Why are Safa and Marwa paved with marble today?

Because so many people come there today. A simple dirt path could not bear that load, so a paved way does no harm and is in fact a help.

During the pilgrimage Muslims walk seven times back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwa. In doing so they remember the mother of Ishmael (as). Alone with her little son in a dry valley, she searched desperately for water and for people, and Allah did not abandon her. The hadith above tells this story.

Some ask whether the hills should not have been left in their original state. Then perhaps pilgrims would feel the hardship as she felt it.

But the meaning of the walk does not lie in pain. It lies in remembrance, in prayer and in trust in Allah. How a path is built depends on how many people use it and what the times require. Today a great many pilgrims come. A path of dust and earth could not withstand such crowds.

A paved way, whether of marble or some other solid material, therefore does no harm to worship. It is what makes it possible for so many people at all. The second verse above says that Allah desires ease and not needless hardship.

Even on a smooth floor the meaning stays the same. Whoever walks between Safa and Marwa remembers a mother who did not give up, and a God who heard her cry.