with them.
ʿUmar said to him, “Eat from what is right in front of you—on your own side; for had it been anyone other than you, he would not have shared a single platter with me, and between us there would have been the reach of a spear.” (1)
Al-Waqidī narrates the same report through Ibn Abī Zinād, from his father, from Khārijah, in similar wording. (2)
Muʿayqīb lived on into the caliphate of ʿUthmān. Others say he lived until the year 40 AH—may Allah be pleased with him.
It is permissible to withdraw from a leper and to refrain from eating with him, but one should do so in such a way that the leper scarcely notices, for that would grieve him. Whoever nevertheless shares a meal with him—trusting in Allah and relying on Him—is indeed a believer. (3)
103 – Abū Masʿūd al-Badri, ʿUqbah ibn ʿAmr ibn Thaʿlabah* (may Allah be pleased with him).
(1) Reported by Ibn Saʿd, 4/118, through the chain of Yaʿqub b. Ibrahim b. Saʿd al-Zuhri, from his father, with this isnad. All the transmitters are reliable, but the chain is interrupted between Kharija and ʿUmar.
(2) Ibn Saʿd, 4/118.
(3) He is undoubtedly a believer, yet he erred, for it is authentically established that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Flee from the leper as you flee from a lion,” a wording found in the Sahih collections and others. By contrast, the report that the Prophet ﷺ took a leper’s hand and placed it with his own in the dish is weak and should not be used as evidence. It was transmitted by Abu Dawud (3925), al-Tirmidhi (1818), and Ibn Majah (3542); its chain contains al-Mufaddal b. Fadala b. Abi Umayya, who is weak, and scholars have counted this hadith among his objectionable narrations.
(*) Musnad Ahmad, 4/118 and 5/272; Taʾrikh Ibn Maʿin, 410; Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat, 6/16; Khalifa, Tabaqat, 96, 136; Khalifa, Taʾrikh, 202; al-Bukhari, al-Taʾrikh al-Kabir, 6/429; Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa-l-Taʿdil, 6/313; al-Istibsar, 130; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istidhkar, 3/1047; Ibn ʿAsakir, 11/354/1; Ibn al-Athir, Usd al-Ghaba, 4/57 and 6/286; al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal, 948; al-Dhahabi, al-ʿIbar, 1/46; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 7/247-249; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, 7/24; Ibn ʿAbd al-Hadi, Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, 269.