Saʿy
Definition
Saʿy is the seven-time walking (and running) between the two hills of Safa and Marwa, commemorating Hagar's desperate search for water for her infant son Ishmael. Al-Ghazali reads the saʿy as a profound lesson in tawakkul: Hagar had been left in a barren valley with no water and no provisions, and she ran between the hills not in panic but in the determined effort that precedes divine provision. The well of Zamzam burst forth at the feet of her infant — but only after her effort was complete. The lesson: make the effort with full trust, and Allah provides what human effort alone cannot.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
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