Mukhtasar Muslim

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) set out towards Syria. When he reached (the place) Sargh (which is a village on the edge of Hijaz adjacent to Syria), the people of Ajnad met him (Ajnad refers to the five cities of Syria: Palestine, Jordan, Damascus, Homs, and Qinnasrin). Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) and his companions informed him that a plague had spread in the land of Syria. Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Call the earliest Muhajirun before me." (The earliest Muhajirun are those who prayed towards both Qiblahs.) I called them. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) consulted them and informed them that a plague had spread in the land of Syria. They differed. Some said, "You have set out for an important task, so we do not consider it appropriate for you to return." Some said, "With you are those who remain from the earliest people and are companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and we do not consider it appropriate to take them into a land of plague." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Now you may go." Then he said, "Call the people of the Ansar." I called them, and he consulted them. The Ansar also followed the way of the Muhajirun and differed in the same way. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "You may go." Then he said, "Now call the elders of the Quraysh who became Muslim before the conquest of Makkah or (at the time of) the conquest." I called them, and not even two among them differed; all said, "We consider it appropriate that you return with the people and do not expose them to the plague." Finally, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) announced among the people that "In the morning I will mount my camel (and return to Madinah), so you also mount." Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Are you fleeing from the decree of Allah?" Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I wish someone else had said this (or if someone else had said it, I would have punished him) { اور سیدنا عمر رضی اللہ عنہ برا جانتے تھے ان کا خلاف کرنے کو } Yes, we are fleeing from the decree of Allah to the decree of Allah. If you have camels and you enter a valley with two sides, one side is green and lush and the other is dry and barren, and you let your camels graze on the green and lush side, you grazed them by the decree of Allah, and if you let them graze on the dry and barren side, you also grazed them by the decree of Allah." (The meaning of Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) is that just as there is no blame on the shepherd, rather his action is praiseworthy that he gave comfort to the animals, similarly I am also a shepherd of my people, so I take them to the land that seems good, and this action is not against the decree, rather it is exactly the divine decree.) At that moment, Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Auf (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived, and he had gone for some work. He said, "I have evidence regarding this issue. I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'When you hear that a plague has broken out in a land, do not enter it, and if it breaks out in the land where you are, do not flee from it.'" Upon hearing this, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) thanked Allah (that his opinion coincided with the hadith) and returned.