পৃষ্ঠা 95: প্রথম অধ্যায়: দূরবর্তী আলামতসমূহ যা ইতিমধ্যে প্রকাশ পেয়ে অতিক্রান্ত হয়েছে

The second: The Plague of 'Amwas. 'Amwas is pronounced with an unpointed fatḥah on the 'ayn, sukun on the mim (which is sometimes vowelled), a lightened waw, and ending with an unpointed sin; it is the name of a locality in the Levant (al-Sham).

It occurred during the Caliphate of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) in the seventeenth year [of the Hijrah], or it is said: in the eighteenth year. Twenty-five thousand individuals from the Muslim army perished in it, or it is said: thirty thousand. It was also said that it was named the Plague of 'Amwas because it did not befall any place other than what befell it, as related by al-Hafiz 'Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi.

Sayf ibn 'Umar mentioned on the authority of his teachers, who said: When the Plague of 'Amwas occurred, it struck twice in a manner never seen before, and its duration was prolonged. It broke out in the Levant during the months of Muharram and Safar, then subsided, and then returned. A multitude of people perished in it, to the point that the enemy grew covetous, and the hearts of the Muslims were filled with dread on that account.

Sayf said: That same year, a plague also struck the people of Basra, and a great many human beings and a vast multitude perished.

In "Mir'at al-Zaman": In the eighteenth year, a group of Muslims in the Levant consumed wine, so Abu 'Ubaydah flogged them by the command of 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). At that time, 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) remarked: "A calamity will surely happen this year." Thereupon, the plague broke out.

Hisham said: The plague occurred in the Levant solely because of those who consumed wine.

Among the prominent Companions who died in the Plague of 'Amwas were: Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Shurahbil ibn Hasanah, al-Fadl ibn al-'Abbas (the cousin of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)), Abu Malik al-Ash'ari, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan (the brother of Mu'awiyah), al-Harith ibn Hisham (the brother of Abu Jahl), Abu Jandal (who arrived on the Day of al-Hudaybiyyah stumbling in his shackles), and Suhayl ibn 'Amr (who stood up in Makkah on the day the Prophet (ﷺ) passed away to keep the people steadfast, and he was the father of Abu Jandal).

Among the poetry composed concerning the Plague of 'Amwas is the verse of Imru' al-Qays, Hushaysh al-Kindi, which was cited by Abu Hudhayfah al-Bukhari in the book "al-Mubtada'" and by Ibn 'Asakir in his "Tarikh":

"Many a lean, crescent-like riding beast, and many a noble, chaste maiden in the winding valley of 'Amwas."