Here’s a follow-up on the previous thread with a list of the major plagues compiled by al-Aṣmaʿī (d. 213 or 216/828 or 831), a philologist from Abbasid Baṣrah. It survives in the Kitāb al-Maʿārif of Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276/889), an early historical almanac. Here’s his list:
-=[An Account of the Plagues and their Occurrences]=-
[1] The first plague in era of Islam was the Plague of Emmaus in the Levant — in it died [the following Companions of the Prophet] Muʿāḏ ibn Jabal along with his son and his two wives and Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ —
[1] The first plague in era of Islam was the Plague of Emmaus in the Levant — in it died [the following Companions of the Prophet] Muʿāḏ ibn Jabal along with his son and his two wives and Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ —
and the Plague of Šīrūyah, son of Khosraw [II], in Iraq at the same time. Both together were in the time of ʿUmar ibn al-Ḫattāb (r. 634-44), though a long time separated the Plague of Šīrūyah and the Plague of Emmaus.
[2] Then came the Plague of the Torrent in time of Ibn al-Zubayr in the year 69 AH [July 688 – June 699], and overseeing Baṣrah in those days was ʿUbaydallāh ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Maʿmar.
[3] Then came the Plague of the Maidens (al-fatayāt)** because it began among the virgins and slave-girls of Baṣrah, Wāsiṭ, the Levant, and Kūfah. In those days al-Ḥajjāj [ibn Yūsuf al-Ṯaqafī] was in Wāsiṭ during the reign of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān.
ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān in the plague or soon thereafter. In it also died Umayyah ibn Ḫālid ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḫālid ibn Asīd, ʿAlī ibn Aṣmaʿ [i.e., al-Aṣmaʿī’s great-grandfather], and Ṣaʿṣaʿah ibn Ḥiṣn. It was also called, “the Plague of the Notables.”
[4] Then came the Plague of ʿAdī ibn Arṭaʾah in year 100 AH [Aug 718 – July 719]
[5] Then came the Plague of Ġurāb [“crow”] in the year 127 AH [Oct 744 – Oct 745]. Ġurāb was a man from [the tribal confederation] al-Ribāb and the first to die in it during the reign of al-Walīd ibn Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.
[6] Then came the plague of Salm ibn Qutaybah [al-Bāhilī, d. 149/766, governor of Baṣrah under the Umayyads and Abbasids] in the year 131 in Shaʿban and Ramaḍān [March-May 749]. It eased in Shawwāl [May-June]. Ayyūb al-Saḫtiyānī [the famed ḥadīth scholar] died in this plague.
A great deal more material can be found like this, but I recommend strongly Larry Conrad's classic study on this topic (which open access on @JSTOR currently):
jstor.org/stable/pdf/159…
jstor.org/stable/pdf/159…
A newly published medieval treatise on the plague that I haven't been able to read is Šihāb al-Dīn al-Manbijī’s al-Ṭāʿūn wa-aḥkāmuh -- surely it's worth investigating!
