Sa'i - The Search Between Two Hills

The Search Between Two Hills: The Secret of Sa’i

"Sa’i is a walk of the heart;
An outward step, an inward plea..."

From Safa to Marwah, from Marwah back to Safa,
within a mother’s panic lies the prayer of an entire ummah.
In the footsteps of Hajar is drawn the map of a love, a surrender, and a search.
In the struggle of one solitary woman lies the prostration of thousands of hearts.

Sa’i is not merely seven laps back and forth,
but a transition from one state to another.
Safa is the hope of reunion; Marwah is surrender kneaded with patience.
With each step, a door opens within us;
with each step, we let go more of the murkiness of the self…

Sa’i is the heart’s run toward its Lord.
Before the water of Zamzam flowed, despair had already thirsted the heart,
and perhaps in that thirst, Hajar herself thirsted for Rida (contentment)…

Yet Allah manifests most in the servant’s utter helplessness.
That is why during Sa’i a call echoes within us:
"Run! Do not search—be content!
But still, run!"

When Hajar ran, it was not desire but surrender that carried her…
And now, with every Sa’i, we clothe ourselves again in her love-filled trust…

According to the people of Sufism,
Sa’i is a spiritual therapy of the soul oscillating between the two hills of the ego.
Safa is the love felt at the beginning; Marwah is an awareness realized at the end…
The space in between is the birth pangs of the heart.

"O Traveler!
Do not forget your inner self while walking outward!
Seek like Hajar, but while seeking, find the Creator!"

Sa’i is not merely a ritual,
but the story of a divine love, patience, and search engraved in the black earth.
To Hajar’s thirst, it was our inner eternity that thirsted…

Dr. Özer Akpınar
Researcher-Historian