Hadith #167

Arabic Text

English Translation

Ya'qub narrated to us, my father narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, Aban ibn Salih narrated to me, from Shahr ibn Hawshab al-Ash'ari, from his stepfather, a man from his people who had married his mother after his father, who had witnessed the Plague of Amwas. He said: When the plague spread intensely, Abu 'Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah (رضي الله عنه) stood among the people as a preacher and said: 'O people, this plague is a mercy from your Lord, an invocation of your Prophet, and the death of the righteous before you. Abu 'Ubaidah asks Allah to grant him his share of it.' He was then struck by the plague and died, may Allah have mercy on him. Mu'adh ibn Jabal (رضي الله عنه) was appointed as his successor over the people. He stood as a preacher after him and said: 'O people, this plague is a mercy from your Lord, an invocation of your Prophet, and the death of the righteous before you. Mu'adh asks Allah to grant the family of Mu'adh their share of it.' Then his son 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'adh was struck and died. Then he stood and supplicated to his Lord for himself, and he was struck in his palm. I saw him looking at it, then kissing the back of his hand, and saying: 'I would not love to have anything of this world in place of what is in you.' When he died, 'Amr ibn al-'As (رضي الله عنه) was appointed as his successor. He stood among us as a preacher and said: 'O people, when this plague occurs, it spreads like a blazing fire. So take refuge from it in the mountains.' Abu Wathilah al-Hudhali said to him: 'You lie! By Allah, I accompanied the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and you are worse than this donkey of mine.' 'Amr said: 'By Allah, I will not respond to what you say. By Allah, we shall not stay here.' Then he departed and the people dispersed, and Allah lifted it from them. That reached 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه), concerning the opinion of 'Amr, and by Allah, he did not disapprove of it. Abu 'Abd al-Rahman 'Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: Aban ibn Salih is the grandfather of Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Mushkudanah.