There is no Infection

Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said:

لا عدوى ولا طيرة، ولا هامة ولا صفر

There is no infection, no evil omen, no hama, and no serpent in a hungry belly (safar).

Al-Bukhari, al-Sahih, (Riyadh: Darussalam Publishers, 2007) Hadith 5707, 5717 et al.

The hadith is indeed authentic having been related by a number of companions including Abu Huraira, ‘Abdullah b. Mas‘ud, Ibn Abbas, Sa‘d b. Abi Waqqas, Jabir b. Abdullah, ‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar, and Anas b. Malik.

Flee from a Leper

أبا هريرة، يقول: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «لا عدوى ولا طيرة، ولا هامة ولا صفر، وفر من المجذوم كما تفر من الأسد

Related Abu Huraira: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, ‘There is no contagion, nor is there any bad omen (tiyara), nor is there any vermin calling for revenge (hamah), nor is there a serpent in the belly (safar), yet flee from a leper as you would flee from a lion.”

Al-Bukhari, al-Sahih, Hadith 5707

The Owner of Livestock

عن أبي هربرة، أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: لا عدوى، ولا هام، ولا صفر، ولا يحل الممرض على المصح، وليحلل المصح حيث شاء، قال: ولما ذلك، يا رسول الله؟ قال: إنه أذى

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “There is no contagion (‘adwa), nor is there any vermin calling for revenge (hamah), nor is there a serpent in the belly (safar). The owner of sick livestock, however, must not stop at the same place as the owner of healthy livestock, but the owner of healthy livestock may stop wherever he wishes.” They said, “Messenger of Allah, Why is that?” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “(Because) it is harmful.”

Malik b. Anas, al-Muwatta  bi-rwayat Abu Mus‘ab al-Zuhri, (Beirut: al-Resalah Publishers, 1412 AH) Hadith 1989

Hadith of the Bedioun asking about Camels

أن أبا هريرة رضي الله عنه، قال: إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: لا عدوى ولا صفر ولا هامة» فقال أعرابي: يا رسول الله، فما بال إبلي، تكون في الرمل كأنها الظباء، فيأتي البعير الأجرب فيدخل بينها فيجربها؟ فقال: «فمن أعدى الأول؟

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “There is no contagion (‘adwa), nor is there a serpent in the belly (safar), nor is there any vermin calling for revenge (hamah). A bedouin stood up and said, “Then what about my camels? They are like deer on the sand, but when a mangy camel comes and mixes with them, they all get infected with mangy.” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Then who conveyed the (mange) disease to the first one?”

Al-Bukhari, al-Sahih, Hadith 5717

Nothing Infects Another

عن أبي هريرة، قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: ” لا يعدي شيء شيئا، لا يعدي شيء شيئا “، ثلاثا، قال: فقام أعرابي، فقال: يا رسول الله، إن النقبة تكون بمشفر البعير، أو بعجبه، فتشتمل الإبل جربا، قال: فسكت ساعة، ثم قال: ” ما أعدى الأول، لا عدوى، ولا صفر، ولا هامة، خلق الله كل نفس، فكتب حياتها وموتها ومصيباتها ورزقها “

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “One thing does not infect another by its own agency,” repeating it three times. So a Bedouin said: “Messenger of Allah!  When mange effects a camel it spreads to all the camels around.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) paused for a moment and said: “Who caused the first one to be diseased? There is no contagion (‘adwa), nor is there a serpent in the belly (safar), nor is there any vermin calling for revenge (hamah). Allah created every soul, determining its span of life, (time and cause of) its death, its afflictions, and its provisions.”

Ahmad b. Hanbal, al-Musnad, Hadith 8343

A Good Omen

Anas b. Malik reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:There is no transitive disease, no divination, but good omen pleases me. It was said: What is good omen? He said: Sacred words.

وَحَدَّثَنَاهُ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، وَابْنُ، بَشَّارٍ قَالاَ أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ جَعْفَرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، سَمِعْتُ قَتَادَةَ، يُحَدِّثُ عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏”‏ لاَ عَدْوَى وَلاَ طِيَرَةَ وَيُعْجِبُنِي الْفَأْلُ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ قِيلَ وَمَا الْفَأْلُ قَالَ ‏”‏ الْكَلِمَةُ الطَّيِّبَةُ ‏”‏ ‏.‏

Sahih Muslim 2224 b Book 39, Hadith 153

Three Omens

Narrated `Abdullah bin `Umar: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “There is neither ‘Adwa (no contagious disease is conveyed to others without Allah’s permission) nor Tiyara, but an evil omen may be in three a woman, a house or an animal.”

حَدَّثَنِي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا عُثْمَانُ بْنُ عُمَرَ، حَدَّثَنَا يُونُسُ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، عَنْ سَالِمٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ “‏ لاَ عَدْوَى وَلاَ طِيَرَةَ، وَالشُّؤْمُ فِي ثَلاَثٍ فِي الْمَرْأَةِ، وَالدَّارِ، وَالدَّابَّةِ ‏”‏‏.‏

Sahih al-Bukhari 5753 Book 76, Hadith 68

---

Leper Eating

Sheikh Uthaymeen mentioned the following hadith in his Sharh Kitaab al-Tawheed, 2/80 

It was narrated from Jabir bin ‘Abdullah that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) took the hand of a leper and made him eat with him, and said:“Eat, with trust in Allah and reliance upon Allah.”

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرٍ، وَمُجَاهِدُ بْنُ مُوسَى، وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ خَلَفٍ الْعَسْقَلاَنِيُّ، قَالُوا حَدَّثَنَا يُونُسُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا مُفَضَّلُ بْنُ فَضَالَةَ، عَنْ حَبِيبِ بْنِ الشَّهِيدِ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْمُنْكَدِرِ، عَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ أَخَذَ بِيَدِ رَجُلٍ مَجْذُومٍ فَأَدْخَلَهَا مَعَهُ فِي الْقَصْعَةِ ثُمَّ قَالَ ‏ “‏ كُلْ ثِقَةً بِاللَّهِ وَتَوَكُّلاً عَلَى اللَّهِ ‏”‏ ‏.‏

Sunan Ibn Majah » Chapters on Medicine
Grade: Da’if (Darussalam)
English reference: Vol. 4, Book 31, Hadith 3542
Arabic reference: Book 31, Hadith 3671

Al-Ṭabarī said:

“The Salaf disagreed on the authenticity of
this ḥadīth, some of the denied that he (ﷺ) ordered
[people] to keep away from the ill person, whether [the
illness is] leprosy or otherwise. They said: The Messenger of
Allāh ate with a leper and sat [the leper] next to himself. His
rightly-guided companions did the same thing. Ibn Bashār
narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān: Sufyān narrated to us:
From ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin al-Qāsim from his father: “That the
delegation of Thaqīf came to Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq. Food was
brought and one man stepped back. He said: ‘What is with
you?’. He said: ‘A leper.’ So [Abu Bakr] called [the leper] and
ate with him. From Salmān and Ibn ʿUmar that they both
used to make food for the lepers and would eat with them. And from ʿIkrimah that he stepped back from a leper and Ibn
ʿAbbās said to him: ‘O he who goes away, perhaps he is better
than me and you.”

http://abuiyaad.s3.amazonaws.com/health/ibn-battal-contagion-leprosy.pdf

From ʿĀʾishah:

That a woman asked whether the
Messenger of Allāh used to say regarding the lepers, “Flee
from them as you would flee from a lion”? So ʿĀʾishah said:
“No, by Allāh, but he would say: ‘There is no contagion, and
who infected the first one?’ And I had a freed slave who was
afflicted with that disease who would eat out of my bowl,
drink from my vessel and sleep in my place.” They said: Allāh
and His Messenger falsified contagion.

http://abuiyaad.s3.amazonaws.com/health/ibn-battal-contagion-leprosy.pdf

Al-Ṭabarī said:

“That which is correct in our view is what is
authentically reported from him (ﷺ) that he said: ‘There
is no contagion’ and that nothing will afflict a soul except
what has been written for it. As for the sick person coming
close to the healthy person, then it does not necessitate
ailment and sickness for the healthy person. Save that it is
not desirable for a person of health to be close to the leper
and to [one with] an illness which the people dislike. Not
because it is unlawful (ḥarām), but out of the precaution that
a healthy person might think—in the case that he later got
the disease—that his mixing with the [sick person] was the
cause of what afflicted him. This would then lead him to enter into what he (ﷺ) prohibited and what he falsified
from the affair of jāhiliyyah with respect to contagion. And in
his (ﷺ) command to flee from the leper there is no
opposition to his [act of] eating with him, because he would
order with a command from the angle of recommendation
sometimes and from the angle of permissibility at other
times. Then he would leave the action himself [i.e. not abide
by the command] so that it would be known that his
command was not from the angle of obligation (ilzām). He
would prohibit something from the angle of dislike (takarruh,
tanazzuh) sometimes and from the angle of discipline (taʾdīb)
at other times, but then he would do it himself for it to be
known that his prohibition was not from the angle of taḥrīm
(something being made unlawful).”

http://abuiyaad.s3.amazonaws.com/health/ibn-battal-contagion-leprosy.pdf

---

The view that there is no Contagion, is a well known view amongst the early & later generations of Imams – Maalik bin Anas, Abu Ubaydah, Tahaawi, Ibn Khuzaymah, Tabari, Ibn Hajar.