PESTILENCE

Arabic t̤āʿūn ( طاعون‎ ), wabāʾ ( وباء‎ ). According to the teaching of Muḥammad in the traditions, a pestilence is a punishment sent by God, it is also an occasion of martyrdom, and that Muslim who abides in the place where he is at the time of a pestilence, and dies of it, is admitted to the rank of a martyr. It is also enjoined that Musalmāns shall not enter a place where there is a pestilence raging, but remain where they are until it is pa ed. ( Mishkāt , book v. ch. 1.)