The bubonic plague, more commonly known as the Black Death, was a deadly disease that ravaged Asia and Europe during the mid-14th century. Although the destruction that the plague brought to Europe in terms of deaths was enormous, the Islamic world probably suffered more due to the fact that plague epidemics continually returned to the Islamic world until the 19th century. The recurrence of the disease meant that Muslim populations never recovered from the losses they suffered and a resulting demographic change that probably helped Europe overcome the Islamic world's previous superiority in terms of scholarship. The Islamic world had suffered at least five major plague epidemics before the Black Death in the 14th century, yet the Black Death was far deadlier than any epidemic that had hit the Islamic world before. Medieval Muslims had no scientific explanation for the disease and therefore Islamic societies began to believe that the plague was of divine origin. Religious teachers declared that for the righteous Muslim, death by plague was a blessing, a martyrdom like death in defense of Islam, which assured the victim of a heavenly reward. For the infidels, death from the plague was considered a punishment for the sin that condemned them to hell. As with all acts of Allah, the plague is seen as just, merciful, good and could not be avoided. Since God specifically chose each victim, there could be no random spread of disease by contagion, nor could death by flight or drugs be escaped. From these views, Muslims formed three fundamental principles to deal with the plague: the disease was a mercy and martyrdom of God for the faithful Muslim but a punishment for the infidel, a Muslim should neither enter nor flee from a land plague-stricken, and there it was... middle of paper... rough Muslim ports. This in turn only led to higher prices in local markets. Finally, the constant migration of unskilled labor to urban environments during the plague simply meant that their earnings would continue to be low and their living standards lowered. Simply put, the Black Death devastated Islamic societies economically, some to the point of no return. The Black Death and subsequent medieval plagues devastated Islamic societies. The Muslim world was hit harder than most European societies due to recurring plague epidemics in the Islamic world well into the 19th century. This ongoing resurgence of deadly diseases triggered a collapse of Muslim societies from which they have never truly recovered. It is arguable whether the resulting economic and social changes helped Europe to overcome the previous superiority of the Islamic world in many areas.