Six hundred years ago, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani - an esteemed Islamic scholar and poet - survived the bubonic plague, which took the lives of three of his children, as well as millions of others throughout the medieval world. Holding up an eerie mirror to our own time, al-Asqalani reflects on the origins of plagues, from those of the Prophet Muhammad's era to the Black Death of his own.
Weaving together accounts of evil jinn, religious stories, medical manuals, poetry, and the author's personal experiences, Merits of the Plague is a profound reminder that with tragedy comes one of the noblest expressions of our humanity: the practice of compassion, patience and care for those around us.
Translation of: Badhl al-måa°åun fåi faòdl al-òtåa°åun; "In general, we relied on Aòhmad °Iòsåam °Abd al-Qåadir al-Kåatib's 1991 Arabic edition of this text. Al-Kåatib consulted several early manuscript versions of the text at libraries in Aleppo, Damascus, and Istanbul--including one from the Sulaymaniyah library that was dated to the summer of 1448, just months before Ibn òHajar's death."--Galley.
