A: According to the people of knowledge, these are authentic Hadiths of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and they do not contradict each other. He said, There is no 'Adwa (no contagious disease is conveyed without Allah's permission), nor is there any bad omen (from birds), nor is there any Hamah i.e. a kind of birds that the Arabs used to see as a bad omen, nor is there any bad omen in the month of Safar, nor is there a star promising rain, or an ogre. This rejects the pre­Islamic beliefs that contagious diseases such as scabies are contagious by themselves and that anyone who mixes with the sick will be afflicted with the same sickness. This is false, as it occurs because Allah wills and ordains so. As it is known, the person may mix with the sick and they will not be afflicted. Thus, when the Prophet (peace be upon him) was asked about mixing the healthy camels and the camels afflicted with scabies, he replied that, Who infected the first one? With regard to his saying, One should run away from the leper as one runs away from a lion and the other report in which he narrated, The sick should not be brought to the healthy (i.e. the owner of a sick camel should not mix it with the healthy camels), they show that it is impermissible to believe that contagious disease transfers without Allah's permission. However,

it is permissible for the individual to take the necessary precautions to avoid evil. Among these precautions are keeping away from anyone who is afflicted with a contagious disease such as scabies and leprosy, which may transfer to the healthy one with Allah's permission and preventing the healthy camels from coming across the camels afflicted with scabies. These precautions should be taken to avoid the Satan's whispers, which may make the one think that the illness is caused because of the contagious disease.