The Behaviour of Muslims during Pandemics of the Past

as-salam alaikum
Zameel you did two years at Med school..... what's your take on this post?

oh dear.... he wrote that?
should have stayed on at med school a bit longer....

Here is a translation of a Fatwa from Allamah Ibn Lubb (rahmatullahi alayh), one of the leading scholars of Andalus (Spain) during the 8th Century AH, much of which bears a great deal of relevance to the current pandemic with which Allah is testing (and exposing) the Ummah. A few brief biographical sketches of the Allamah are given after the translation:

“He (Allamah Ibn Lubb) was asked regarding those upon whom had befallen a pandemic and they fled from some of what was obligatory upon them from the rights of their brothers due to what they had witnessed with their own eyes of the rapid spread of the pandemic amongst the majority (of the population). Do they have any leeway or not in this situation (to have abandoned their duty towards others and ultimately towards Allah Ta’ala)? They had witnessed in some places the perishing of all (i.e. the entire population).”

He (rahimahullah) answered:

reliablefatwas.com/2020/03/29/the-pandemic-of-the-year-449-hijri/

NEVER in the entire, 1400 year history of this Ummah, throughout its numerous plagues, epidemics, and pandemics, did a single Faqeeh (jurist), nor even a single Munaafiq (a *no takfeer* masquerading as a Muslim) scholar, ever dare to come out and declare the suspension of Jumuah or the daily congregational prayers, as the Ulama-e-Soo’ (evil scholars) have done today, thus laying bare their liberal LGBTQ-like values which hitherto had been camouflaged by deceptively Islamic outer veneers and sound-bites, all in reaction to a so-called pandemic whose fatality rate (1% – 8%) is comparable to the survival rate of some of the real pandemics of the past....

The evil implication that stems directly from the satanic contentions of the proregressive modernists is that Allah Ta’aala is unaware (na’oozubillah) of the realities of His own creation, hence He failed (na’oozubillah!) to provide adequate guidance to His Rasool and to the entire Ummah on how to conduct themselves in the proper manner, in a scenario that Allah Ta’ala has not only enacted on Earth innumerable times since time immemorial, but also during the time of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and his Sahabah (radhiyallahu anhum) when ample opportunity existed for the issuance of further guidance.

The proregressive modernist charlatans who masquerade as Ulama allege, both explicitly and implicitly, that the entire galaxy of Fuqaha (including the Sahabah) for 1400 years had miserably failed to correctly apply the ruling for extreme weather (e.g. rainstorm), or the principle of “la darar”, or the alleged suspension of Hudood by the Sahabah (radhiyallahu anhum), etc. to the scenario of a pandemic, and hence, as a result, they became the terrible cause for the unnecessary deaths of countless people. Allegedly, all of them together, failed in their divinely ordained duty to offer proper guidance on this issue to the masses. This is despite the fact that the entire galaxy of Fuqaha – tens of thousands of the best minds the Ummah had ever produced – had dedicated their entire lives to issuing the proper guidance on every possible scenario based purely on the premise that the Prophetic example which stems from Wahy is perfect.

By this, these vile proregressive modernists imply the imperfection of the message Allah Ta’ala delivered to the Ummah through His Rasool (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), or worse, they impute a lack of knowledge regarding disease to Allah Ta’ala. How is it possible for the entire Ummah, all without exception, to have been so misguided on a straightforward issue that has been a recurring one encountered by mankind ever since the beginning of creation, without imputing imperfection to the guidance issued to this Ummah by Allah Ta’ala through Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and the Sahabah (radhiyallahu anhum), both in general terms and as practically exemplified by their attitude displayed in real life as described in the narrations above?

This was never an area (ie. Jumuah and other related issues) in which Allah Ta’ala had ordained for there to be some legitimate form of difference in which there was scope for ijtihaad. No one engaged in ijtihaad in this sphere simply because the example and conduct of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and the Sahabah (radhiyallahu anhum) in the two incidents described above and also in the plague at Amwaas was so glaringly unambiguous and obvious. Hence, there never existed any dissenting opinion on this issue despite the extreme severity of the innumerable epidemics to have hit this Ummah.

The Fuqaha have said that searching for the lone and anomalous opinions of the scholars is an act that expels one from the fold of Islam. Rejecting the broad agreement of the Fuqaha on any matter, in favour of a solitary and errant ruling issued by even a genuine Faqeeh (jurist), is tantamount to rejecting Allah Ta’ala and His Rasool (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). However, on the subject of pandemics there does not exist even an anomalous and errant ruling that could hint even vaguely at the variety of satanic measures instituted by the Ulama-e-Soo’ today. Thus the extent of the villainy and evil perpetrated by these modernists can never be overstated.

While detailed guidance is found in Allah’s Shariah on the exact circumstances an individual is permitted to miss congregational prayers, the Shariah’s guidance in the scenario of a pandemic matches in exactitude the attitude displayed by Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and the Sahabah (radhiyallahu anhum) in the narrations above. No special measures other than increasing one’s ibaadah (worship) were adopted during an epidemic or a plague. Hence this has been precisely the attitude adopted by the entire Ummah, from its very inception....