the Anṣār), so supplicate to Allah for me as you did for them.’

He replied, ‘Which would you prefer: that I pray and He remove it from you, or that you remain patient and Paradise be guaranteed to you?’

She said, ‘No, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah. I shall endure it for three [days], and, by Allah, I will not treat His Paradise as something to be put at risk.’

(Muḥammad ibn Yūnus al-Kudaymī is weak in ḥadīth transmission.)

Al-Bayhaqī said: ‘ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdān informed us; Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd aṣ-Ṣaffār informed us; ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal narrated to us; my father narrated to us; Hishām ibn Lāḥiq— in the year 185 AH—narrated to us; ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal narrated to us, from Abū ʿUthmān an-Nahdī, from Salmān al-Fārisī, who said:

Fever sought permission to enter upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He asked, “Who are you?” She replied, “I am fever; I shrivel the flesh and drain the blood.” He said, “Go to the people of Qubāʾ.” So she went to them, and they soon came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, their faces yellowed, complaining of the fever. He said, “What would you like? If you wish, I will pray to Allah and He will lift it from you; or, if you wish, you may leave it and it will erase your sins.” They answered, “Rather, let us leave it, O Messenger of Allah.”

This ḥadīth is not found in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad, nor was it transmitted by any of the authors of the six canonical books.

We have already mentioned at the beginning of the section on the Hijrah that he ﷺ supplicated for the people of Madinah that their fever be transferred to al-Juḥfah, and Allah answered him. Madinah had been one of the most disease-ridden places on earth, and Allah made it healthy through the blessing of his arrival and his prayer for its people—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him.

Another ḥadīth on this topic:

Imām Aḥmad said: Ruḥ narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Abū Jaʿfar al-Madīnī, who said: I heard ʿUmārah ibn Khuzaimah ibn Thābit relate from ʿUthmān ibn Ḥunif:

A blind man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, pray to Allah that He grant me healing.’

He replied, ‘If you wish, I will delay it—and that is better for your Hereafter; or, if you wish, I will pray for you.’

The man said, ‘No—pray to Allah for me, rather.’

So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed him to perform ablution, pray two rakʿahs, and to supplicate with these words:

‘O Allah, I ask You and turn to You by means of Your Prophet Muḥammad, the Prophet of mercy. O Muḥammad, I turn by you to my Lord concerning this need of mine, that it be fulfilled—so accept his intercession for me and accept my intercession through him.’

He would repeat this supplication several times. The narrator added, ‘I think the wording also includes, “accept my intercession through him.”’ The man followed the instructions and was cured.

Aḥmad also transmitted it through another chain—from ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmar, from Shuʿbah—with the same report, but with the wording, ‘O Allah, accept his intercession for me,’ omitting the other phrase. That appears to be the narrator’s mistake—and Allah knows best.