The above picture is a snapshot of a 5 liter bottle of Zamzam water from a shop in Male', Maldives, sold for MVR 450 (USD 29) which is reasonable considering the logistics of importing such an unwieldy commodity.
There are some private businesses in Maldives which import and sell Zamzam water. There's a constant demand and supply for it because Muslims use it for various purposes including as a medication to heal various major ailments and minor illnesses.The Zamzam water exported from Saudi Arabia is very much professionally bottled, packaged, and labelled. It has the phrase "King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Zamzam Project" written on it.
I like the taste which seems to contain a hint of a mixture of sweetness and saltiness but I don't depend on my taste buds anymore because they sometimes give me the wrong taste and therefore the wrong message.
This enterprising business of literally exporting millions of liters of Zamzam water in any given year without exhausting the source made me seriously ponder on the origin and sustainability of Zamzam water.
Some information generated from ChatGPT and Google Search reflected very much the Islamic perspective on the miraculous mystery of Zamzam water; the information gathered from these two sources state that Zamzam water originates from an underground well, and not by a river or stream running through any cavern in Saudi Arabia - as earlier I had falsely thought because of my Ordinary Level Geography background.
On average, around 2 million Muslim pilgrims perform the obligatory Hajj pilgrimage in any given year, with others performing the minor Umrah pilgrimage, not to mention the natives and tourists who consume Zamzam water.
Even with so many consumers, it is a miraculous mystery that the Zamzam water well does not run dry. Its source and origin are unexplained as there is no catchment area over land that catches water from rainfall to feed any rivers and streams which might be running into underground caves supplying the water to the Zamzam well.
The continuous flow of Zamzam water is considered a miracle in Islamic tradition, according to Muslim sources. It is believed that Allah's (God's) blessings and divine intervention ensure that the well does not exhaust the water, despite the countless pilgrims who have drawn water from it for centuries.
This perpetual flow is seen as a testament to the miraculous nature of Zamzam water and its significance in the lives of Muslims, according to an Islamic source cited by ChatGPT, which further stated that Zamzam water is sourced from an underground aquifer.
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing rock, sand, or gravel that can store and transmit water. It acts as a natural reservoir for groundwater, which is the water found beneath the Earth's surface in spaces between soil particles and within rock formations.
Aquifers are a crucial source of freshwater for drinking, irrigation, and industrial purposes, and they play a significant role in maintaining water availability in many regions around the world.
Islamic history cites that the well of Zamzam taps into an ancient natural underground water source that has been flowing for centuries and that the water comes from deep within the Earth and is considered by Muslims to be pure and blessed.
Zamzam water originates from the sacred well located within the Masjid al-Haram (mosque) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. According to Islamic tradition, it is believed to have been miraculously provided by Allah for Haajar (Hagar) and her son Ismail (Ishmael) when they were stranded in the desert at the time of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham).
Therefore, the well has existed even before the coming of the last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) of Islam, and the Zamzam water well still holds great religious significance for Muslims and is an integral part of the Hajj pilgrimage.
The Dhivehi article is very informative.
ReplyDeleteThank you ☺️
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