Ibn Shihab reported, from Abdul-Hameed bin Abdul-Rahman bin Zayd bin Khattab, from Abdullah bin Abdullah bin Harith bin Nawfal, from Abdullah bin Abbas, that Umar bin Khattab set out for Syria. When he reached Sargh, the commanders of the army met him, Abu Ubayda bin Jarra and his companions, and they informed him that plague had broken out in Syria.Ibn Abbas said, Umar told me, "Call the earliest emigrants to me."So I called them, and he consulted them and told them that plague had broken out in Syria. They differed among themselves.Some of them said, "You have set out for a purpose, and we do not think you should turn back from it."Others said, "You have with you the remainder of the people and the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and we do not think you should lead them into this plague."Umar said, "Leave me."Then he said, "Call the Ansar to me."So I called them for him, and he consulted them. They followed the same course as the emigrants and differed just as they had differed.Umar said, "Leave me."Then he said, "Call to me whoever is here of the elders of Quraysh, those who emigrated at the conquest."So I called them, and not two men among them differed. They said, "We think you should take the people back and not lead them into this plague."So Umar announced to the people, "In the morning I will be on my mount, so be ready."Abu Ubayda bin Jarra said, "Fleeing from the decree of Allah?"Umar replied, "If only someone other than you had said it, Abu Ubayda." Umar disliked disagreeing with him. "Yes, we flee from the decree of Allah to the decree of Allah. Tell me, if you had camels and they went down into a valley with two slopes, one fertile and the other barren, would you not be grazing them by the decree of Allah if you grazed the fertile side, and grazing them by the decree of Allah if you grazed the barren side?"Then Abdul-Rahman bin Awf arrived, having been absent attending to some need of his, and he said, "I have knowledge about this. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, 'If you hear of it in a land, do not go into it, and if it breaks out in a land where you already are, do not leave in flight from it.'"So Umar bin Khattab praised Allah and departed.In Muamar's version there is an addition. He said that Abu Ubayda also said to him, "Tell me, if he grazed the barren side and left the fertile one, would you be thwarting him?"Umar said, "Yes."Abu Ubayda said, "Then travel on."So he traveled on until he came to Madinah, and he said, "This is the place," or he said, "This is the dwelling, if Allah wills."
و حدثنا إسحق بن إبراهيم ومحمد بن رافع وعبد بن حميد قال ابن رافع حدثنا و قال الآخران أخبرنا عبد الرزاق أخبرنا معمر بهذا الإسناد نحو حديث مالك وزاد في حديث معمر قال وقال له أيضا أرأيت أنه لو رعى الجدبة وترك الخصبة أكنت معجزه قال نعم قال فسر إذا قال فسار حتى أتى المدينة فقال هذا المحل أو قال هذا المنزل إن شاء الله