Why are invocations to god said after sneezing?

Question

1. When you sneeze, then say Alhamdu illah ('all praises and thanks are to Allah')

2. Your companion should then say Yarhamukallaah" ('may Allah have mercy upon you').

3. When someone says Yarhamukallah you should then say Yahdeemukul-laahu wa yuslihu baalakum ('may Allah guide you and set your affairs in order').

If an unbeliever sneezes and praises god, you should only say the last part.

Bukhari 7/125, Ahmad, Tirmirdhi, Dawood

[Fortress of the Muslim: Invocations from the qur'an & sunnah; Darussalam]

Answer 1

alhamdlilah

Answer 2

In England there was a Great Plague, called The Black Death in the fourteenth century. It was bubonic plague, which was spread by rat fleas. The rats had come on ships from the Middle East .It spread like wildfire and killed many thousands, too many to bury. No one knew how it spread. One of the first symptoms of this disease was sneezing and fever so when someone sneezed people would say, "God bless you." in the hope that they would not catch the plague.

Answer 3

Because sneezing is a blessing from Allah.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah likes sneezing and dislikes yawning, so if someone sneezes and then praises Allah, then it is obligatory on every Muslim who heard him, to say: May Allah be merciful to you (Yar-hamuka-l-lah). But as regards yawning, it is from Satan, so one must try one's best to stop it, if one says 'Ha' when yawning, Satan will laugh at him." [Bukhari]

Answer 4

my parents said when you sneeze your heart stops. if your heart is still beating after you sneeze then you say alhamdlilah

Answer 5

It is the same in English, we say "God Bless You" after someone sneezes.

I have always understood that the custom goes back hundreds of years to a time when diseases were not understood, so if someone sneezed it could be because they had some terrible illness - therefore people would ask God to bless them.

Peace & Blessings!

Answer 6

*sneezes* Where's my Yarhamukallaah!?

Answer 7

I didn't know this tradition is in Islam also.  Very interesting.

In the Middle Ages in Europe, people thought all disease was caused by demons and evil spirits.  In the New Testament, Jesus heals lots of people, but only by freeing them from demons, because that's what people believed disease was.

Anyway when someone sneezed, they thought it was a demon leaving his body, so they'd say 'God bless you!' to protect him from the demon re-entering.

I don't believe in demons, but I think it's a nice custom.  I'm pleased to see the custom is in Islam as well.  Thanks!

Answer 8

I wonder why an unbeliever will praise Allah if he sneezed if he doesn't believe in Allah in the first place ?

I think the reason behind saying only the last part to the non believer is like we pray for him for guidance .

In the Quran . we are asked not to pray for the non believers who died as kafir and not to ask mercy for them so maybe there is connection here .

Answer 9

i think there is no difference but if someone does not believe in God, your prayer for him shall bear no fruit;as if somebody has no pocket to receive what shall you deliver in it; but you may otherwise pray his coming to path of truth and reality.

Answer 10

I think the subject is clear in the following Hadith.

Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah likes the act of sneezing and dislikes the act of yawning, so if any one of you sneezes and praises Allaah (says “al-hamdu Lillaah”), it is a duty on every Muslim who hears him to say to him, “Yarhamuk Allaah (may Allaah have mercy on you).” As for yawning, it is from the Shaytaan, so if any of you feels the urge to yawn, he should suppress it as much as he can, for when any one of you yawns, the Shaytaan laughs at him.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 10/505)

It was also reported from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you sneezes, let him say ‘Al-hamdu Lillaah,’ and let his brother or his companion say, ‘Yarhamuk Allaah.’ And if he says to him, ‘Yarhamuk Allaah,’ let him say, ‘Yahdeekum Allaahu wa yusliha baalakum (May Allaah guide you and correct your thinking).’” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 10/502)

Anas (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported that two men sneezed in the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), who said “Yarhamuk Allaah” to one of them, but not to the other. The one to whom he did not say it said: “So and so sneezed, and you said ‘Yarhamuk Allaah’ to him; I sneezed but you did not say it to me.” He said, “He praised Allaah (said ‘al-hamdu Lillaah’) and you did not.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 10/504)

Abu Moosa al-Ash’ari reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When one of you sneezes and praises Allaah, then say ‘Yarhamuk Allaah’ to him, but if he does not praise Allaah then do not say it.” (Reported by Muslim 2992)

To the sister 'Fajr' above: Muslims cannot ask Allah for the non believers and if they dies upon that. But we can pray for their guidance (Hidayah) as Prophet (pbuh) did pray for the Hidayah of many when they were still not in Islam.