الفرار من الطاعون

Avoiding Plague-Stricken Land

Therapeutic Practice Hygiene & Prevention

Guidance not to enter a land where plague has broken out, and not to flee a land you are already in once it has broken out there — an early quarantine principle.

sahih graded

إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ بِهِ بِأَرْضٍ فَلَا تَقْدَمُوا عَلَيْهِ، وَإِذَا وَقَعَ بِأَرْضٍ وَأَنْتُمْ بِهَا فَلَا تَخْرُجُوا فِرَارًا مِنْهُ

“If you hear of it [the plague] in a land, do not go to it; and if it breaks out in a land you are already in, do not leave fleeing from it.” (meaning, not a literal translation)

Sahih al-Bukhari 5728–5730; Sahih Muslim 2218 Sahih

Reported during Caliph 'Umar's journey to Syria, when he turned back on hearing of an outbreak there after consulting the companions on this hadith.

Ibn al-Qayyim's Commentary

Classical and modern commentators alike read this as an early articulation of movement restriction to contain contagion — staying put rather than either advancing into or fleeing an outbreak zone.

Caution

Follow current public-health authority guidance during any real outbreak; this is a historical principle, not a substitute for official epidemic response.