Sa'y: Difference between revisions

'''Sa'y al-Ṣafā' wa l-Marwa''' (Arabic: سعی الصفا والمروة) is an obligatory action in [[hajj]] and [['umra]] consisting of 7 times of walking between the two mountains, [[al-Safa]] and [[al-Marwa]].

Al-Safa and al-Marwa are two small mountains adjacent to [[Masjid al-Haram]]. The distance between the two mountains, called “Mas'a”, is about 395 meters. The mountains, al-Safa and al-Marwa, used to be taller and larger, but they came to be smaller after the expansion of Masjid al-Haram. Today al-Safa is about 8 meters tall and a little part of al-Marwa remained, but in 1995, it was removed in order to expand the area around which pilgrims walked, and a door was opened to the outside at the end of al-Marwa. Today only a trace has remained from al-Marwa.

The two mountains and the “sa'y” between them is mentioned in the [[Quran]], 2:158.

Sa'y consists in walking the distance between al-Safa and al-Marwa for 7 times with the intention of doing an action required for hajj or 'umra. Each round of this action is called a “shawt”. Sa'y is an obligatory, and even an essential, action in hajj and 'umra. If it is intentionally left out, the hajj or 'umra will be invalidated. However, if it is unintentionally left out, the hajj or 'umra will not be invalidated. One can then perform it whenever they remember that it was left out. And if it is impossible or very difficult to do so, then they should choose a representative to do it on their behalf. All things that were forbidden for the person before the sa'y will remain forbidden until the sa'y is performed.

According to [[hadiths]], when [[Hagar]] was searching water for [[Ishmael]], she went back and forth between al-Safa and al-Marwa mountains for 7 times. This Abrahamic tradition was a hajj ritual even in the [[Jahiliyya]] period. During this period, there were two idols on the two sides, and when the pilgrims met the idols, they touched them. They thought that the two idols, called Usaf and Na'ila, were an adulterous couple (a man and a woman) who had turned into stone.

Sa'y is performed after the tawaf and its [[salat al-tawaf|payer]]: if the pilgrim of hajj or 'umra intentionally performs it before the tawaf, their sa'y will be invalidated and it will be obligatory to perform it after the tawaf and its prayer. But if one performs the sa'y prior to tawaf unintentionally or out of ignorance of the jurisprudential law, then there is a disagreement among the scholars of [[fiqh]] with respect to whether or not it will be invalidated.

According to the view of many [[fuqaha]], it is permissible to postpone the sa'y after the tawaf until the night.

It is recommended for a pilgrim of hajj and 'umra to drink from the [[zamzam]] water before the sa'y and pour it on one’s head and body, reciting the following supplication: “اَللّهُمَ اجْعَلْهُ عِلْماً نافِعاً وَ رِزْقاً واسِعَاً وَ شِفاءاً مِنْ کُلِّ داءٍ وَ سُقْمٍ” (O’ God, turn it into useful knowledge, extensive livelihood and a healing for any disease), and then touch the [[Black Stone]] (al-Hajar al-Aswad), and then move to al-Safa with calmness. After arriving in al-Safa, one is recommended to climb it and look at the [[Ka'ba]] and recite the relevant supplication while directing oneself to the corner of the Black Stone after praising God and reciting [[takbir]] and [[tahlil]] for 7 times.

* It is also recommended to walk at the beginning and at the end of the “mas'a”, and for men it is recommended to perform “harwala” (jumping up and down) in the space that is marked with green fluorescents. It is also recommended to recite the relevant supplications during the sa'y.