40. Sneezing and Yawning

Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Allah loves sneezing and hates yawning. When one of you sneezes and praises Allah Almighty, it is a duty for every Muslim who hears him to say to him, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' Yawning comes from Shaytan. When one of you yawns, he should control it as much as possible. When a man says, 'Aawh!,' Shaytan laughs at him." Ibn 'Abbas said, "When one of you sneezes and says, 'Praise be to Allah,' the angel says, 'The Lord of the Worlds.' When you say, 'The Lord of the Worlds,' the angel says, 'May Allah have mercy on you.'" Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "When one of you sneezes, he should say, 'Praise be to Allah,' and his brother or companion should say to him, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' Then he should say, 'May Allah guide you and put your affairs in order.'" 'Abdu'r-Rahman ibn Ziyad ibn An'am al-Ifriqi said, "My father told me that they were taking part in a sea raid in the time of Mu'awiya. He said, 'Our ship was right up against the ship of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. When it was time for our midday meal, we invited him and he came over. He said, "You invited me, but even though I am fasting, I cannot avoid accepting your invitation because I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'A Muslim owes six things to his brother. If he neglects any of them, he has neglected an obligatory duty owed to his brother. He should return his greeting when he greets him. He should accept when he gives him an invitation. He should ask for mercy on him when he sneezes. He should give him good counsel when he asks him for advice.'"'" Ibn Mas'ud reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "There are four things that one Muslim owes another Muslim: to visit him when he is ill, to be with him when he dies, to accept when he invites him, and to ask for mercy on him when he sneezes." Al-Bara' ibn 'Azib said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instructed us to do seven things and forbade us seven. He instructed us to visit the sick, to join funeral processions, to bless people who sneeze, to fulfil our oaths, to help the wronged, to return the greeting, and to accept invitations. He forbade us gold rings, silver vessels, red (silk) saddle clothes, Qassi (silk and flax) garments, thick brocade, embroidered silk, and pure silk." Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "A Muslim owes another Muslim six duties." He was asked, "And what are they, Messenger of Allah?" He said, "To greet him when he meets him, to accept when he gives him an invitation, to give him good counsel when he asks for advice, to wish mercy on him when he sneezes and says, 'Praise be to Allah,' to visit him when he is ill, and to join the funeral procession when he dies." 'Ali said, "When someone hears a sneeze and says, 'Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, in every situation,' he will never get a toothache or earache." Abu Salih reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "When one of you sneezes, he should say, 'Praise be to Allah.' When he says, 'Praise be to Allah, ' his brother or companion should say to him, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' Then let the person who sneezed say, 'May Allah guide you and put your affairs in order.'" Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Allah loves the sneeze and dislikes yawning. When one you sneezes and praises Allah, it is a duty for every Muslim who hears him to say, 'May Allah have mercy on you.;' As for the yawn, it comes from Shaytan. When one of you yawns, he should repress it as much as possible. When one of you yawns, Shaytan laughs at him." Ibn 'Abbas said, "When someone is wished mercy, he should say, 'May Allah protect us and you from the Fire. May Allah have mercy on you.'" Abu Hurayra said, "We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when a man sneezed and praised Allah. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' Then another man sneezed but the Prophet did not say anything to him. The man, 'Messenger of Allah! you responded to the other man, but did not say anything to me!' The Prophet replied, 'He praised Allah and you were silent.'" Similar to 930, but from Anas. Abu Hurayra said, "Two men sat in the presence of the Prophet may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and one of them was from a noble family than the other. The nobler of the two sneezed and did not praise Allah, so the Prophet did not ask for mercy for him. Then the other man sneezed and praised Allah, so the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked for mercy on him. The noble man said, 'I sneezed in your presence and you did not ask for mercy for me. This other than sneezed and you asked for mercy on him.' The Prophet said, 'This man mentioned Allah, so I mentioned him. You forgot Allah, so I forgot you.'" Nafi' said that when 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar sneezed, they said to him, "May Allah have mercy on you," and Ibn 'Umar said, "May He have mercy on us and you. May He forgive us and you." 'Abdullah said, "When one of you sneezes, he should say, 'Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.' Let anyone responding to him say 'May Allah have mercy on you.' Then the person who sneezed should say'May Allah forgive me and you.'" Iyas ibn Salama related that his father said, "A man sneezed in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Prophet said, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' Then the man sneezed again and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'This man has a cold.'" Makhul al-Azdi said, "I was beside Ibn 'Umar when a man sneezed on one side of the mosque. Ibn 'Umar said, 'May Allah have mercy on you if you praised Allah.'" Mujahid said, "When a son of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, either Abu Bakr or 'Umar, sneezed, he said, 'Ab!' Ibn 'Umar said, 'What is this "Ab"? Ab is the name of one of the shaytans who comes between the sneeze and the praise.'" See hadith 935. Abu Hurayra said, "Wish mercy on a person once, twice and three times. Anything more than that is a cold." Abu Musa said, "The Jews used to sneeze in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, hoping that he would say to them, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' He used to say to them, 'May Allah guide you and put you in order.'" Abu Burda said, "I came to Abu Musa while he was in the house of Umm al-Fadl ibn al-'Abbas and I sneezed and Abu Musa did not wish mercy on me. Umm al-Fadl sneezed and he wished mercy on her. I told my mother, so when Abu Musa came to her, she confronted him and said, 'My son sneezed and you did not wish mercy on him. She (Umm al-Fadl) sneezed and you wished mercy on her.' Abu Musa replied, 'I heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, "When one of you sneezes and praises Allah, you should wish mercy on him, if he does not praise Allah, do not wish mercy on him." My son sneezed and did not praise Allah, so I did not wish mercy on him. She sneezed and praised Allah, so I wished mercy on her.' She said, 'You did well.'" Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "When one of you yawns, he should repress it as much as possible." Mu'adh said, "I was riding behind the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he called out, 'Mu'adh!' 'At your service!' I replied. Then the Prophet said the same thing three times and went on, 'Do you know what is Allah's right on His slaves? That they should worship Him and not associate anything with Him.' Then he rode on for an hour. Ka’b bin Maalik (ra) related his account when he lagged behind in the Battle of Tabook. He said: When Allah accepted my repentance and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) announced at the time of the fajr prayers that Allah had accepted my repentance, people met me in large number and congratulated me on the acceptance of my repentance. They said, "Congratulations to you. Allah has approved your repentance." And I entered the Masjid Nabawi. People were sitting around him. Talhah bin Ubayd Allah ran towards me after standing up and shook hands with me and congratulated me. By Allah, one of the Muhajirs besides him stood up for me. I will not forget this demonstration of Thalhah’s. Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (ra) said that some people (the Jews of Banu Quraysh) came down at the command of Sa’d bin Mu’az . He was called and he came riding a donkey. When he approached the mosque, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Rise up for one better than you", or he said "Rise up for your chief. And he also said, "O Sa’d these people have come down on your orders". Sa’d said, "Those of them that are their fighting men should be slain and their young children should be made captives". The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "You have judged according to Allah’s decree", or he said, "You have decided in the light of the King’s command.) Anas said, "There is no one that people loved to see more than the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. But when they saw him, they did not stand up for him since they knew that he disliked that." 'A'isha, the Umm al-Mu'minin, said, "I have not seen anyone who more resembled the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in words or speech or manner of sitting than Fatima." 'A'isha continued, "When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw that she had come, he would greet her and then he stood up for her, kissed her, took her hand and brought her forward and made her sit in his place. When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, visited her, she greeted him, stood up for him, and kissed him. She came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in his final illness and he greeted her, kissed her, and told her a secret. She wept. Then he confided something else to her and she laughed. I said to the women, 'I see that this woman is superior to other women, yet she is one of them. First she wept and then she laughed.' I asked her, 'What did he say to you?' She replied, 'I would be telling a secret.' When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, Fatima said, 'He confided to me, "I am dying," so I wept. Then he confided to me, "You will be the first of my family to join me," so I was happy and pleased at that.'" Jabir said, "The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was ill and we prayed behind him while he was sitting down. Abu Bakr relayed his takbir to the people. The Prophet turned towards us and saw that we were standing. He indicated to us that we should sit down. So we prayed sitting down with him. When he said the taslim, he said, 'You were about to do what the Persians and Romans do. They stand in front of their kings when they are seated. Do not do that. Follow your Imams. If the Imam prays standing, then pray standing. If he prays sitting down, then pray sitting down." Abu Sa'id reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "When one of you yawns, he should put his hand over his mouth. Otherwise Shaytan might enter it." Ibn Abbas said, "When someone yawns, he should place his hand over his mouth. Yawning comes from Shaytan." Same as 949.