Musnad Ahmad — Hadith #44619

Abu Al-Yaman Al-Hakam bin Nafi’ told us, Abu Bakr bin Abdullah told us, on the authority of Rashid bin Saad, on the authority of Hamra bin Abdul Kulal, He said: Omar ibn al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, walked to the Levant after his first journey. He was there until, when he approached it, he and those with him were informed that The plague broke out in it, so his companions told him to go back and do not attack him, for if you came down with it while he was in it, we would not see you the signs about it, so he left and returned. He went to Medina and went off that night, and I was the closest of the people to him. When he left, I followed him with him, and I heard him say They sent me back from the Levant after I had approached it, because there was a plague there, and my turning away from it would not delay my term, and his arrival would not hasten my term. If I had arrived at Medina and had finished with the needs I had to do, I would have walked until I entered the Levant and then camped at Homs. For I heard the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, saying, “On the Day of Resurrection, God will raise from it seventy thousand, on whom will be no account or punishment.” Their mission is upon them, between the olive trees and their walls, in the red fields thereof.