Does one congratulate the sneezer on the third sneeze, or does one pray for his recovery?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The first question in this episode is from Abu 'Abdullah from al-Hafar al-Batin. He says: Honorable Shaykh, peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. And after that, it is known that when a person sneezes and praises Allah, he is told, "May Allah have mercy on you." So, if he sneezes again, or a third or fourth time, and praises Allah, is he told, "May Allah heal you," or is that a mistake?
The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon His servant and Messenger, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions. As for what follows, congratulating the sneezer is a recommended practice (sunnah). It is saying, when he praises Allah, when he praises Allah, that his congratulation is a recommended practice (sunnah), which is saying, "May Allah have mercy on you." Then he responds by saying, "May Allah guide you and rectify your affairs." This is a recommended practice (sunnah) established by authentic hadiths, and it is a right of a Muslim over another Muslim. If he sneezes a second time, the congratulation is repeated. If it happens more than that, because this is a case of a cold, one prays for his recovery. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
The questioner:
This is the third or fourth sneeze.
The Shaykh:
On the third one, approximately. That is, if he sneezes twice, he is congratulated. As for the third and anything beyond it, this indicates that he has a cold, so one prays for his recovery.
The presenter:
In every instance after he does it, or just once?
The Shaykh:
Once is sufficient.
The first question in this episode is from Abu 'Abdullah from al-Hafar al-Batin. He says: Honorable Shaykh, peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. And after that, it is known that when a person sneezes and praises Allah, he is told, "May Allah have mercy on you." So, if he sneezes again, or a third or fourth time, and praises Allah, is he told, "May Allah heal you," or is that a mistake?
The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon His servant and Messenger, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions. As for what follows, congratulating the sneezer is a recommended practice (sunnah). It is saying, when he praises Allah, when he praises Allah, that his congratulation is a recommended practice (sunnah), which is saying, "May Allah have mercy on you." Then he responds by saying, "May Allah guide you and rectify your affairs." This is a recommended practice (sunnah) established by authentic hadiths, and it is a right of a Muslim over another Muslim. If he sneezes a second time, the congratulation is repeated. If it happens more than that, because this is a case of a cold, one prays for his recovery. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
The questioner:
This is the third or fourth sneeze.
The Shaykh:
On the third one, approximately. That is, if he sneezes twice, he is congratulated. As for the third and anything beyond it, this indicates that he has a cold, so one prays for his recovery.
The presenter:
In every instance after he does it, or just once?
The Shaykh:
Once is sufficient.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 5253- هل يشمت العاطس في العطسة الثالثة أم يدعى له بالشفاء؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.