He reported God's messenger as saying, “There is no infection, no hama, and no serpent in a hungry belly."
A nomadic Arab asked, “Messenger of God, how is it that when camels are in the sand as if they were gazelles* and a mangy camel comes among them it gives them mange?"
God’s messenger replied, “Who infected the first one?"
Bukhari transmitted it.
* The comparison is used to indicate the clearness of their skin.
Narrated Jabir told that he heard the Prophet say:
“There is no infection, no serpent in a hungry belly, and no ghoul.”*
Muslim transmitted it.
* I have used the English word derived from the Arabic ghul. It was used of a creature which was a type of jinni or devil which was believed to appear to people in various forms and lead them astray in the desert and cause their destruction.
He reported God's messenger as saying, “There is no infection, no evil omen, no hama*, and no serpent in a hungry belly*; but flee from one who has tubercular leprosy as you would from a lion."
Bukhari transmitted it.
* The word means an owl, or a night-bird which frequents graves. The pre-Islamic Arabs believed that when vengeance had not been taken for one who had been killed a bird called hama came forth from the dead and screeched demanding vengeance.
** The word is safar. The pre-Islaraic Arabs used the word as meaning a serpent which bites a man from within when he is hungry and causes the sense of stinging a man feels when hungry. It was also used of a serpent within the belly which was believed to cause a disease more contagious than mange or scab.
