“Contagion, the ill omen of birds, the ill omen of owls, the ill omen of the month of Safer – there is none. Flee from a leper just as you flee from a lion.” How should we understand this hadith?
Compiled by: Dr. Murat Kaya
When Arabs emerged from the blessed forbidden months, where war, raids, and revenge were prohibited, into the month of Safer, where death, war, looting, and raids occurred, they found this situation very difficult. This created a belief in them that the month of Safer was unlucky. However, Islam has forbidden such beliefs. For time, as merely time, does not bring bad luck or harm. Bad luck or harm arises from the evil deeds that a person commits during that time. An evil person brings bad luck and misfortune to time and place by committing evil; the opposite is true.
The Messenger of Allah -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- said: “There is no contagion, no ill omen from birds, no ill omen from owls, no ill omen from the month of Safer. Flee from a leper just as you flee from a lion.” (Bukhari, Tibb, 19; Muslim, Salam, 106)
Hafiz Abu Ghuddah said: “According to me, the meaning of this hadith is: ‘Lā adva: There is no contagion’ means ‘Do not transmit disease to one another!’ That is, a person afflicted with a contagious disease should avoid being with healthy people, fearing that by Allah’s decree, the disease will spread to others! The ‘La’ here is in the sense of prohibition, like ‘Lā rafasa’ (do not engage in sexual behavior, do not sin, do not argue) in Surat al-Baqarah 197.
EVIL IS NOT IN TIME BUT IN WHAT PEOPLE DO
The continuation of the hadith, “the ill omen of the month of Safer,” means “do not consider the month of Safer unlucky!” When Arabs emerged from the blessed forbidden months, where war, raids, and revenge were prohibited, into the month of Safer, where death, war, looting, and raids occurred, they found this situation very difficult. This created a belief in them that the month of Safer was unlucky. Islam forbade them to believe this. For time, as merely time, does not bring bad luck or harm. Bad luck or harm arises from the evil deeds that a person commits during that time. An evil person brings bad luck and misfortune to time and place by committing evil; the opposite is true.
The Messenger -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- said: “Do not consider the month of Safer unlucky.” The expression “Flee from a leper just as you flee from a lion!” in the continuation of the same hadith is not a separate hadith, as some scholars thought. Thus, a complete connection is established between the beginning and end of the hadith. The Messenger of Allah, who is the ocean of wisdom, ordered that a healthy person avoid things that cause disease in order to protect himself by Allah’s decree, just as he forbade a patient afflicted with a contagious disease from being with healthy people so that they would not spread the disease and make them sick.
This meaning is perfectly consistent with the following hadith: “The diseased should not be with the healthy!” (Bukhari, Tibb, 54; Muslim, Salam, 104)
In this hadith, the Messenger of Allah -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- forbade the owner of diseased camels from placing them next to healthy camels. The reason for this is the occurrence of contagion by Allah’s decree. Therefore, Islam accepts the phenomenon of contagion in material entities. It even accepts the phenomenon of contagion in spiritual matters.
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “A person follows the religion of his friend, so you should pay attention to whom you befriend!” (Abu Dawud, Adab, 16/4833; Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 45/2378)
“Only befriend a believer and associate with him! And only eat the food of those who are righteous.” (Abu Dawood, Adab, 16/4832; Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 56/2395)
“Every child is born in a state of pure faith (fitra); then his parents make him Jewish, Christian, or Magian…” (Bukhari, Janaiz, 80; Muslim, Qadar, 22)
(This happens) because the parents cause their child to join them by being with Jews, Christians, and Majusi.” (Aliyyu’l-Kari, On Hadiths Agreed Upon as Fabricated, comp. Abdü’l-Fettâh Abu Ghuddah, tr. H. Ibrahim Kutlay, Istanbul: Inkılâb, 2012/1434, pp. 65-67)
THERE IS NO BAD LUCK
The Messenger of Allah -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- forbade people from attributing bad luck to certain things and emphasized looking at everything with a good and positive perspective. One day, he said: “–There is no bad luck. I prefer to interpret it as something good.” The companions asked: “–What is interpreting it as something good (tafa’ul)?” The Messenger of Allah -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- replied: “–It is a beautiful and positive word.” (Bukhari, Tibb, 19; Muslim, Salam, 102)
Another time, bad luck was mentioned in the presence of Allah’s Messenger -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem-. The Messenger of Allah -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- said: “–The best is to interpret it as something good. Bad luck should not deter anyone from their endeavor.” If any of you sees something he dislikes, let him say:
اَللّٰهُمَّ لَا يَأْتِي بِالْحَسَنَاتِ إِلَّا أَنْتَ وَلاَ يَدْفَعُ السَّيِّئَاتِ إِلَّا أَنْتَ وَلاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِكَ
“O Allah! You alone bring good things; and You alone avert evil. There is no power nor strength except in You.” (Abu Dawood, Tibb, 24/3919)
Another companion said: “–There are people among us who believe in bad luck.” The Messenger of Allah said to him: “–This is a feeling they have in their hearts. Let this feeling not prevent them from their work!” (Muslim, Masajid, 33)
The Messenger -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- during the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah, which could not be concluded, saw Suhayl bin Amr, who was representing the polytheists, and took tafa’ul (interpreted it as ease) from the meaning of ease in his name, saying, “Your affair has been made easy.” (Bukhari, Shurut, 15)
STARTING EVERYTHING FROM THE RIGHT SIDE
Aisha (r.a.) said: “The Messenger of Allah used to prefer starting from the right side when putting on shoes, combing his hair and beard, performing ablution, and in all his affairs.” (Bukhari, Wudu’, 31)
The Messenger of Allah preferred tafa’ul, hoping for good things, and did not accept bad luck. As stated in the Quran that the people of Paradise are the Ashab al-Yamin: the people of the right side, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) also preferred to start from the right side as much as possible in his worldly affairs with the desire to be among them.
The Prophet -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- said: “All nations were shown to me, and I saw one prophet passing by with a nation. A prophet passed by, with a group. A prophet passed by, with ten people. A prophet passed by, alone. Then I looked and saw a very large crowd…”
“O Jibril! Are these my Ummah?” I asked. He said: “No, but look towards the horizon!” When I looked, I saw a very large crowd. Jibril (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “These are your Ummah. There is no reckoning or punishment for these seventy thousand people who are ahead of you.” I said: “Why?” He said: “Because they do not seek treatment with fire, they do not ask anyone to perform ruqya (healing by recitation) for them (because seeking benefit from creation in such a situation is an obstacle to true tawakkul), they do not believe in bad luck. They only have tawakkul in their Lord!” When the Prophet -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- said this, Ukasha bin Mihsan immediately stood up and said: “O Messenger of Allah! Pray that I be among them.” The Messenger of Allah -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem- said: “May Allah make you among them.” Then another companion stood up and said: “Pray that I be among them as well.” The Messenger of Allah said: “Ukasha has preceded you in this regard.”