Saudi authorities have refuted the claim, saying adequate measures have been taken to ensure the safety of Zamzam well and its water.
The majority of people Arab News spoke to rubbished the BBC’s "flight of imagination" and advised it not to play with the sensitivities of Muslims and the Arab world.
Suleiman Abu Ghilya, president of the United Zamzam Office that is in charge of the distribution of the holy water, told the Al-Eqtisadiah daily that the recent BBC report was biased and baseless.
“This report was not at all based on laboratory tests of the holy water taken from the Zamzam well. The report could have been based on tests undertaken on contaminated Zamzam after collecting it from people who stored it in unhygienic conditions,” he said while highlighting the fact that the holy water is tested at laboratories in Makkah on a daily basis.
“The tests are being carried out by experts, including those from the Saudi Geological Survey and the Saline Water Conversion Corporation,” Abu Ghilya said.
Umrah pilgrims and visitors to Islam’s holiest city rejected the claims against Zamzam water. They considered the allegations baseless and emphasized that such propaganda did not deter them from drinking the holy water. “Our ardent desire to drink Zamzam water is based on the Tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who said: ‘Zamzam water is what one intends to drink it for.’ We are accustomed to hearing such baseless allegations about Zamzam every now and then,” a pilgrim told Al-Eqtisadiah.
Dawood Belal Bernawi, a Saudi who was born and brought up in Makkah, also exclaimed with wonder on the BBC’s idea of a contaminated Zamzam well. He was also confident that the perennial spring would never be contaminated, and he added that in his family the young, grownups and even very old people all drank Zamzam since their birth and their health was ideal. “When the whole region was affected by viral infections, Zamzam saved our family from cold and fever,” he said.
Arab News surveyed people in Jeddah following the BBC report for their views.
Akmal Khan, an Indian and long-time resident of Saudi Arabia, dismissed the claim. He said since 1982 he had been drinking this holy water and he is fit as a fiddle. He repudiated the BBC’s claim that the Zamzam water could be contaminated. He said Saudi Geological Survey’s denial of this allegation was necessary because he feared that time again the Zamzam controversy could become part of an orchestrated vicious propaganda against Islam.
Khan showed confidence in the Presidency of Two Holy Mosques Affairs and said that Saudi Arabia has the means to take care of important religious symbols that are dear to the Muslim Ummah.
Muhammad Islam, an Indian too, said that claims such as the BBC’s were not more than propaganda. He said that in his village, people used to keep Zamzam for years and kept drinking it, which cured them from many diseases.
Badruddin Aali, a Pakistani who has been a resident of the Kingdom for 30 years, was baffled by the report. He was confident that the Saudi authorities would never be discouraged by this malicious campaign and that they would keep on their good works by serving Zamzam to millions of pilgrims and locals. He said that he never found any problem in drinking Zamzam during his stay in the country.
Aali said while Zamzam had always been pure from contamination, it was BBC’s intentions that were impure. He also said that at his home in Pakistan, there were always many gallons of Zamzam. His family and his neighbors drank Zamzam as a miraculous drink.
Muhammad Danish, an Indian, said that Zamzam was far from contaminated, and he expressed his faith that it would remain a source to quench every faithful’s thirst. He, too, said that the police crackdown on illegal Zamzam sellers would shut the mouths of detractors.
