The Meaning of the Two Hadiths: "There Is No Contagion" and "Flee from the Leper"

Question:
How do we reconcile the two noble hadiths: and ?

Answer:
There is no contradiction, according to the scholars, between this and that. Both were said by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: This is a negation of what the Arabs believed, namely that contagion spreads by its nature, that diseases spread by their nature, and that whoever mixes with a sick person will be afflicted with what afflicted the sick person. This is an error. One may mix with a sick person and nothing happens to him. This is a reality and is well known.
This means: they used to take omens and practice superstition. When they heard a sound that did not please them, they took it as a bad omen and turned back from their need, or if they saw something that did not please them, they withdrew from their needs. So the Prophet forbade taking omens: , and he called it: shirk (associating partners with Allah). So if one goes out for a need and sees, for example, something that does not please him—a person he does not like, or an animal he does not like—he proceeds with his need and says: , and he also says: . This is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and the other wording is: he said: . Or if he hears a sound from a crow or something else, he does not pay attention to it; he proceeds in his state.
The "Hammah" (owl): they used to take it as a bad omen in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. They said they heard the spirit of the dead. They said: this is the spirit of the dead speaking. When they heard the sound of the owl—a well-known bird—they called it: the Hammah, and said: this is announcing the death of the deceased, and that the owner of the house will die. All of these are superstitions with no basis. They said that it comes to the dead and flies near the graves. All of this has no basis.
The well-known month of Safar. The people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance used to take it as a bad omen, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) invalidated that. Some of them said that Safar is a disease of the abdomen, and the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance used to take it as a bad omen, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) invalidated it.
They used to take some of the Naw' (stars) as bad omens, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) invalidated them.
The Ghul: these are the deceivers of the jinn, and they are called: the foxes. They used to take them as bad omens and say that they act on their own, that they mislead them from the path, and that they act independently. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) invalidated that, stating that they have no independent action, but rather they are among the creations of Allah. If a person sees them, he seeks refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created, and that is sufficient. It is prescribed for him to recite the adhan (call to prayer) when seeing devils, as in the hadith: , and in the hadith: . When he hears the adhan, the Sunnah (recommended practice) is that if a person sees something that frightens him from creatures he suspects to be jinn, he should raise his voice with the adhan, for it drives them away.
And the answer to: , and to the other hadith: , the answer to it is: its meaning is that it is not permissible to believe in contagion, but there is no harm in taking the means while not believing in contagion, and that diseases spread by their nature. No, they do not spread by their nature except by the permission of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). If He wills it, contagion occurs. But avoiding the means and staying away from the causes of diseases that spread, which by their custom and nature usually transfer, and not mixing with their people: such as leprosy, which usually transfers, so one does not mix with them. It came in some hadiths from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that a delegation came to pledge allegiance to him, and among them was a leper, so he said: . He pledged allegiance to him without touching him. It also came from him that he ate with a leper and said: . So if a person is confident and is lenient and does not care; there is no harm. And if he guards against diseases he fears; there is no harm.
And likewise: This means: it is not permissible for the owner of sick camels, or sick cows, or sick sheep, to lead them together with the owner of healthy camels, healthy cows, and healthy sheep. There should be a time for this and a time for that; because it is feared that with mixing, these diseases may transfer to the healthy ones. This is from the perspective of avoiding the means, from the perspective of staying away from the causes that are feared, and not from the perspective of contagion, but from the perspective of staying away from the causes from which evil is feared.
This is the meaning of the hadith according to the scholars. So one avoids the means while believing that there is no contagion except by the permission of Allah, and that the intended meaning is: they do not spread by their nature. How many a sick person mixed with healthy people and they were not afflicted with anything but good. And how many a scabby animal fell into ..... and did not become scabby. And how many a person mixed with lepers and was not afflicted with their leprosy; because Allah did not will that.
But the believer is commanded to stay away from harmful causes, just as he stays away from what harms him from snakes, scorpions, and wolves. He guards against the causes that harm him, and takes up arms when necessary; from the perspective of taking the means.