The words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) “There is no ‘adwa” are general in meaning, thus the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) states that there is no contagion (without the permission of Allaah).

‘Adwa (contagion) refers to the spread of a disease from a sick person to a healthy one. What happens in the case of physical diseases may also happen in the case of psychological diseases. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that a bad companion is the like one who operates the bellows: Either he will burn your clothes, or you will notice a bad smell from him.

The words “there is no ‘adwa” include both physical and psychological diseases, even though it is more apparent with regard to physical disease.

The words “no tiyarah (lit. superstitious belief in bird omens)” refers to feeling superstitious because of something that you see, hear or know.

With regard to the words “no haamah”, haamah is interpreted in two ways:

1 – That it is a bird similar to an owl, or an owl. The Arabs believed that if a person was killed, his bones became a haamah that could fly and shriek until he was avenged. Some of them believed that the haamah was the soul of the slain person.

2 – Some of the Arabs said that the haamah was a particular bird, which they regarded as a bad omen. If it landed on the house of one of them and made a sound, they said that it was predicting a death. They believed that this was a sign that that person would die soon. All of these are undoubtedly false beliefs.

The words “No Safar” refers to the month of Safar, which the Arabs used to regard as inauspicious, especially for marriage.

And it was said that it was a stomach disease that affected camels and was transmitted from one camel to another; based on this, mentioning it after ‘adwa (contagion) comes under the heading of mentioning something specific after something general.

It is more likely that what is meant by Safar here is the month, and that what is meant by saying “No Safar” is that it is not to be regarded as inauspicious, rather it is like any other time, during which good or bad things may be decreed.

This does not mean that these things do not happen, because they do happen. Rather it is a statement that they do not have any effect. The One Who causes things to happen is Allaah. If any of these things has a known effect then that is valid and real; if any of them is imagined to have an effect, then that is invalid and false. Thus the hadeeth demonstrates that if there is a valid effect, it cannot be attributed to that thing itself (rather the One Who causes it to happen is Allaah). If the effect is merely imagined, then this hadeeth is stating that it has no effect in the first place.