Contagion (adwa)

Linguistically, adwa is a sickness passing from its owner to another, and the technical sense is the same ¹.

Disease (marad) is weakness and the opposite of health; in juristic usage it is what befalls the body and takes it out of its normal state. Disease can be a cause of contagion ¹.

Most scholars hold that disease does not pass by its own nature but by God's act and decree. They reconcile the hadith 'no contagion' with the hadith 'the diseased should not be brought to the healthy': the first denies contagion by nature, the second directs keeping away from what customarily causes harm by God's decree ^{1 2}. Umar and a group of early scholars deny contagion ²; another group affirms it, and holds that preserving lives, limbs, property and honour from ruinous causes is obligatory ³. Fear of something other than God is not forbidden unless it prevents an obligatory act or leads into a forbidden one, and entering a land of plague is forbidden ². If a spouse is struck by a contagious illness such as leprosy, the majority give the other spouse an option to annul the marriage if this happened before the contract ³.

Contagious disease and leprosy are treated under their own entries, and the spousal option is discussed there ³.