Benefits of the Hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami (( . .

The Shaykh : I referred in my last example to the story of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him), who is obviously not Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan the Umayyad. As reported in *Muwatta' al-Imam Malik*, *Musnad al-Imam Ahmad*, and *Sahih al-Imam Muslim* with a sound chain from him, he said that one day he was praying behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when a man beside him sneezed. While in the row during prayer, he said to him: "May Allah have mercy on you." They looked at him with the corners of their eyes to silence him. This matter weighed heavily on him, so he shouted at the top of his voice while praying: "Wathakal ummiah! Why are you looking at him?" Those around him began hitting their thighs to silence him. It seems the man realized, albeit after a delay, that he had erred in his speech and shouting. Therefore, he said: "When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he turned to me." Imagine the state of mind of this person; imagine a worshipper in this time who did what that man did, and the imam came to him—what would he expect? He would expect to be cursed and insulted, if not beaten. It seems this Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) imagined something of that when he saw the Messenger coming toward him, but his imagination was disappointed because he was the Messenger of Allah: .
He said: .
The story of the man ended there, but psychologically, it seems that when he saw this Prophetic gentleness, it encouraged him to learn because he knew he was ignorant. He shouted in prayer, as you heard, and the Messenger said: So he was encouraged to direct some questions to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he kept repeating these questions, one after another. Among what was mentioned in this hadith, he said: "O Messenger of Allah: .