Pandemic Studies in Middle Eastern History and Qur’anic Verse Interpretation of the Plague

Abstract In the past two years, the world has been excited by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. This plague, in fact, has successfully paralysed many people in the world. Paralysis due to the spread of the virus, whose effect is not only to make many people in the world fall ill and must be treated specifically (quarantine), is mainly due to a number of factors that lead to death. This study aims to elaborate on the history of the pandemic in Islamic literature. Historically, the first plague (Ṭā’ūn) occurred in Ancient Egypt, based on the records of the Ancient Egyptians on papyrus sheets. Imam as-Suyuthi wrote that ṭā’ūn in Egypt occurred during the time of the Prophet Musa and Pharaoh. After that, the Islamic world experienced a plague pandemic that took thousands of Muslim lives. This paper aims to provide Muslims with an understanding that the COVID-19 pandemic is not a new thing in the Islamic world.