Whenever Bilāl’s fever abated, he would raise his voice and say:
[Ṭawīl]
Would that I knew—shall I ever spend a night (1)
In a valley ringed with sweet idhkhir and jalīl?
And shall I one day reach the waters of Majannah, (2)
And will Shāmah and Tufayl again appear to me?
ʿĀʾishah said:
“I went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and informed him of this. He then prayed:
‘O Allah, make Madinah beloved to us as You have made Makkah beloved—or even more so. Grant it sound health, bless us in its sāʿ and its mudd, and transfer its fever; place it in al-Juhfah.’ ”
Muslim (3) records this—through Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah from Hishām—in abridged form.
Al-Bukhārī (4) also narrates it, through Abū Salamah from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, and adds after Bilāl’s verses:
“Bilāl would then say: ‘O Allah, curse ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah, and Umayyah ibn Khalaf, for they drove us from our land to a land of sickness.’
Thereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed:
‘O Allah, make Madinah beloved to us as You have made Makkah beloved—or even more so. O Allah, bless us in its sāʿ and its mudd, grant it health, and transfer its fever to al-Juhfah.’ ”
She continued: “We arrived in Madinah when it was the most fever-ridden land of Allah, and the stream of Bathān ran with stagnant, brackish water. (6)
Ziyād relates from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (7): Hishām ibn ʿUrwah and ʿUmar (8) ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUrwah [transmitted] from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr that ʿĀʾishah said: ‘When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ reached Madinah, it was the most fever-stricken land of Allah. His Companions were severely afflicted, yet Allah spared His Prophet.
Abū Bakr, ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah, and Bilāl—the two freedmen of Abū Bakr—were all lodging in one house, and the fever struck them. I went in to visit them—this was before the veil had been mandated—and they were suffering with a fever so intense that only Allah knows its severity.
I drew near to my father and asked, “Father, how do you feel?”
He answered:
[Rajaz]
Every man greets the morning among his people,
Yet death is nearer to him than the strap of his sandal.”