. The hearts of some people are to incline towards them. Fruits are to reach them so that they may give thanks.

At first the valley holds the supplies left behind and the mother with her child. Her spoken trust does not remove that reality. She drinks from the skin and nurses her son. But the supply is limited. When the water is exhausted, both become thirsty.

Ismail’s mother sees her son in distress. The report records his movement under thirst and that she cannot bear to keep watching him like this. She sets out to look for people who can help.

Safa is the nearest rise. She climbs it and looks into the valley. Can she see anyone? She sees nobody. She descends again. On reaching the valley she lifts the hem of her garment and crosses with the hurried running of a person in distress.

On the other side she reaches Marwa. Again she climbs, again she looks for people, and again she sees nobody. The journey from one rise to the other has not yet brought visible help.

She repeats the search seven times. In the report, Muhammad ﷺ connects this movement with the route people travel between Safa and Marwa. The mother searches in distress; her path is also identified as the origin of an enduring act of worship.

When she reaches Marwa, she hears a voice. She tells herself to be quiet and listens. The voice reaches her again. Then she appeals to the one she has heard: if help is available, let it reach her.

Her search has repeatedly made her look into a valley with nobody visible. Now the answer leads to the place of Zamzam. There she sees an angel. What she sought is not supplied by a human helper discovered on Safa or Marwa. At the place of the water a new sequence begins.

The angel is at the place of Zamzam, and water emerges. Ismail’s mother begins gathering it and enclosing it. With her hands she scoops water into her skin. As she scoops, it continues to flow out.

In the report Muhammad ﷺ asks mercy for Ismail’s mother. He explains that Zamzam would have become an openly flowing stream had she let it run instead of gathering it. Her recorded action remains central: she secures the water she and her child need.

She drinks and nurses her son. The supplies whose exhaustion brought both into thirst have not remained the end. At the same place, water now lies before her.

The angel also reassures her. They are not to fear being lost. Here is the site of Allah’s House; this child and his father will build it. Allah does not let His people be lost.

The answer therefore concerns their immediate thirst and also a later task. The son she is still nursing will build with Ibrahim. That work is not yet before them as a shared action. It is announced to her here.

The report describes the House’s site as raised, resembling a small rise; watercourses pass to its right and left. The mother remains beside the water with her child. Then people pass through the area. They will first notice not the mother but a bird revealing something about the changed valley.

People from Jurhum arrive by the route through Kada and stop in the lower part of Makka. They notice a bird circling over water. This does not match what they know of the valley: there was no water here.

They send people to investigate. The scouts discover the water and return with the news. The people then come to the place of Zamzam. Ismail’s mother is sitting there.

They ask permission to settle beside her. She agrees, but with a boundary: they will gain no ownership right over the water. The arrivals accept. Settlement begins not by disregarding the woman and child but by asking her permission.

The report also says that Ismail’s mother enjoys human company. Her agreement leads to the new community beside the water. The arrivals send for their families, and several households live there.

Ismail grows up among them and learns Arabic from them. As he matures, they value him. Later he marries a woman from among them. His mother dies.

The early sequence thus leads from an uninhabited place to water and settlement. The son who was initially nursed now has a household of his own. Ibrahim later comes to see his family. But at the first visit in this sequence he does not find Ismail.

Ibrahim comes to his family after Ismail’s marriage. Ismail is absent. Ibrahim asks his wife about him; she answers that he has gone out to seek their livelihood.

Ibrahim then asks about their life and circumstances. The woman complains of hardship and distress. They are living badly, she says, in straitened and difficult conditions. Ibrahim leaves a message for Ismail: she is to convey his greeting and tell her husband to change the threshold of his door.

When Ismail returns, he asks whether anyone visited. His wife tells him about the older man and his questions. She also recounts what she told him about their life.

Ismail asks further: did he leave any instruction? She repeats the greeting and the message about changing the threshold. What initially sounds like an instruction about the house now receives its meaning. Ismail identifies the visitor as his father and explains that he instructed him to separate from her. He tells her to go to her family.

The report narrates that Ismail divorces her and marries another woman from Jurhum. The conversation has a concrete consequence in his life. Ibrahim came when his son was absent, but through the wife his message still reaches Ismail.

Ibrahim then remains away for a time. When he comes again, another woman will answer the same question about their shared life. But the next visit will end differently.

At the next visit, Ibrahim again does not find Ismail. His wife again explains that he is seeking their livelihood. Ibrahim asks about their circumstances.

This time she speaks of well-being and ample provision. She praises Allah. Ibrahim asks more specifically: what do they eat? Meat, she answers. What do they drink? Water.

Ibrahim asks Allah to bless their meat and water. In the report Muhammad ﷺ explains that they had no grain then; had they possessed it, Ibrahim would have prayed for blessing in that too. Provision is thus not described merely as supplies. A prayer for blessing follows it.

Again a message remains for Ismail. His wife is to convey Ibrahim’s greeting. But this time the instruction is to preserve the threshold of his door.

When Ismail returns, he asks about the visit. His wife describes the older man appreciatively and recounts his questions. She also repeats that she told him of their well-being. At Ismail’s further question she conveys the greeting and the instruction to keep the threshold firmly.

Ismail explains that it was his father. The threshold refers to her; Ibrahim instructed him to keep her with him. The second visit thus answers the first: the same questions about the absent son and their shared livelihood, but another answer and another message.

Later Ibrahim will come once more. Then he will find not merely news of his son but Ismail himself.

Ibrahim’s Quranic prayers open a wider view of his family and the place. He asks for the city to be secure. He also asks that he and his sons be kept from worshipping idols. In his prayer, safety concerns not only outward protection but also the direction of worship.

Idols have led many people astray, Ibrahim says. Those following him belong with him. Those disobeying him he places before Allah’s forgiveness and mercy. His prayer does not claim the final judgement over people for himself.

Allah knows what they conceal and declare. Nothing in earth or heaven is hidden from Him. The family in the valley is not outside His knowledge.

Then Ibrahim names the sons. He praises Allah for giving him Ismail and Ishaq in old age. His Lord hears prayer. Gratitude is followed by a request that he and people from his descendants establish prayer. He asks that his appeal be accepted.

The ending turns towards the Day of Account. Ibrahim asks forgiveness for himself, his parents and the believers. Family, provision, prayer and coming judgement thus remain joined. The son whose early sequence was narrated beside the water will now stand with his father at a task where work and prayer also belong together.

Allah makes the House a place of return for people and a sanctuary of safety. Ibrahim’s station is to be taken as a place of prayer. The charge at the House thus extends beyond a building possessed by a family.

Ibrahim and Ismail receive the shared command to keep Allah’s House pure: for those circling it, those remaining in devotion, and those bowing and prostrating. Father and son both stand within this charge. Ismail is not merely named beside Ibrahim; he is made responsible with him.

Ibrahim also asks safety for the city. Its inhabitants who believe in Allah and the Last Day are to receive fruits. The request joins the place of worship to the lives of its residents.

Allah’s answer distinguishes temporary provision from the final outcome. A denier too may enjoy a short time; afterwards he is driven to the punishment of the Fire. That is an evil destination.

Provision therefore remains a gift without identifying every recipient as finally accepted. The charge at the House and the plea for safety now lead to shared work. The father has a command, and the son promises his help.

Ibrahim comes again later. The Bukhari report describes him finding Ismail beside a tree near Zamzam. Ismail is working on arrows. Seeing his father, he rises and goes to him. They greet one another as father and son.

Ibrahim then names the commission. Allah has commanded something of him. Ismail replies that he should do what his Lord commanded. Ibrahim asks: “Will you help me?” Ismail promises his help.

The command concerns the House. Ibrahim explains that Allah commanded him to build it here. He points to a rise above its surroundings. The commission now becomes shared work.

Ibrahim and Ismail raise the House’s foundations. Ismail brings stones, and Ibrahim builds. When the structure becomes higher, Ismail brings a stone on which Ibrahim can stand. The father continues building, and the son hands him the stones.

Meanwhile both ask their Lord for acceptance. The Quran preserves their words: they ask Allah to accept from them; He is the All-Hearing and All-Knowing. The plea accompanies the raising of the foundations and, in the report, the continuing construction around the House.

The visible building and the prayer belong together. Their hands work while their words turn to their Lord. Their accomplishment is not already equated with its acceptance. Ismail helps, Ibrahim builds, and both pray.

The earlier assurance beside the water now has its corresponding action: the son and his father build. But their prayer does not end with the work rising before them. It reaches to themselves and to the people who are to come after them.

Ibrahim and Ismail ask that both be submitting to Allah. A community submitting to Him is also to arise among their descendants. Their shared commission is not expressed as a claim that every later generation must be accepted without its own answer.

They ask their Lord to show them the ways of worship and turn towards them in mercy. He accepts repentance and is Merciful. The builders need more than materials and help with the work. They ask for guidance and acceptance.

Their prayer then turns to a messenger from among those to come. He is to recite Allah’s signs to them, teach Scripture and wisdom, and purify them. The House is thus not to be the endpoint of remembrance. Their request opens a continuing call.

They name Allah mighty and wise. Father and son stand before Him as supplicants while working at a task to which He called them. Their wish for the future leads from a House to a community, and from the community to instruction and purification.

The prayer therefore carries the work beyond a single moment of construction. What was announced beside the water for the son now stands within a larger movement: commission, help, shared action and the plea for another messenger.

The Quran also names Ismail’s responsibility in the nearest circle. He enjoins prayer and zakat upon his household. The call made visible at the House does not remain outside his own family.

Ismail is pleasing to his Lord. His prophetic standing, truthful promise and responsibility belong together in this portrait. The man who promised his father help in building is also remembered as one calling his own people to Allah’s service.

Ismail is named with Idris and Dhu al-Kifl among the steadfast. The Quran places him within a company whose patience is affirmed before Allah.

His remembrance includes more than the place beside the water and the shared work. It also encompasses constancy of character. The truthful messenger and prophet is honoured as one of the patient too.

Allah admits those just named into His mercy. They are among the righteous. Ismail’s remembrance therefore does not stop at a task or a word about character.

The shared affirmation of their patience is followed by Allah’s named gift. Ibrahim’s son is himself affirmed as righteous and remembered within this mercy.

Once more the Quran calls for remembrance of Ismail, now with Al-Yasa and Dhu al-Kifl. All belong among the good and chosen.

His name is thus preserved beyond an individual scene. The account beginning in the valley with a nursing child and leading to shared construction of the House closes with the messenger’s affirmed standing: truthful, steadfast and righteous, one of the good.