Due to the especial mental state which we hinted to, in the cause of the revelation above; the verse firstly confirms that; SAFAA and MARWA are also two of the signs appointed by Allah, and are among the sacred monuments for the rituals of pilgrimage. So there is no blame on the pilgrims to encompass these monuments and signs, and the superstitious rites of the polytheists should never stop Muslims to halt their religious rites. The two idols on top of the two symbols will not derogate the least from its virtue and importance.
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- As we have already mentioned above; and MARWA are two small mountains that are nowadays absorbed in the city of Mecca. Verbally SAFFA, means a smooth and hard piece of stone, and MARWA means a rough and hard peice of stone. By SIGNS OF ALLAH, it is meant such monuments as a permanent object or a mountain that might make people to remember Allah.
2- HISTORICAL RECORD OF SAFAA AND MARWA.
According to our traditions; ABRAHAM (AS) had reached his old age without having a son or a daughter. So he prayed for that, and his lord answered his prayer, and in that old age of him, his maid servant, HAJAR begot a son for him who was named ISHMAEL. His first wife SARAA did not endure seeing her husband having a son from some other woman. Allah commanded ABRAHAM (AS) to take the baby with his mother, and settle them in Mecca, which was then a barren and parched desert. ABRAHAM (AS) obeyed the commandment of his Lord, and took to Mecca and placed them there. When he proceeded to depart, his wife HAJAR, began to cry saying: ``What can a poor lonely woman, and her innocent infant, in this hot, dry and barren land do?'' ABRHAM'S heart burnt with sorrow when he heard the plea of his wife, and in a fervent prayer to God he said: ``O, My Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley without any cultivation by your sacred house; in order, our Lord, that they may establish regular prayer. So fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them and feed them with products so that they may give thanks.''
HAZRAT ABRAHAM (AS) said so to his Lord, and choked with tears, committed his wife and child to the care of Allah and went away....
Soon after; their supply of food and water was finished, and her breast stopped milking. Then the restlessness of the babe increased her anxiety. Forgetting her own thirst and hunger, she started the search for water. She at first searched among the little mountain SAFAA, but found no water. She looked towards the other opposite mountain MARWA, and was deceived by the watery appearance of a mirage there. She traversed to and for, the distance between the two hills, but no result. Abandoned to despair, she returned to pick up her poor starving baby, when Lo! At the foot of the child water had gushed out! Hence the famous fluent spring of ZAMZAM that has satisfied millions of men and animals so far! Seeing that, she prostrated herself on the ground to give her thanks to her Merciful Lord.
The lesson here is that all of us, even our children, have to commit ourselves to the care of Allah, put our trust on HIM, and then strive hard in the path of truth that God HAS revealed to us through HIS BOOK and prophet. And that we should know the value and importance of Monotheism for the cause of which so many Muslims have gone as far as the last beat of their hearts, in order to hand the loaded trust over to us.
