What have you heard from Messenger of Allah ﷺ about plague? Thereupon Usama said: Messenger of Allah 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.  

سَمِعْتَ مِنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ فِي الطَّاعُونِ فَقَالَ أُسَامَةُ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ الطَّاعُونُ رِجْزٌ أَوْ عَذَابٌ أُرْسِلَ عَلَى بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَوْ عَلَى مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ فَإِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ بِهِ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ تَقْدَمُوا عَلَيْهِ وَإِذَا وَقَعَ بِأَرْضٍ وَأَنْتُمْ بِهَا فَلاَ تَخْرُجُوا فِرَارًا مِنْهُ وَقَالَ أَبُو النَّضْرِ لاَ يُخْرِجُكُمْ إِلاَّ فِرَارٌ مِنْهُ  

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.  

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ الطَّاعُونُ آيَةُ الرِّجْزِ ابْتَلَى اللَّهُ ﷻ بِهِ نَاسًا مِنْ عِبَادِهِ فَإِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ بِهِ فَلاَ تَدْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِ وَإِذَا وَقَعَ بِأَرْضٍ وَأَنْتُمْ بِهَا فَلاَ تَفِرُّوا مِنْهُ هَذَا حَدِيثُ الْقَعْنَبِيِّ وَقُتَيْبَةَ نَحْوَهُ  

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.  

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ إِنَّ هَذَا الطَّاعُونَ رِجْزٌ سُلِّطَ عَلَى مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ أَوْ عَلَى بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ فَإِذَا كَانَ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ تَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فِرَارًا مِنْهُ وَإِذَا كَانَ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ تَدْخُلُوهَا  

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.  

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ هُوَ عَذَابٌ أَوْ رِجْزٌ أَرْسَلَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَى طَائِفَةٍ مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَوْ نَاسٍ كَانُوا قَبْلَكُمْ فَإِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ بِهِ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ تَدْخُلُوهَا عَلَيْهِ وَإِذَا دَخَلَهَا عَلَيْكُمْ فَلاَ تَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فِرَارًا  

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

عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ دِينَارٍ بِإِسْنَادِ ابْنِ جُرَيْجٍ نَحْوَ حَدِيثِهِ  

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.  

عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ أَنَّهُ قَالَ إِنَّ هَذَا الْوَجَعَ أَوِ السَّقَمَ رِجْزٌ عُذِّبَ بِهِ بَعْضُ الأُمَمِ قَبْلَكُمْ ثُمَّ بَقِيَ بَعْدُ بِالأَرْضِ فَيَذْهَبُ الْمَرَّةَ وَيَأْتِي الأُخْرَى فَمَنْ سَمِعَ بِهِ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ يَقْدَمَنَّ عَلَيْهِ وَمَنْ وَقَعَ بِأَرْضٍ وَهُوَ بِهَا فَلاَ يُخْرِجَنَّهُ الْفِرَارُ مِنْهُ  

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

عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ بِإِسْنَادِ يُونُسَ نَحْوَ حَدِيثِهِ  

While we were in Medina we heard of plague having broken out in Kufa. 'Ata b. Yasir and others said to me that Messenger of Allah 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 Messenger of Allah 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.  

لِي عَطَاءُ بْنُ يَسَارٍ وَغَيْرُهُ إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَالَ إِذَا كُنْتَ بِأَرْضٍ فَوَقَعَ بِهَا فَلاَ تَخْرُجْ مِنْهَا وَإِذَا بَلَغَكَ أَنَّهُ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ تَدْخُلْهَا قَالَ قُلْتُ عَمَّنْ قَالُوا عَنْ عَامِرِ بْنِ سَعْدٍ يُحَدِّثُ بِهِ قَالَ فَأَتَيْتُهُ فَقَالُوا غَائِبٌ قَالَ فَلَقِيتُ أَخَاهُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ بْنَ سَعْدٍ فَسَأَلْتُهُ فَقَالَ شَهِدْتُ أُسَامَةَ يُحَدِّثُ سَعْدًا قَالَ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَقُولُ إِنَّ هَذَا الْوَجَعَ رِجْزٌ أَوْ عَذَابٌ أَوْ بَقِيَّةُ عَذَابٍ عُذِّبَ بِهِ أُنَاسٌ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ فَإِذَا كَانَ بِأَرْضٍ وَأَنْتُمْ بِهَا فَلاَ تَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا وَإِذَا بَلَغَكُمْ أَنَّهُ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ تَدْخُلُوهَا قَالَ حَبِيبٌ فَقُلْتُ لإِبْرَاهِيمَ آنْتَ سَمِعْتَ أُسَامَةَ يُحَدِّثُ سَعْدًا وَهُوَ لاَ يُنْكِرُ قَالَ نَعَمْ  

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.  

أَنَّهُ لَمْ يَذْكُرْ قِصَّةَ عَطَاءِ بْنِ يَسَارٍ فِي أَوَّلِ الْحَدِيثِ  

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

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ بِمَعْنَى حَدِيثِ شُعْبَةَ  

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

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ بِنَحْوِ حَدِيثِهِمْ  

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

عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ بِنَحْوِ حَدِيثِهِمْ  

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 Messenger of Allah 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 Messenger of Allah 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?  

عُمَرُ ادْعُ لِيَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ الأَوَّلِينَ فَدَعَوْتُهُمْ فَاسْتَشَارَهُمْ وَأَخْبَرَهُمْ أَنَّ الْوَبَاءَ قَدْ وَقَعَ بِالشَّامِ فَاخْتَلَفُوا فَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ قَدْ خَرَجْتَ لأَمْرٍ وَلاَ نَرَى أَنْ تَرْجِعَ عَنْهُ وَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ مَعَكَ بَقِيَّةُ النَّاسِ وَأَصْحَابُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ وَلاَ نَرَى أَنْ تُقْدِمَهُمْ عَلَى هَذَا الْوَبَاءِ فَقَالَ ارْتَفِعُوا عَنِّي ثُمَّ قَالَ ادْعُ لِيَ الأَنْصَارَ فَدَعَوْتُهُمْ لَهُ فَاسْتَشَارَهُمْ فَسَلَكُوا سَبِيلَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَاخْتَلَفُوا كَاخْتِلاَفِهِمْ فَقَالَ ارْتَفِعُوا عَنِّي ثُمَّ قَالَ ادْعُ لِي مَنْ كَانَ هَا هُنَا مِنْ مَشْيَخَةِ قُرَيْشٍ مِنْ مُهَاجِرَةِ الْفَتْحِ فَدَعَوْتُهُمْ فَلَمْ يَخْتَلِفْ عَلَيْهِ رَجُلاَنِ فَقَالُوا نَرَى أَنْ تَرْجِعَ بِالنَّاسِ وَلاَ تُقْدِمْهُمْ عَلَى هَذَا الْوَبَاءِ فَنَادَى عُمَرُ فِي النَّاسِ إِنِّي مُصْبِحٌ عَلَى ظَهْرٍ فَأَصْبِحُوا عَلَيْهِ فَقَالَ أَبُو عُبَيْدَةَ بْنُ الْجَرَّاحِ أَفِرَارًا مِنْ قَدَرِ اللَّهِ فَقَالَ عُمَرُ لَوْ غَيْرُكَ قَالَهَا يَا أَبَا عُبَيْدَةَ وَكَانَ عُمَرُ يَكْرَهُ خِلاَفَهُ نَعَمْ نَفِرُّ مِنْ قَدَرِ اللَّهِ إِلَى قَدَرِ اللَّهِ أَرَأَيْتَ لَوْ كَانَتْ لَكَ إِبِلٌ فَهَبَطْتَ وَادِيًا لَهُ عِدْوَتَانِ إِحْدَاهُمَا خَصْبَةٌ وَالأُخْرَى جَدْبَةٌ أَلَيْسَ إِنْ رَعَيْتَ الْخَصْبَةَ رَعَيْتَهَا بِقَدَرِ اللَّهِ وَإِنْ رَعَيْتَ الْجَدْبَةَ رَعَيْتَهَا بِقَدَرِ اللَّهِ قَالَ فَجَاءَ عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ عَوْفٍ وَكَانَ مُتَغَيِّبًا فِي بَعْضِ حَاجَتِهِ فَقَالَ إِنَّ عِنْدِي مِنْ هَذَا عِلْمًا سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَقُولُ إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ بِهِ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ تَقْدَمُوا عَلَيْهِ وَإِذَا وَقَعَ بِأَرْضٍ وَأَنْتُمْ بِهَا فَلاَ تَخْرُجُوا فِرَارًا مِنْهُ قَالَ فَحَمِدَ اللَّهَ عُمَرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ ثُمَّ انْصَرَفَ  

" 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."  

أَخْبَرَنَا مَعْمَرٌ بِهَذَا الإِسْنَادِ نَحْوَ حَدِيثِ مَالِكٍ وَزَادَ فِي حَدِيثِ مَعْمَرٍ قَالَ وَقَالَ لَهُ أَيْضًا أَرَأَيْتَ أَنَّهُ لَوْ رَعَى الْجَدْبَةَ وَتَرَكَ الْخَصْبَةَ أَكُنْتَ مُعَجِّزَهُ قَالَ نَعَمْ قَالَ فَسِرْ إِذًا قَالَ فَسَارَ حَتَّى أَتَى الْمَدِينَةَ فَقَالَ هَذَا الْمَحِلُّ أَوْ قَالَ هَذَا الْمَنْزِلُ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ  

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

وَلَمْ يَقُلْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ  

'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 Messenger of Allah 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.  

أَنَّ عُمَرَ خَرَجَ إِلَى الشَّامِ فَلَمَّا جَاءَ سَرْغَ بَلَغَهُ أَنَّ الْوَبَاءَ قَدْ وَقَعَ بِالشَّامِ فَأَخْبَرَهُ عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ عَوْفٍ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَالَ إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ بِهِ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ تَقْدَمُوا عَلَيْهِ وَإِذَا وَقَعَ بِأَرْضٍ وَأَنْتُمْ بِهَا فَلاَ تَخْرُجُوا فِرَارًا مِنْهُ فَرَجَعَ عُمَرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ مِنْ سَرْغَ وَعَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ عَنْ سَالِمِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ أَنَّ عُمَرَ إِنَّمَا انْصَرَفَ بِالنَّاسِ مِنْ حَدِيثِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ عَوْفٍ