and Marwa hoping to find water. To make her search easier and faster, she went alone, leaving the infant on the ground. She first climbed the nearest hill, Safa, to look over the surrounding area. When she saw nothing, she then went to the other hill, Marwah, to look around. While Hagar was on either hillside, she was able to see Ishmael and know he was safe. However, when she was in the valley between the hills she was unable to see her son, and would thus run whilst in the valley and walk at a normal pace when on the hillsides. Hagar traveled back and forth between the hills seven times in the scorching heat before returning to her son. Allah then sent Angel Jibril (Gabriel) to their aid and a spring of water appeared from the ground. The well was named Zamzam and the journey back and forth Safa and Marwa was made a ritual during Hajj and Umrah. The two mountains are mentioned by name in the Quran 2:158. Before Muhammad The early Ansari Muslims gave up the custom of Sa'ee seeing it as idol worship and shirk and a sign of the pre-Islamic period of ignorance (jahiliyyah). It is in this context that Verse 158 of Surah 2 was revealed (Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 6, Book 60, Hadith 22/23). In another narration by Abdullah Yusuf Ali in his commentary on Verse 2:158, he argues that the verse had been revealed because the pagans of Quraysh had placed two idols atop the two hills and the Muslims felt hesitant to walk between the hills, seeing it as idol worship or as an act of shirk. Anas ibn Malik also said that he felt hatred in walking between the two hills as he saw it as a pre-Islamic custom from the jahiliyyah until Allah had revealed Verse 2:158 (Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 2). Aisha confirmed the verse had been revealed with regards to the Ansar. who was it sinful to walk between the hills as they used to visit the idol Manat at Qudaid (near Mecca) in the state of Ihram before going about with the rituals of their pilgrimage in pre-Islamic times. Several similar reasons have been given by multiple scholars of Islam, including al-Suyuti in his Asbab an-Nuzul and George Sale in his Preliminary Discourse to the Quran. Significance in the Hajj and Umrah Performing the Sa'ee serves