“As far as I’m aware, there exist no records of effective specifications or official legal procedures aimed at counteracting the symptoms of plague or maintaining any kind of normal life in countries that are affected. The reason is that regimes in the Maghrib, and I suspect in the eastern regions as well, are, unlike their European equivalents, incapable of intervening to control the spread of the plague and taking steps to prevent its spread, most especially when those regimes are in the latter stages of decline or almost so. As a result, the knowledge that we possess on this particular topic is of no use to us in assessing the enormous impact of the disaster or its extent across time and place.
“When we consider accounts from chroniclers and annalists, we are no better off. Figures that purport to compute the number of dead and descriptions that more often than not include biased and irrelevant impressions force us to make up for their patent deficiencies with speculative and approximate estimates of the full scope of the disaster.
“What is abundantly clear is that the loss of population resulting from the plague has its maximum impact on the poor quarters. It is the weakest and most downtrodden segment of society that is hardest hit. The primary reason, of course, is the foul air quality, but as Ibn al-Khatib noted, it is also the result of ‘the fact that houses are cramped and built close together without any planning or attempts at proper preservation, due to rampant ignorance, and a complete lack of knowledge about such matters among the poorest classes.’
“On the other hand, wealthy people have fairly minimal exposure to the terrors of the plague, in large part because they stay inside their houses or else go to their estates in the countryside where they are far removed from the people most affected. Even so, they too are negatively impacted by the plague since the revenues from farming and estates diminish due to a fall in demand in the marketplace and the inflation of prices exacted by the rescuing hands of civilized society.
“My personal beliefs and the tenets of my legal school tell me that, absent a settled populace and incentives, there can be no real civilization. When a country is afflicted by plague, earnings, profitable employment, services, and all types of life support are negatively affected.
“At this point, Hammu, I have to mention the two postures that intellectuals adopt when confronted with plague and death.
“The first of them involves the implementation of basic medical procedures aimed at lowering the plague fever by using water and vinegar to freeze the blisters behind the ears and knees and under the armpits till they start to bleed and the noxious fluids dry up. This works only if the symptoms are external. However, if the fever hits the lungs, then there’s nothing medicine can do about it. In all cases, doctors are agreed that prevention is better than cure. The intelligent Muslim is enjoined to protect himself against the likelihood of contracting the plague before it happens and to take all possible steps to prevent its spread once it has struck. In such circumstances it is absolutely essential to follow the advice of medical specialists, such counsel being a gift from God Himself. Such advice may include improving air quality by using fumigants to lower pollution levels, maintaining bodily health by eating appropriate foods, keeping houses well aired, and supporting the community’s way of life by steering well clear of its more heedless and overcrowded activities.
“The second posture involves a resort to the consolation of faith, one that derives its effectiveness from the very weaknesses of the medical approach. This disease shows no discrimination in its hunger for death, and there is no cure. Faced with that reality, all mankind can do is to acknowledge it through the radical and absolute treatment that takes the form of faith. It is for that reason that a wide variety of judicial experts have opined that anyone who dies of the plague is a martyr in the path of God.
“This second posture is truly exemplary in the way that it provides support and comfort for the soul. It encourages people to read the Qur’an, to say prayers, and even to wear emerald rings embossed with some of the beautiful names of God Almighty: Ό God, Living, Prudent, Wise, Compassionate.’ Even so, the wisdom of such measures in no way vitiates or challenges the efficacy of medicine.”
“Master, shall I mention the advice that al-Tabari gives on this topic, namely putting an elephant’s tooth on children as a way of keeping the plague at bay?”
“Don’t bother with that. Note down instead that ‘prayer is the preferred weapon of the believer.’ But God Almighty has said: Say, O people, act in accordance with your station. I am acting, and you will know. The grounds for legalizing activity in this field associated with colossal disasters is to encourage the development of knowledge about the plague in its terrestrial aspects rather than its heavenly or other ones, and to prevent its spread among humanity as the result of ignorance and contagion. This should remain the case until such time as mankind can acquire the ability to overcome the disease or mitigate its effects.
“There are specialists in law and hadith who claim that the plague is caused by a pinprick from the jinn and who deny the possibility of contagion as being contrary to observation, feeling, experience, and research. Concerning such people I am reminded of an apt comment that Ibn al-Khatib made on several occasions: ‘Ignoring the things that science tells us is an act of malice, a taunt against God Himself, and an insult to the hearts of all Muslims.’
“Just a minute more before we finish. It’s not correct to attribute all the earthly causes of the plague to foul, humid air alone. Another factor involves symptoms of senility in a political regime, circumstances that are often characterized by unjust taxation and levies that oppress farmers and result in reduced activity and then total collapse. That in turn leads to food shortages, inflation, and rebellion, followed by famines and plagues. Politicians bear a large responsibility for this chain of events. That’s why human beings should, to the extent that they can, take all possible precautions.”
With that, ‘Abd al-Rahman stretched out on a cushion, repeating his last phrase “take all possible precautions” over and over again. To that he added:
The world is a garden, with the regime as its fence. The regime consists of a ruler appointed according to custom. Custom is a policy controlled by the king, who is a kind of shepherd supported by the army. The army in turn consists of helpers who are compensated with money. Money takes the form of income collected by the people. The people are people of God served by justice. Justice is a known quantity, it being the mainstay of the world. The world is a garden, with the regime as its fence.
There was now an abrupt silence, and it lasted for a while. Sitting there on the roof, the two men were being wafted by the warm night air; their canopy was the entire firmament with its gleaming stars. Al-Hihi made sure that his master had fallen asleep, then called for Sha‘ban and asked him to help carry their master down into the house. Sha‘ban informed him that his master had given him instructions to leave him on the roof whenever he fell asleep there. The two men wrapped up ‘Abd al-Rahman in a blanket, then went downstairs where for the first time ever they had a quiet conversation.
“Are you happy, Sha‘ban, working for the Master?’
“Happy and satisfied. Thank God, he is the best of men!”
“Take this as an expression of gratitude for looking after my wife.”
“My master pays me for that. I won’t accept any more.”
“But it’s just between the two of us.”
“And that’s another reason for my not accepting it.”