The Ruling on Responding to a Sneeze

The Shaykh: - May Allah have mercy on you - It is obligatory for every Muslim man and woman to respond to the sneeze of one who sneezed and praised Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is an individual obligation, meaning it is not a collective obligation as is well known, unlike the greeting of peace. If one person from the group gives the greeting, it drops off the others; if one person from the group returns the greeting, it drops off the others. But if one person sneezs and there are a hundred people in the gathering, it is obligatory for the hundred to respond to him. This is an individual obligation because the hadith says: , but this is conditional, as I mentioned earlier, that the one responding praises Allah. So his praise of Allah has two aspects. The first aspect is the hearing, and the second aspect is... and there is a subtlety here. Secretly, but we noticed that he was sneezing, meaning as they say today, but of course, not everyone present in the gathering can be aware of this. Only the one who remained and noticed this observation is obligated to respond to him. This is according to the view of the one who walks.