878/1 - Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Allah likes sneezing and dislikes yawning; so if one of you sneezes and then praises Allah (by saying ‘al-hamdulillah’), it is incumbent upon every Muslim who hears him to say to him: ‘Yarhamuk Allah’ (which means: may Allah have mercy on you). But as regards yawning, it is from Satan; so if one of you yawns, he should try his best to suppress it, for when one of you yawns, Satan laughs at him.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
1) Allah Almighty loves sneezing, as it is a sign of activeness and agility, and our Lord loves those who have strong serious resolve in the doing of good.
2) Satan loves yawning, for it is a sign of lethargy and slackness, and he loves those who are lazy and weak.
3) Saying Tashmīt is a right for the person who sneezed, which is due upon every individual who heard him praising Allah after sneezing.
4) It is recommended to suppress yawning as much as one can, for Satan laughs at a yawning person, given that it is a sign of laziness and slackness.
5) This shows praising Allah for His favors, and sneezing is one of those favors. Favors should be met with gratitude and praise.
879/2 - He also reported that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When one of you sneezes, he should say, ‘Al-hamdulillah’ (Praise be to Allah); and his brother or companion should say to him, ‘Yarhamuk Allah’ (May Allah have mercy on you). When he says to him, ‘Yarhamuk Allah,’ the sneezer should reply, ‘Yahdīkum Allah wa yuslih bālakum’ (May Allah guide you and grant you well being).” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
880/3 - Abu Mūsa (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I heard the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) say: “If anyone of you sneezes and praises Allah, say Tashmīt to him; and if he does not praise Allah, do not say Tashmīt to him.” [Narrated by Muslim]
881/4 - Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “Two men sneezed in the Prophet’s presence, and he said Tashmīt to one of them but not the other. The one to whom he did not say Tashmīt said: ‘So-and-so sneezed and you said Tashmīt to him, and I sneezed but you did not say Tashmīt to me.’ The Prophet said: ‘This (man) praised Allah, and you did not.’” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
1) Recompense for a deed should be of the same nature of the deed. He who praises Allah upon sneezing deserves to receive this supplication “may Allah show mercy to you”. So, we invoke mercy upon him as recompense for his praise of Allah.
2) The believers complement one another. They are like a solid structure.
3) If a person sneezes and does not praise Allah, we ought not to say Tashmīt to him, but we teach him the Prophetic etiquette regarding sneezing.
4) It was the Prophet’s guidance to teach the Ummah all the beneficial Shariah etiquettes.
According to the Prophet’s guidance in responding to a person who says Tashmīt, we should say to him: “Yahdīkum Allah wa yuslih bālakum” (May Allah guide you and grant you well being), or “Yaghfir Allah lana wa lakum” (may Allah forgive us and you). These are reported in the Sunnah. As for the phrases laymen say, such as “Yahdīna wa yahdīkum Allah” (may Allah guide us and you) and the like, these are not part of the Sunnah, and Allah Almighty says: {There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent example for someone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often.} In saying Dhikr (rememberance of Allah), we should adhere to the Sunnah and keep away from religious innovations.
882/5 - Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “Whenever the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) sneezed, he would cover his mouth with his hand or clothes, lowering the sound therewith.” [Narrated by Abu Dāwūd and Al-Tirmidhi, who classified it as Hasan Sahīh (sound and authentic)]
1) The Prophet’s practical manners with regard to sneezing include putting the hand or clothes on the face. This serves a number of good purposes, including the following:
a. It protects those around the sneezing person, lest something harmful and contagious comes out with the sneeze and infects them.
b. This spares people any feeling of disgust from what comes out of the nose with sneezing.
2) The Shariah honors the believer by its overall guidelines which he should observe towards himself and others.
3) It is recommended to lower the sound of sneezing to avoid bothering those around.
883/6 - Abu Mūsa (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Jews would pretend to sneeze in the Prophet’s presence hoping that he would say to them ‘may Allah show mercy to you’, but he would respond with: ‘May Allah guide you and grant you well being.’”
[Narrated by Abu Dāwūd and Al-Tirmidhi, who classified it as Hasan Sahīh (sound and authentic)]
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1) We may only invoke Allah’s mercy upon the believers. With regard to the disbelievers, we can only supplicate Allah to guide them.
2) The Jews are people with whom Allah Almighty is displeased, as they knew the truth and rejected it. They knew that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) was truthful, and hence they hoped to derive blessing from his invocation for them.
884/7 - Abu Sa‘īd al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When one of you yawns, he should hold his hand over his mouth, for the devil enters.” [Narrated by Muslim]
1) It establishes that the devil enters one’s body when he yawns and opens his mouth.
2) The Shariah points out the method by which a person can protect himself from the devil while yawning.
3) We should believe in the information told by Allah Almighty and His Messenger, for it is certain, even if we do not see it with our own eyes. This is part of the submission to the divine revelation, which is due upon every Muslim.