CONTAGION IN ISLAM
Ibn ‘Umar said:
“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘There is no ‘Adwa (contagion), no bad omen, and no Hamah.’ A man stood up and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, what if a camel has mange (scabies) and another camel gets mange (scabies) from it?’ He said: ‘That is the Divine decree. Who causes the mange in the first one?’”
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، عَنْ أَبِي جَنَابٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " لاَ عَدْوَى وَلاَ طِيَرَةَ وَلاَ هَامَةَ " . فَقَامَ إِلَيْهِ رَجُلٌ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ الْبَعِيرُ يَكُونُ بِهِ الْجَرَبُ فَتَجْرَبُ بِهِ الإِبِلُ . قَالَ " ذَلِكَ الْقَدَرُ فَمَنْ أَجْرَبَ الأَوَّلَ " .
Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)
Reference : Sunan Ibn Majah 3540
In-book reference : Book 31, Hadith 105
Disease is an Arad (incidental state) It is an attribute (an object closely associated with or belonging to a specific person) and the reason for a dis-ease is multiple factors. The lack of ease is called dis-ease. This is the first point to understand about the nature of a disease that it is a noun-entity. A disease has many causes, it is multifactorial & Allah creates it in each person, no person “transmits” what he has to anyone (which is the definition of contagion, a transmittable organism) However, the correlation of a “cause” causing a disease with anything other than the ‘will of Allah’ does not make sense in Islam. People are in general prone to associate a correlation with causation on account of ignorance. Any Wahm, suspicion, doubt on who causes disease? Other than accepting that “it is by the decree of Allah” has no meaning in Islam.
It was narrated that Ibn 'Umar said:
"The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'There is no 'Adwa (contagion), no Tiyarah (flying thing) and no Hamah (evil omen).' A Bedouin man stood up and said: 'O Messenger of Allah, what do you think about a camel that suffers from mange and then all other camels get mange?' He said: 'That is because of the Divine Decree. How else did the first one get mange?'"Note: The majority of scholars interpret this to mean that these things in and of themselves do not transmit or cause harm through supernatural or hidden means but that Allah is ultimately in control and any fearful superstition around these is false.
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَعَلِيُّ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ أَبِي حَيَّةَ أَبُو جَنَابٍ الْكَلْبِيُّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " لاَ عَدْوَى وَلاَ طِيَرَةَ وَلاَ هَامَةَ " . فَقَامَ إِلَيْهِ رَجُلٌ أَعْرَابِيٌّ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَرَأَيْتَ الْبَعِيرَ يَكُونُ بِهِ الْجَرَبُ فَيُجْرِبُ الإِبِلَ كُلَّهَا قَالَ " ذَلِكُمُ الْقَدَرُ فَمَنْ أَجْرَبَ الأَوَّلَ " .
Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)
Reference : Sunan Ibn Majah 86
In-book reference : Introduction, Hadith 86
Association does not mean causation Causation requires that there is an association between two variables, but association does not necessarily imply causation. Association between two factors can occur both with and without a causal relationship. Lets take this example of increased sale of ice cream because of more sunburns. More sunburn cases is not the cause of increment in ice cream sale. Rather, it is the sun and heat. The same way more people contracting the virus, does not relate with the cause of the dis-ease.
Ibn ‘Umar said:
“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘There is no ‘Adwa (contagion), no bad omen, and no Hamah.’ A man stood up and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, what if a camel has mange (scabies) and another camel gets mange (scabies) from it?’ He said: ‘That is the Divine decree. Who causes the mange in the first one?’”
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، عَنْ أَبِي جَنَابٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " لاَ عَدْوَى وَلاَ طِيَرَةَ وَلاَ هَامَةَ " . فَقَامَ إِلَيْهِ رَجُلٌ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ الْبَعِيرُ يَكُونُ بِهِ الْجَرَبُ فَتَجْرَبُ بِهِ الإِبِلُ . قَالَ " ذَلِكَ الْقَدَرُ فَمَنْ أَجْرَبَ الأَوَّلَ " .
Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)
Reference : Sunan Ibn Majah 3540
In-book reference : Book 31, Hadith 105
Disease is an Arad (incidental state) It is an attribute (an object closely associated with or belonging to a specific person) and the reason for a dis-ease is multiple factors. The lack of ease is called dis-ease. This is the first point to understand about the nature of a disease that it is a noun-entity. A disease has many causes, it is multifactorial & Allah creates it in each person, no person “transmits” what he has to anyone (which is the definition of contagion, a transmittable organism) However, the correlation of a “cause” causing a disease with anything other than the ‘will of Allah’ does not make sense in Islam. People are in general prone to associate a correlation with causation on account of ignorance. Any Wahm, suspicion, doubt on who causes disease? Other than accepting that “it is by the decree of Allah” has no meaning in Islam.
It was narrated that Ibn 'Umar said:
"The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'There is no 'Adwa (contagion), no Tiyarah (flying thing) and no Hamah (evil omen).' A Bedouin man stood up and said: 'O Messenger of Allah, what do you think about a camel that suffers from mange and then all other camels get mange?' He said: 'That is because of the Divine Decree. How else did the first one get mange?'"Note: The majority of scholars interpret this to mean that these things in and of themselves do not transmit or cause harm through supernatural or hidden means but that Allah is ultimately in control and any fearful superstition around these is false.
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَعَلِيُّ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ أَبِي حَيَّةَ أَبُو جَنَابٍ الْكَلْبِيُّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " لاَ عَدْوَى وَلاَ طِيَرَةَ وَلاَ هَامَةَ " . فَقَامَ إِلَيْهِ رَجُلٌ أَعْرَابِيٌّ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَرَأَيْتَ الْبَعِيرَ يَكُونُ بِهِ الْجَرَبُ فَيُجْرِبُ الإِبِلَ كُلَّهَا قَالَ " ذَلِكُمُ الْقَدَرُ فَمَنْ أَجْرَبَ الأَوَّلَ " .
Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)
Reference : Sunan Ibn Majah 86
In-book reference : Introduction, Hadith 86
Association does not mean causation Causation requires that there is an association between two variables, but association does not necessarily imply causation. Association between two factors can occur both with and without a causal relationship. Lets take this example of increased sale of ice cream because of more sunburns. More sunburn cases is not the cause of increment in ice cream sale. Rather, it is the sun and heat. The same way more people contracting the virus, does not relate with the cause of the dis-ease.
Associating the contagion with ‘cause’ of disease is a weak hypothesis. The main question which rises is how did the first human (or animal) get dis-eased? What was the cause of his illness. A cause which can be associated with an illness has an overall effect on all the people living in the same environment. Imagine a nuclear leak in a city, which affects everyone? Or imagine a pesticidal spray which kills all the insects wherever it spreads.
Allāh knows that man is prone to such thoughts, especially when he is ignorant of the complexity of the asbāb (ways and means). Allah sent His Prophet (salahu Alayhe wasalm) with this guidance, to close such avenues. This is the realm of minor shirk, exaggeration in the causes or making something to be a cause when it is not a cause. This is indicated by many scholars so that a person is not subjected to an unnecessary mental struggle, wherein he has to bear the harm of being in the presence of a sick person, and the anxiety itself leads him to become ill. This is indicated by al-Qurṭubī.
---AbuʿUbayd al-Qāsim bin Sallām al-Harawī (d. 224H)
—Imām al-Ṭabarī (d. 310H)
—Imām Ibn Khuzaymah (d. 311H)
—Imām al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321H)
—Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ (d. 370H)
—Abū Sulaymān al-Khaṭṭābī (d. 388H)
—Imām al-Baghawī (d. 516H)
—Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (d. 463H)
—Al-Qurṭubī (d. 656H)
—Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852H)
These scholars got to the crux, the heart of the matter in this issue of contagion. This is known by the fact that the statement of Messenger (Salahu Alayhe Wasalm): “There is no `adwā (contagion)”, and the five things mentioned alongside it--ṭiyarah (something which flies), ṣafar, hāmmah (evil omen, suspicion), nawʾ, ghaul—was made in the context of various manifestations of minor shirk, which are based upon confusing association with causation.
The Pagans exaggerated in the causality of mixing and claimed that a sick person or a sick camel passes on disease. Their argument in this regard was that a camel with mange mixes with healthy camels and they all get mange.
Hence, the argument is: How can contagion be denied? when they see this phenomena with their own eyes. So the Prophet (Salalahu Alayhe wasalm) asked them to explain how the first camel got mange (scabies)? It was not through any other camel, so this means that it must have arisen through means other than mixing (contagion). And if that is so, then Allāh can create mange in the rest of them by the same set of circumstances and factors through which the first one got mange. And since camels are usually together, receive the same type of food and drink, and are subject to the same environmental conditions in a given geographical region, then they are enveloped and surrounded by the same set of health-producing or disease-causing factors.
Inspired by Shiekh Abu Iyaad's notes.
Allāh knows that man is prone to such thoughts, especially when he is ignorant of the complexity of the asbāb (ways and means). Allah sent His Prophet (salahu Alayhe wasalm) with this guidance, to close such avenues. This is the realm of minor shirk, exaggeration in the causes or making something to be a cause when it is not a cause. This is indicated by many scholars so that a person is not subjected to an unnecessary mental struggle, wherein he has to bear the harm of being in the presence of a sick person, and the anxiety itself leads him to become ill. This is indicated by al-Qurṭubī.
---AbuʿUbayd al-Qāsim bin Sallām al-Harawī (d. 224H)
—Imām al-Ṭabarī (d. 310H)
—Imām Ibn Khuzaymah (d. 311H)
—Imām al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321H)
—Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ (d. 370H)
—Abū Sulaymān al-Khaṭṭābī (d. 388H)
—Imām al-Baghawī (d. 516H)
—Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (d. 463H)
—Al-Qurṭubī (d. 656H)
—Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852H)
These scholars got to the crux, the heart of the matter in this issue of contagion. This is known by the fact that the statement of Messenger (Salahu Alayhe Wasalm): “There is no `adwā (contagion)”, and the five things mentioned alongside it--ṭiyarah (something which flies), ṣafar, hāmmah (evil omen, suspicion), nawʾ, ghaul—was made in the context of various manifestations of minor shirk, which are based upon confusing association with causation.
The Pagans exaggerated in the causality of mixing and claimed that a sick person or a sick camel passes on disease. Their argument in this regard was that a camel with mange mixes with healthy camels and they all get mange.
Hence, the argument is: How can contagion be denied? when they see this phenomena with their own eyes. So the Prophet (Salalahu Alayhe wasalm) asked them to explain how the first camel got mange (scabies)? It was not through any other camel, so this means that it must have arisen through means other than mixing (contagion). And if that is so, then Allāh can create mange in the rest of them by the same set of circumstances and factors through which the first one got mange. And since camels are usually together, receive the same type of food and drink, and are subject to the same environmental conditions in a given geographical region, then they are enveloped and surrounded by the same set of health-producing or disease-causing factors.
Inspired by Shiekh Abu Iyaad's notes.