Seven centuries had passed since the Zubaydah canal, which brought water to Makkah from outlying springs, had been constructed. The passage by now had reached a bad state of repair, with the wells and springs having dried up and the canal now being full of sand and stones.
It was 965 AH (1557 AD) when a Turkish princess Fatimah, daughter of the Uthmaani ruler Sultan Salim came along. She took on the task of rebuilding the 'Zubaydah canal'. The rebuilding of the canal was extremely difficult and involved Egyptian, Syrian and Yemeni engineers and masons.
On the canal's route, there was a large rock 50 feet wide and 2000 feet long which looked as if it was going to stop their efforts. The chief leading the project lost heart and had fear of not being able to overcome it. Fatimah refused to accept this as a permanent obstacle.
At that time dynamite did not exist, the only way to cut through such large rocks would be to heat them up with coal to high degrees and then cut the stones with sharp tools. It took hundreds of workers, who burnt millions of tons of fuel. In 979 AH (1571 AD) they were successful and the rock was overcome.
Soon afterwards water again began to flow to Makkah by way of the repaired Zubaydah canal and the event was celebrated with a great feast.
Due to her commitment to rebuilding the canal, Fatimah was nicknamed 'Zubaydah Thaani' (Zubaydah the second).
This demonstrates to us the power of persistence.