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Fatwa CenterDisease Mentioned in Soorah TaHa [20: 97]
Question
In Surah TaHa, [20: 97] Prophet Moses , Moses warns Samiri that he is going to be affected by a very harmful and strange disease, but the name of the disease is not mentioned. What is the disease? What is the name of it in English?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Allah Says (what means): {[Moses] said, "Then go. And indeed, it is [decreed] for you in [this] life to say, 'No contact.' And indeed, you have an appointment [in the Hereafter] you will not fail to keep. And look at your 'god' to which you remained devoted. We will surely burn it and blow it into the sea with a blast.} [Quran 20: 97]
The verse is reporting Musa's saying to Samiri when he made a statue of a calf for Beni Israel and claimed that it was their god. Thus, his punishment in this life was to say: 'No contact.'
Imam Ash-Shawkani said in his Tafseer that the verse means: 'As long as you live, no one will touch you and you should not touch anyone. This is not your own choice, but a punishment inflicted by Allah upon you. Allah ordered Musa to exile him away from mankind and ordered Beni Israel not to mix or talk to him as a punishment of Allah. It is also said that when Musa ordered him to do so, Samiri ran away in the desert to be with beasts of prey and wild animals, not finding any human being who could touch him; so he became as the one who says 'no touch of human being' as he was very far from human beings and human beings were far from him.” [End of quote]
Imam Ash-Shawkani also said: “What is meant by the words 'No contact.' could be one of the following three points:
a) It is made forbidden for him to touch people.
b) People were ordered to keep away from him.
c) It means his progeny will not continue since he was not able to touch his wife. This is reported from Abu Muslim: it is a very weak opinion.”
Imam Al-Qurtubi said: “He was afflicted by insinuation and the origin of insinuation is from that time.” Qatadah said: “Such people still exist, they say to others "do not touch us"; if a person touched one of them both became feverish at the same time.”
It is probable that the diseases that struck Samiri were insinuation or fever. But they do not afflict him unless he touches somebody else or somebody else touches him.
Allah knows best.
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