Black Death in the Middle East

[1] The plague resulted in widespread panic, in which the peasantry fled to the cities to escape the plague, while in parallel the city people fled to the country side, which created chaos and a collapse of public order.

[1] It is noted however, that a lot of the peasantry of the South Egypt fled in to the cities during the Black Death, and refused to return to work on the estates of the landlords when it was over.

[1] In April–May 1348, the Black Death migrated from the Northern Egypt to the city of Gaza in Palestine, where the population fled to the countryside, after which their homes were pillaged by criminals, who themselves died, while the peasants outside of the city reportedly fell down dead in their fields during their plowing.

[1] The number of death soon reached so many thousands that funerals could, for a long time period, no longer be arranged.

[1] In April 1348, Sultan Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman of the Marinid Sultanate of Morocco, was defeated by the Arab tribes near Kairouan and retreated toward Tunis; and because the Black Death is noted to be present in Tunis in June 1348, and broke out in Fez in Morocco when the Marinid army returned there from Tunis, it is believed to have moved with the army.

[1] In reality, however, regardless of the recommendations of the authorities and theologies, many people fled the plague and attempted to protect themselves from it, and the idea that the plague was a punishment from God for human sins were prevalent among private Muslims regardless of the official view of the authorities: Ibn al-Wardi openly put forward this view.