When Sayyidina Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam (r.a.) Sneezed
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ When Sayyidina Mu’awiyah ibn al-Hakam ( r.a. ) came to Madina, from the desert, he did not know that it was forbidden to speak during the swalah . He related, “Whilst I was praying behind the Messenger of Allah ( s.a.w. ), a man sneezed, so I said ‘ Yarhamukullah .’ The people glared at me, so I said, ‘May my mother lose me! What is wrong with you that you are looking at me?’ They began to slap their thighs with their hands, and when I saw that they were indicating that I should be quiet, I stopped talking. I nearly wanted to answer them back, but I controlled myself and kept quiet. When the Messenger of Allah ( s.a.w. ) had finished praying - may my father and mother be sacrificed for him, I have never seen a better teacher than him before or since - he did not scold me or hit me or put me to shame. He just said, ‘This prayer should contain nothing of the speech of men; it is only tasbih and takbir an...