Chapter: The Plague, Ill Omens, Soothsaying And The Like

What have you heard from Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) about plague? Thereupon Usama said: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Plague is a calamity which was sent to Bani Isra'il or upon those who were before you. So when you hear that it has broken out in a land, don't go to it, and when it has broken out in the land where you are, don't run out of it. In the narration transmitted on the authority of Abu Nadr there is a slight variation of wording.

Plague is the sign of a calamity with which Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, affects people from His servants. So when you hear about it, don't enter there (where it has broken out), and when it has broken out in a land and you are there, then don't run away from it.

Plague is a calamity which was inflicted on those who were before you, or upon Bani Isra'il. So when it has broken out in a land, don't run out of it, and when it has spread in a land, then don't enter it.

I would inform you about it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: It is a calamity or a disease which Allah sent to a group of Bani Isra'il, or to the people who were before you; so when you hear of it in land, don't enter it and when it has broken out in your land, don't run away from it.

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Ibn Juraij through another chain of transmitters.

This calamity or illness was a punishment with which were punished some of the nations before you. Then it was left upon the earth. It goes away once and comes back again. He who heard of its presence in a land should not go towards it, and he who happened to be in a land where it had broken out should not fly from it.

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Zuhri with a different chain of transmitters.

While we were in Medina we heard of plague having broken out in Kufa. 'Ata b. Yasir and others said to me that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had said. If you are in a land where it (this scourge) has broken out, don't get out of it, and if you were to know that it had broken (in another land, then don't enter it. I said to him: From whom (did you hear it)? They said: 'Amir b. Sa'd has narrated it. So I came to him. They said that he was not present there. So I met his brother Ibrahim b. Sa'd and asked him. He said: I bear testimony to the fact that Usama narrated it to Sa'd saying: I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying that it is a God-sent punishment from the calamity or from the remnant of the calamity with which people were afflicted before you. So when it is in a land and you are there, don't get out of it, and if (this news reaches you) that it has broken out in a land, then don't enter therein. Habib said: I said to Ibrahim: Did you hear Usama narrating it to Sa'd and he was not denying it. He said: Yes.

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Shu'ba with the same chain of transmitters except for the fact that no mention has been made of the account of 'Ata b. Yasir as in the previous hadith.

This hadith has been transmitted on the authority of Sa'd b. Malik, Khuzaima b. Thabit and Usama b. Zaid.

Usama b. Zaid and Sa'd had been sitting and they had been conversing and they said this hadith.

This hadith has been transmitted by Ibrahim b. Sa'd b. Malik on the authority of his father.

Umar b. Khattab set out for Syria. As he came at Sargh (a town by the side of Hijaz on the way to Syria), there met him the commander of the forces, Abu Ubaida b. Jandb, and his companions. They informed him that a scourge had broken out in Syria. Ibn 'Abbas further reported that 'Umar said: Call to me tile earliest emigrants. So I called them. He (Hadrat 'Umar) sought their advice, and they told him that the scourge had broker, out in Syria. There was a difference of opinion (whether they should proceed further or go back to their homes in such a situation). Some of them said: You ('Umar) have set forth for a task, and, therefore, we would not advise you to go back, whereas some of them said: You have along with you the remnants (of the sacred galaxy) of men and (the blessed) Companions of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), so we would not advise you to go forth towards this calamity (with such eminent persons and thus expose them deliberately to a danger). He (Hadrat 'Umar) said: You can now go away. He said: Call to me the Ansar. So I called them to him, and he consulted them, and they trod the same path as was trodden by the Muhajirin, and they differed in their opinions as they had differed. He said: Now, you can go. He again said: Call to me the old persons of the Quraish who had migrated before the Victory (that is the Victory of Mecca), so I called them (and Hadrat 'Umar consulted them) and not even two persons differed (from the opinion held by the earlier delegates). They said: Our opinion is that you better go back along with the people and do not make them go to this scourge, So 'Umar made announcement to the people: In the morning I would be on the back of my side. So they (set forth in the morning), whereupon Abu 'Ubaida b. Jarrah said: Are you going to run away from the Divine Decree? Thereupon 'Umar said: Had it been someone else to say this besides you! 'Umar (in fact) did not approve of his opposing (this decision) and he said: Yes, we are running from the Divine Decree (to the) Divine Decree. You should think if there had been camels for you and you happened to get down in a valley having two sides, one of them covered with verdure and the other being barren, would you not (be doing) according to the Divine Decree if you graze them in verdure? And in case you graze them in the barren land (even then you would be grazing them) according to the Divine Decree. There happened to come 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Auf and he had been absent in connection with some of his needs. He said: I have with me a knowledge of it, that I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: If you hear of its presence (the presence of plague) in a land, don't enter it, but if it spreads in the land where you are, don't fly from it. Thereupon 'Umar b. Khattab praised Allah and then went back?

" Do you think that he would graze in the barren land but would abandon the green land? Would you not attribute it to be a failing on his part? He said: Yes. He said: Then proceed. And he moved on until he came to Medina. And he said to me: This is the right place, or he said: That is the destination if Allah so wills."

This hadith has been transmitted on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Harith with a slight variation of wording.

'Umar went to Syria and as he came to Sargh, information was given to him that an epidemic had broken out in Syria. 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Auf narrated to him that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had said: When you hear of its presence in a land, don't move towards it, and when it breaks out in a land and you are therein, then don't run away from it. So 'Umar b. Khattab came back from Sargh. Salim b. 'Abdullah reported that 'Umar went back, along with people on hearing the hadith reported on the authority of 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Auf.