Can COVID-19 enter Makkah and Madinah?

7 min readApr 10, 2020

Can an epidemic enter the two holy cities?

In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Introduction

This is a testing time for the believers in faith because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Allah says in the Quran,

‘Do the people think that they will be left to say, “We believe” and they will not be tried? But We have certainly tried those before them, and Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful, and He will surely make evident those who are false.’ (Surah 29: 2–3)

But a believer should know that Allah tests us to strengthen our Eemaan and to purify us and wash away our sins. The Prophet ﷺ said,

No calamity befalls a Muslim but that Allah expiates some of his sins because of it, even if it were the prick of a thorn. (Bukhari, Muslim)

The Hadith of the Plague

According to healthline, the plague is a serious bacterial infection that can be deadly. Sometimes referred to as the “black plague,” the disease is caused by a bacterial strain called Yersinia pestis. This bacterium is found in animals throughout the world and is usually transmitted to humans through fleas.

As dangerous as the COVID-19 pandemic is, fake news, doubts and wrong knowledge has also led to unease amongst the people of faith. One of the doubts floating around is how could an epidemic breakout in the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah when the Prophet said Dajjal and Ta’un will not enter Madinah or Makkah?

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:لاَ يَدْخُلُ الْمَدِينَةَ الْمَسِيحُ وَلاَ الطَّاعُونُ
The False Messiah (Dajjal) will not enter Medina, neither will pestilence [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5731]

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
لاَ يَدْخُلُ الْمَدِينَةَ الْمَسِيحُ وَلاَ الطَّاعُونُ
The False Messiah (Dajjal) will not enter Medina, neither will pestilence [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5731]

Based on this Hadith, people are confused regarding how can the two holy cities be closed, and it has also led to doubts regarding if COVID-19 or any other pandemic can enter the two holy lands or not.

Explanation of the Hadith

Let’s understand this hadith in the light of Quran and Sunnah. The wording used in the hadith is الطَّاعُونُ which translates to pestilence (a fatal epidemic disease, especially like the bubonic plague).

The wording used in the hadith is الطَّاعُونُ which translates to pestilence (a fatal epidemic disease, especially like the bubonic plague).

The Prophet ﷺ informed us that ‘pestilence’ (ta’un) will not enter Medina, just as the False Messiah will be prohibited from entering Medina. However, pestilence is a severe type of epidemic that is distinct from an ordinary epidemic (waba’).

Ibn al-Qayyim writes:وَالتَّحْقِيقُ أَنَّ بَيْنَ الْوَبَاءِ وَالطَّاعُونِ عُمُومًا وَخُصُوصًا فَكُلُّ طَاعُونٍ وَبَاءٌ وَلَيْسَ كُلُّ وَبَاءٍ طَاعُونًا وَكَذَلِكَ الْأَمْرَاضُ الْعَامَّةُ أَعَمُّ مِنَ الطَّاعُونِInvestigation concludes the difference between ‘epidemic’ and ‘pestilence’ is general and specific. Every pestilence is an epidemic, but not every epidemic is pestilence. Likewise, common diseases are more general than pestilence.Source: al-Ṭibb al-Nabawī 1/31

Therefore, Mecca and Medina are protected from ‘pestilence’ but not ‘epidemics.’ Although the two cities may never experience severe plague the likes of which we see in other parts of the world, the believers nevertheless need to take ordinary precautions to ward off such harm. The Sunnah is to implement measures, such as basic hygiene and quarantines, to prevent disease from spreading within the community.

Sa’d reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ بِالطَّاعُونِ بِأَرْضٍ فَلَا تَدْخُلُوهَا وَإِذَا وَقَعَ بِأَرْضٍ وَأَنْتُمْ بِهَا فَلَا تَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَاIf you hear of a plague in a land, then do not go into it. If it happens in land where you are, then do not go out of it. [Bukhari]Jabir ibn Abdullah reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:غَطُّوا الْإِنَاءَ وَأَوْكُوا السِّقَاءَ فَإِنَّ فِي السَّنَةِ لَيْلَةً يَنْزِلُ فِيهَا وَبَاءٌ لَا يَمُرُّ بِإِنَاءٍ لَيْسَ عَلَيْهِ غِطَاءٌ أَوْ سِقَاءٍ لَيْسَ عَلَيْهِ وِكَاءٌ إِلَّا نَزَلَ فِيهِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ الْوَبَاءِCover the vessels and close the water skins, for there will be night out of the year in which an epidemic descends. It will not pass over an uncovered vessel or an untied water skin but that some of this contagion will fall into it. [Muslim]

A different perspective

There is another interpretation of the hadith of plague by the scholars who say that the wording لاَ يَدْخُلُ الْمَدِينَةَ الْمَسِيحُ وَلاَ الطَّاعُونُ (The False Messiah will not enter Medina, neither will pestilence) means that both Dajjal and plague will not enter Medina together, and it is not to be interpreted as either Dajjal or the plague won’t enter Medina, separately. The explanation given is that when Dajjal (The False Messiah) arrives, there will be a lot of bloodshed, and because of that there would be another plague because of the deceased bodies and hence both Dajjal and plague, together, will not enter Medina during that time.

History of plagues in the Islamic History

There have been three major plague pandemics in recorded history which were followed by cyclical recurrences: the Plague of Justinian (from the mid-sixth century), the Black Death (from the mid-fourteenth century), and the Bombay Plague (from the end of the nineteenth century)
The first full enumeration of epidemics, including plague, was written by Ibn Abi Hajalah in 764/1362.23 Earlier, a Qasidah fi t-ta’un by Baha’ ad-Din as-Subki (d. 756/1355), the chief judge of Damascus during the Black Death, mentions very briefly the plagues in early Islam. Similarly, Ibn al-Wardi, who witnessed the Black Death in Aleppo in 749/1349, refers briefly to the early plagues in his Risalat an-naba’ ‘an al-waba’. The lengthy historical account of Ibn Abi Hajalah was incorporated with modifications into the epilogue of Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani’s (d. 852/1449) important plague treatise, perhaps the most comprehensive and best known such treatise in the later Middle Ages. These two historical summaries of plague epidemics in early Islam were condensed by as-Suyuti (d. 910/1505) in his Md rawdhu l-wd’uin fi akhbar af-ta
The “plague of al- Jairif” or the “Violent Plague” swept through Basrah like a flood about the years 688–689. In Shawwal 69/March-April 689 the plague epidemic was so severe that in three successive days 70,000, 71,000, and then 73,000 died in the city; most men died on the morning of the fourth day after being infected.
Imaam Ibn Katheer [rahimahullaah] said in his book Al-Bidaayah Wan-Nihaayah: “In the year 478AH, diseases were many — fever and plague in Iraq, the Hijaaz and Shaam. The wild animals died and thereafter the livestock. There was fierce black wind and the trees fell. The Khaleefah Al-Muqtadee Bin Amril laah commanded that enjoining good and forbidding evil be revived [i.e. by the authorities (1)] and that the musical instruments be smashed, and thus the plague ceased”
The first cholera epidemic began in the nineteenth century between the years (1817–1824 AD) and was known as “Asian cholera” and erupted from the Indian city of Calcutta to spread throughout Southeast Asia to the Middle East, East Africa and the Mediterranean coast. During this period, thousands of pilgrims died in the epidemic, whose infection moved from its main focus in East and South Asia, to the pilgrimage routes to Mecca, and in the year 1831 AD corresponding to 1246 AH, the epidemic coming from India spread again to claim the lives of many pilgrims.The pilgrimage seasons until 1840 witnessed intermittent seasons of the epidemic, as well as in the period from 1846 to 1850 CE.

Was Hajj stopped before?

Beginning in 983AD, deep-seated political disputes between the ruling powers of the Abbasid Caliphate in Iraq and Syria and the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt stopped Muslims from travelling to Mecca for the pilgrimage of hajj. The power-fighting between the two opposing Muslim empires saw hajj suspended for eight years — it was only in 991AD that Mecca saw the return of pilgrims from around the ummah come back for hajj.
In 1831 hajj was forced to be suspended after a horrifying plague from India swept through Mecca, brought from the very pilgrims who had travelled to perform hajj. Reportedly 75% of the pilgrims in Mecca died from the swift plague, forcing the entire pilgrimage to be suspended in order to help contain and stop the spread of the disease.
In a little over a decade hajj was forced to be suspended at least twice, as the outbreak of cholera forced authorities to stop the pilgrimage. The 1846 cholera outbreak that spread in Mecca killed more than 15,000 Muslims — with infections and the spread of cholera plaguing its residents until 1850. Hajj was forced to be suspended to help stop the spread of disease as well as attend to those who had died. The second 1858 outbreak of cholera saw a similar scenario — this time with many pilgrims forced into make-shift quarantine camps on Egypt’s Red Sea shores.
In 1814, about eight thousand people died as a result of the outbreak of the plague in the country of Hijaz, which led to the interruption of the Hajj in the year of the plague.
Epidemics also broke out in 1837 during the Hajj period, and it continued until 1892, and during that period one thousand pilgrims died every day, according to the Anatolia Agency.

And Allah knows best.