Safa and Marwa (Arabic: ٱلصَّفَا وَٱلْمَرْوَة‎, romanized: Aṣ-Ṣafā wal-Marwah) are two small hills, connected to the larger Abu Qubais and Qaiqan mountains, respectively,[1] in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, now made part of Al-Masjid al-Haram.

Marwa has been described as smoother and lighter in color than Safa, with some even calling it white, such as Majd ad-Din Ferozabadi, az-Zubaidi, al-Fayoumi.

Safa and Marwa are a part of the Hejaz mountain range, which run parallel to most of the Saudi coast on the Red Sea.

[4] In Islamic tradition, the civilization of Mecca started after Ibrāhīm (Abraham) left his son Ismāʿīl (Ishmael) and wife Hājar (Hagar) in the valley,[5][6] which Muslims believe was a command by God.

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).

[8] 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.

Aisha confirmed the verse had been revealed with regards to the Ansar, who said it was 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[9] and George Sale in his Preliminary Discourse to the Quran.

[11] Performing the Sa'ee serves to commemorate Hajar's search for water for her son and God's mercy in answering prayers.