Is it recommended for us to remind the one who sneezed and did not praise Allah?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : It is recommended not to remind him.

The questioner : And if he is reminded...?

The Shaykh : We return to what we mentioned earlier: the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). It is reported in Sahih al-Bukhari that a man sneezed and praised Allah, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) responded to his sneeze, and another man sneezed and did not praise Allah, so he did not respond to his sneeze. In some narrations, whose authenticity I do not recall at this moment, it is stated that this other sneezer was noble among his people, so it weighed on his mind. He said to the Messenger (peace be upon him): "So-and-so sneezed and you responded to him, but I sneezed and you did not respond to me." Or it was said to him: "So-and-so sneezed and you responded to him, but so-and-so sneezed and you did not respond to him." He said (peace and blessings be upon him): . If it had been part of his (peace and blessings be upon him) guidance to remind the sneezer who sneezed and did not praise Allah, as mentioned in the question, then teaching would not be done by means other than the means followed by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). This is an example among hundreds of examples that the guidance of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) must first be accepted in its entirety, including its objectives and means, and then adopted. Therefore, one should not distinguish between the objective and the means, as we hear from some preachers today or some groups, that we are free to change the means and that what matters is reaching the objectives. The answer is that the means the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) pursued and followed in calling people to faith and Islam, all of this must be adopted by Muslims. We do not distinguish between the objective and the means. Now, we are facing a means: is it appropriate to say to the one who responds to sneezes, "Praise be to Allah," so that he remembers? No, we remain silent so that the incident that occurred in the gathering of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) does not recur, where one of the sneezers would say, "You responded to so-and-so but not to me," and he would say, "This is your reward for not praising Allah (Mighty and Majestic)." In that case, it would be an admonition for him, whether direct or indirect, to learn the etiquettes and rulings of Islam. This is the answer to your question.