Yūnus also relates from Ibn Isḥāq that:
“When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ reached Madinah it was an unhealthy place (1); his Companions were stricken there by hardship and illness until it almost overcame them, whereas Allah warded it off from His Prophet ﷺ.”

It is authentically established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs (2) from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions arrived [on the morning of the fourth day—that is, in Makkah—during the year of the ʿUmrah of Compensation] (3). The idolaters then remarked, ‘A delegation is coming to you who have been weakened by the fever of Yathrib.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ therefore instructed them to jog (raml) and to walk between the two corners, and nothing prevented him from telling them to jog the entire circuit except his compassion for them.”

I say: The ʿUmrah of Compensation occurred in Dhū al-Qaʿdah of the seventh year. Either the Prophet’s ﷺ supplication to move the epidemic was delayed until shortly before that, or the sickness had been lifted but a few traces of it remained, or the Companions still felt the after-effects of what had earlier befallen them up to that time. Allah knows best.

Ziyād likewise transmits from Ibn Isḥāq (4): Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī reported on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions entered Madinah they were struck by its fever until illness severely exhausted them, yet Allah spared His Prophet ﷺ from it—to the extent that they would only pray while seated. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out and found them praying in that state, whereupon he said:

“Be aware that the prayer of one who is seated counts for half the reward of the prayer of one who is standing.”

Thereupon the Muslims forced themselves to stand despite their weakness and sickness, seeking the greater merit.

Section: On his ﷺ establishing harmony between the Emigrants (Muhājirūn) and the Helpers (Anṣār) through the written covenant he ordered to be drafted among them; on the pact of brotherhood he enjoined and confirmed upon them; and on his treaty of non-aggression with the Jews who were in Madinah.

Among the Jewish clans present were Banū Qaynuqāʿ, Banū al-Naḍīr, and Banū Qurayẓah. Their settlement in the Ḥijāz preceded that of the Anṣār, dating back to the time of Bukht Naṣṣar (Nebuchadnezzar), when he devastated the lands of Jerusalem, as al-Ṭabarī records (5). Later, when the flood of the Dam dispersed the people of Sabaʾ and scattered them far and wide, the Aws and Khazraj came to Madinah, settled alongside the Jews, allied themselves with them, and even sought to imitate them because they saw the advantage the Jews possessed in the knowledge handed down from the prophets. Yet Allah bestowed His favor upon those Arab tribes—who had been idolaters—by guiding them to the truth of Islam, while He forsook the others on account of their envy, transgression, and arrogant refusal to follow the right path.