The Messenger of Allah ﷺ visited an Arabi who was suffering from a fever, to check on him. He said, "It is an expiation and a purification."The Arabi replied, "Rather, it is a raging fever upon an old man, driving him to the grave."So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood up and left him.
أن رسول الله ﷺ دخل على أعرابي يعوده، وهو محموم فقال: كفارة وطهور فقال الأعرابي: بل حمى تفور على شيخ كبير، تزيره القبور. فقام رسول الله ﷺ وتركه.
Imam Ahmad narrated it (13616) from Affan, who said, Hammad bin Salama told us, Abu Rabia told us, from Anas, and he mentioned it. Its chain is hasan because of Abu Rabia, who is Sinan bin Rabia Bahili, about whom there is disagreement, though his hadith is hasan, especially when supported by corroborating narrations. Haythami said in Majma (2/299), "Ahmad narrated it, and its narrators are trustworthy."As for what was narrated from Shurahbil, who said, "We were sitting with the Prophet ﷺ when a tall, fair-skinned bedouin came to him. He said, 'O Messenger of Allah, an old man suffering from a raging fever that sends him to visit the graves.' The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'An old man suffering from a raging fever, it is an atonement and a purification for him.' The man repeated his statement, and the Prophet ﷺ repeated his reply, and this happened three or four times. The Prophet ﷺ then said, 'Since you insist, it is as you say, and whatever Allah has decreed will come to pass.'" He said, "By the evening of the next day, he was dead."Its chain contains narrators who are not known. Tabarani narrated it in Al-Kabir (7/366–367) from Abbas bin Fadl Asfati, who said, Abu Awn Ziyadi told us, Hammad bin Yazid Minqari told us, from Makhlad bin Uqba bin Shurahbil, from his grandfather Shurahbil, and he mentioned it. Haythami said in Majma (2/307), "Tabarani narrated it in Al-Kabir, and it contains someone I do not know."Hafiz mentioned it in Fath al-Bari (6/625) and said, "Tabarani and others narrated it through the narration of Shurahbil, the father of Abdul-Rahman, and he mentioned something similar to the hadith of Ibn Abbas." I say, if the Hafiz means by this the hadith mentioned above, then it is not similar to the hadith of Ibn Abbas, rather it is its opposite. In the hadith of Ibn Abbas, the Prophet ﷺ visited the bedouin, while in the hadith of Shurahbil, the bedouin visited the Prophet ﷺ.He also said in Fath al-Bari (10/119), after narrating it from the hadith of Shurahbil, "Dulabi narrated it in Al-Kuna, and Ibn Sakan in Al-Sahaba, with the wording, 'The Prophet ﷺ said, "Whatever Allah has decreed will come to pass," and the bedouin was found dead the next morning.'"