DDHK.ORG - The Messenger of Allah forbade a person to go out or enter a place that had plagued the Ta'un disease. This is to prevent the disease from spreading to other areas. This is what we know today as "quarantine" or "isolation".
Imam Tirmidhi narrated a hadith, and this hadith is declared hasan sahih, from Usamah bin Zaid, once the Messenger of Allah once mentioned Tha'un's disease, then he said:
“It is a punishment sent to a group of Bani Israel. If he is in a place and you are in that area, don't go out of that area. And if it hits an area and you are not in it, then don't go down to that area."
Imam Bukhari narrated from Ibn Abbas ra. Once Umar bin Khattab went out to the city of Sham. When they arrived at the Gharg area, Ubaidah bin Jarah and his friends met Umar. Then Umar asked Ibn Abbas, "Call the Muhajirin who first entered this area."
Ibn Abbas continued, "Then I called them. Then Umar asked for their opinion and they told him that the disease of Ta'un was spreading there."
With an incident like this, the friends who went with Umar disagreed with each other. Some of them said to Umar, "We have gone out on some business. I don't think we should go back, we should continue our journey to Sham." Others said, "You are with the remaining people and the companions of the Messenger of Allah. I don't agree if you plunge them into this plague."
Then Umar said, "Go away from me."
Umar also ordered Ibn Abbas to summon two people from among the Ansar to be consulted. Ibn Abbas also called two people from the Ansar, and these two people did not differ in opinion.
They said, "I think it would be better if you went back with your companions who followed you so that they don't catch the plague."
After that Umar called the companions and said to them, "I am going home." Hearing this, all the companions followed Umar's opinion.
Immediately, Abu Ubaidah bin Jarah said, "O Umar, are we going to run from Allah's destiny?"
Umar replied, "Is it true that you said that sentence, O Abu Ubaidah?! That's right, we run away from Allah's destiny and welcome another Allah's destiny. What do you think, if you had two camels descending in a valley, where one valley is fertile (many plants) and the other is dry? Isn't it the destiny of Allah to herd the camel in a fertile valley, and if you herd your camel in a dry valley is also Allah's destiny?"
Ibn Abbas continued: Not long after that, Abdurrahman bin Auf came, previously he had not joined the group for some reason. He said, “In my opinion, in this matter, we should decide with knowledge. I heard the Messenger of Allah say, 'When you hear that there is an infectious disease in an area, do not enter it. And if the disease is in an area and you are in that place, do not leave that area."
Ibn Abbas said: After that Umar praised Allah, then left. [Taken from the book of Fiqh Sunnah, by Sayyid Sabiq] [DDHKNews]
