English Translation

Abdullah narrated to us: My father narrated to me: Ismail narrated to us, from Ayyub, from Abu Qilabah, that the plague broke out in Syria. Amr ibn al-As said, 'This affliction has occurred, so flee from it into the mountain passes and the valleys.' This reached Muadh, and he did not believe him in what he had said, but said, 'Rather it is a martyrdom and a mercy and the supplication of your Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: O Allah, grant Muadh and his family their share of Your mercy.' Abu Qilabah said: So I understood the martyrdom and I understood the mercy, but I did not know what the supplication of your Prophet was, until I was informed that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, while praying one night, said in his supplication, 'Then a fever or a plague, then a fever or a plague,' three times. When morning came, a person from his family said to him, 'O Messenger of Allah, I heard you last night supplicating with a supplication.' He said, 'And you heard it?' He said, 'Yes.' He said, 'I asked my Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, not to destroy my nation with a famine, and He granted it to me. I asked Him not to set over them an enemy from other than themselves who would overwhelm them, and He granted it to me. And I asked Him not to divide them into sects and make some of them taste the violence of others, but He refused me,' or he said, 'He withheld it from me, so I said: Then a fever or a plague, a fever or a plague, a fever or a plague,' three times.