The fever of Medina and its transfer to al-Jouhfa

The Boukhari reports from Aïcha: when the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina, Abou Bakr and Bilal fell ill with fever. I entered upon them and said: father, how do you find yourself? And you, Bilal, how do you find yourself? Whenever fever seized Abou Bakr he would say: "Every man wakes at morning among his family, and death is nearer than the strap of his sandal."

And whenever fever left Bilal he would raise his voice and say: "Would that I knew whether I might spend a night in a valley, about me the plants of idhkhir and jalil; shall I ever come again to the waters of Majanna, and shall Chama and Tafil appear to me once more?" Aïcha came to inform the Messenger of Allah, who supplicated: "O Allah, make us love Medina as we love Mecca or more, make it healthy, bless us its sâ and its moudd, and transfer its fever to al-Jouhfa." Mouslim reported it. In the version of Abou Ousama, Bilal would add: "O Allah, curse Outba ibn Rabi’a, Chayba ibn Rabi’a and Oumayya ibn Khalaf, as they cast us into the land of pestilence."

And the Prophet answered with this supplication: "we came to Medina, said Aïcha, and it was the most pestilential land of Allah, and the Bouthan ran with acrid water."

Ziyad reports from Ibn Ishaq, from Urwa ibn az-Zoubayr, from Aïcha: the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina when it was the most pestilential land of Allah, and his companions were smitten with affliction and sickness, while Allah turned that away from His Prophet. Abou Bakr, Amir ibn Fouhayra and Bilal, freedman of Abou Bakr, were in one house, and fever seized them. I entered to conjure for their protection: that was before the veil was imposed upon us. Their suffering was of a severity known only to Allah. I drew near Abou Bakr and said: father, how do you find yourself? He said: "Every man wakes at morning among his family, and death is nearer than the strap of his sandal." She said: by Allah, the father no longer knew what he was saying. Then she drew near Amir ibn Fouhayra and said: Amir, how do you find yourself? He said:

"I have found death before tasting it: the sore of the camel burdens him who keeps vigil; every man guards his neck like the bull that guards its skin with its chewing." She said: by Allah, Amir no longer knew what he was saying. Bilal, when fever seized him, would lie in the courtyard, raise his voice and say: "Would that I knew whether I might spend a night in a valley, about me the plants of idhkhir and jalil; shall I ever come again to the waters of Majanna, and shall Chama and Tafil appear to me once more?" She reported to the Messenger of Allah what she had heard from them, and said: they are raving, and no longer reason, so hard is the fever. He supplicated: "O Allah, make us love Medina as You made us love Mecca or more, bless us its moudd and its sâ, and transfer its pestilence to Mahya’a": and Mahya’a is al-Jouhfa. Ahmad reports the same, as does an-Nasa’i.

The Bayhaqi reports from Hicham ibn Urwa, from his father, from Aïcha: the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina, which was the worst land of Allah, and its valley, the Bouthan, an acrid water. Hicham adds: its pestilence was known from the Age of Ignorance: when the valley was diseased and a man halted at its edge, he would be commanded to bray like the braying of a donkey; and if he did so, the pestilence of that valley would not harm him. A poet, arriving at the edge of Medina, said: "By my life, if I survive the braying of the mortal danger, the braying of the donkey, then indeed I am grieved." The Boukhari reports, through Moussa ibn Oqba, from Salim, from his father, that the Prophet said: "It was as if I saw a black woman with dishevelled hair coming out of Medina until she stood at Mahya’a, which is al-Jouhfa: I understood that the pestilence of Medina had been transferred to her."

The Boukhari alone reported it in this wording; the Tirmidhi declared it sound, as did an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah. Hammad ibn Zayd reports from Hicham, from Aïcha, the hadith at length, to the words: "transfer its fever to al-Jouhfa"; and Hicham adds: a child born at al-Jouhfa would not reach maturity before fever brought him down. The Bayhaqi related it in the proofs of prophethood.

It is established in the two Sahihs, from Ibn Abbas, that the Messenger of Allah and his companions came to Mecca on the morning of the fourth day, in the year of the Umra of Fulfilment, and the polytheists said: there comes to you a people weakened by the fever of Yathrib. The Messenger of Allah then commanded the companions to trot between the two corners during the first three circuits, and nothing prevented him in that except to leave them a portion of mercy. We say: the Umra of Fulfilment took place in the year seven, in Dhoul-Qi’da: either the Prophet’s supplication for the transfer of the pestilence took effect only near that date, or the pestilence was lifted leaving slight traces, or they remained until then in the aftermath of what had afflicted them. And Allah is most knowing.

Ziyad finally reports from Ibn Ishaq, and az-Zouhri from Abdallah ibn Amr ibn al-As, that when the Messenger of Allah and his companions arrived in Medina, the fever of the city struck them until they were worn out with sickness, while Allah turned that away from His Prophet, to the point that they prayed only sitting. The Messenger of Allah went out to them while they prayed thus and said: "Know that the prayer of the seated one is half the prayer of the one standing." The Muslims then strove to stand despite weakness and sickness, seeking the reward.