it offers a tremendous benefit: when a person bears with patience the loss of someone dear, his reward is nothing short of Paradise. And Allah is the One who grants success.
- ʿĀʾishah (Allah be pleased with her) reported that she asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about plague. He informed her that it had originally been a punishment which Allah sends upon whom He wills, but that He has made it a mercy for the believers. Therefore, any servant who is overtaken by plague and remains in his land patient, seeking reward, and certain that nothing will afflict him except what Allah has decreed, will receive a reward equal to that of a martyr. (Reported by al-Bukhari)
Explanation
The compiler—may Allah the Exalted have mercy on him—includes among the ḥadiths on patience the report of ʿĀʾishah (Allah be pleased with her). She asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about plague, and he told her that it is a punishment Allah, glorified and exalted, sends upon whomsoever He wills among His servants.
As for the plague, some scholars say it is a specific disease, while others maintain that the term covers any widespread epidemic that descends upon a land, strikes its people, and causes deaths.
Whether it is a particular illness or any general epidemic such as cholera and the like, plague in essence is a punishment that Allah has sent. Yet it becomes a mercy for the believers: if it befalls their land and they stay there patient and seeking reward, knowing that nothing will reach them except what Allah has written for them, then Allah records for them