Fathwa - Direction of sneezing in prayer while reciting Al-Faatihah

Question
Assalamualaikum I wouldlike to clarify a few things in regards to
prayers. 1. When we sneeze during prayers dowe need to sneeze to the
right or left or can we sneeze to the front? Sometimes i cannot
control my sneeze and just as i am about to complete reciting a surah,
i will sneeze and say alhamdullillah then i will continue my
recitation. Is that alright or do i need to re-recite the surah from
start. Especially for surah Al-fatiha. 2. When reciting the alfatiha
during prayer, if we make some mistakes during recitation, do we need
to re-recite the whole surah again from start or can we just correct
the mistaken portion and continue with the recitation? I suffer from a
little/mild waswah in terms of my recitations during prayers. Thus i
might have to repeat certain portions 1 or 2 times. Example, if i
think i did not recite the letter 'ain' correctly i will repeat or
start again sometimes. Should i ignore this? Thank you.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad
isHis slave and Messenger.
In general, the Sunnah when one sneezes is to cover his face with his
garment or with his handand he should lower his voice; the evidence
for this is that Abu Hurayrah narrated that when the Prophet sneezed,
he used to cover his face with his hand or his garment and lower his
voice . [At-Tirmithi and others]
As far as we know, there is no clear text which states that sneezing
in prayer should be to one'sleft side like the text which states that
spittingin prayer should be to one's left side. Also, we have not come
across anystatement of the scholars in drawing an analogy between
sneezing and spitting, but it is most likely that they can be compared
and regarded as the same, because the reason in spitting to one's left
side and not facing the Qiblah while doing so is that the praying
person talks to his Lord; so he should honor the direction of the
Qiblah as Ibn Battaal said while interpreting the Hadeeth reported by
Al-Bukhaari which reads " One of you should not spit towards his
Qiblah but to his left side or to under his feet ": " There isevidence
in this Hadeeth for honoring and respecting the Qiblah because the
praying person is talking to his Lord, so it is an obligation on him
to honor the Qiblah in the same manner that he honors the creatures
(i.e. the people) when he talks to them and faces them with his face;
rather, the Qiblah of Allaah is more deserving of honor. Tawoos said:
" Honor the Qiblah of Allaah, do not spit in its direction. " [End
quote]
There is no doubt that avoiding spitting in the direction of the
Qiblah is an act of honoring and respecting it. Also, sneezing may
include some spitting; Kash-shaafAl-Qinaa' (a Hanbali book) reads: "
If one sneezes, he should cover his face so that others will not be
harmed by hissaliva (emitted upon sneezing) " So, if the sneezing
includes some saliva, then one should not face the Qiblah when doing
so.
Besides, it is permissible for the one who sneezes while performing
the prayer to praise Allaah according to the view weadopt here in
Islamweb. So, if one sneezes and praises Allaah, he should continue
his recitation and not start from the beginning of the Soorah
(Chapter) again, unless he sneezes while recitingAl-Faatihah, then he
should repeat it from the beginning as the continuation (in the
recitation of Al-Faatihah) was interrupted.
An-Nawawi said: " If the praying person repeats the words of the
Mu'aththin (the person calling the Athaan) or he sneezes and says
Al-hamdu Lillaah [praise be to Allaah] while he is reciting
Al-Faatihah..., then the continuation is interrupted without any
difference of opinion; this is explicitly stated by Al-Baghawi and by
the Scholars of the Shaafi'i School of jurisprudence. "
On the other hand, the mention of Allaah that is not long does not
interrupt the continuation while reciting Al-Faatihah according to the
Hanbali School of jurisprudence even if this mention is something that
is not legislated to say in it (i.e. while reciting Al-Faatihah). Ibn
Al-Muflih said in Al-Mubdi' when speaking about interrupting
Al-Faatihah with the mention of Allaah that is not legislated in it,
like Tasbeeh (saying SubhaanAllaah) or Tahleel (saying Laa Ilaaha Illa
Allaah): " Concerning an interruption that is not legislated, like
Tahleel and Tasbeeh, Al-Qaadhi stated that this invalidates it [i.e.
Al-Faatihah]. The most correct opinion is that much interruption
invalidates it, as this interrupts its continuation, contrarily to
what is very little, which is forgiven. "
Besides, if one made a mistake in reading a word in Al-Faatihah,
thenhe should recite it again in a correct manner but he does not have
to recite it [Al-Faatihah] from the beginning unless the interruption
was long.
Al-Bakri from the Shafi'i School of jurisprudence, said in I'aanatu
At-Taalibeen: " To conclude, if what one has recited was void and he
repeats it in a correct manner, then if this was before a long period
of interruption, like if he remembers immediately and repeats it
immediately, then it is permissible to continue the recitation of
Al-Faatihah without repeating it from the beginning, and he is not
obligated to repeat it from the beginning, otherwise [i.e. if there
was a long time of interruption] he is obligated to repeat it from the
beginning because of the lack of theobligatory continuation. "
Finally, it should be mentioned that if you have too many whispers,
you should refrain from being carried away by them. For more benefit
on that the one who is afflicted by whispers when reciting Al-Faatihah
should repel those whispers and only recite it once. - - ▓███▓
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