This weeks Friday's Freaky Fatwa deals with yawning and sneezing. You'll be educated and entertained.
The Muslim asked..
I have the problem of yawning a great deal whilst praying, even though I do not yawn outside of prayer. Please advise me, may Allaah bless you.
Praise be to Allah.
The answer is...
The Prophet stated that the Shaytaan strives to distract the worshipper from his prayer, and Allah is testing the believers with that. One of the ways in which the Shaytaan distracts the worshipper is to make him yawn so much that this distracts him from his prayer.
Allah has some very odd tests...or the Quran is really boring, which is it?
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said: “Yawning comes from the Shaytaan, so if one of you feels the urge to yawn, let him suppress it as much as he can, for if one of you says ‘ha’ (the sound made when yawning), the Shaytaan laughs.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3115; Muslim, 2994.
So, the Muslim Shaytaan doesn't believe in the Sharia laughing law, that's good.
Ibn Battaal said: Yawning is attributed to the Shaytaan in the sense that he approves of it and wants it to happen, because it is a state in which his appearance changes so he laughs at him.
Ibn al-‘Arabi said: We have explained that every bad action is attributed to the Shaytaan in Islam because he is the means behind it.
Oh, back to the devil made me do it, defense
Yawning is caused by a full stomach and leads to laziness. Beware of the causes that lead to that, which is eating too much as that is by the means of Shaytaan, whereas sneezing is caused by lack of food, and leads to energy.
And now you know why Muslims come to the west for Medical School.
The phrase “if one of you feels the urge to yawn, let him suppress it as much as he can” means: let him try to stop it. It does not mean that he will be able to stop it, because what happens cannot be reversed.
I'm guessing they tried and it didn't work.
al-Nawawi. Ibn al-‘Arabi said: Yawning should be suppressed in all situations, but especially in prayer because it distorts one’s appearance.
But only for a few seconds, right?
Shaytaan flows through man like his blood, he cannot gain any control over him so long as he remembers Allah, but when a person is yawning he is not remembering Allah, so the Shaytaan is able to enter him in a real sense.
Geez, do they yawn so long that they actualy forget Allah? Wouldn't someone remind them, eventually?
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen was asked:
I am a young religiously-committed man, twenty-two years old. I suffer from a problem which I hope you will help me to get rid of. When I start to pray, I start yawning unintentionally. This problem is with me even when I recite Aayat al-Kursiy in particular. I do not know of any reason for that. I yawn ten times in one prayer. I hope that you can advise me.
He replied:
Yawning comes from the Shaytaan as the Prophet told us. Just as the Shaytaan tries to gain power over the one who is praying by whispering into his heart and throwing ideas into his mind, so too he may try to gain power over a person by means of yawning, so he yawns a great deal and that distracts him from his prayer. If anyone experiences that, let him do what was enjoined by the Prophet, such as suppressing it as much as he can, and if he cannot, then let him place his hand over his mouth so that he will not give the Shaytaan any way to reach him.
Yawning is serious stuff for Muslims. The Shaytaan could care less if Non Muslims yawn. I find that interesting.
It seems that the yawning fatwa is based on the following aya. Don't laugh when you get the closet :D
4:43 (Picktall) O ye who believe! Draw not near unto prayer when ye are drunken, till ye know that which ye utter, nor when ye are polluted, save when journeying upon the road, till ye have bathed. And if ye be ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have touched women, and ye find not water, than go to high clean soil and rub your faces and your hands (therewith). Lo! Allah is Benign, Forgiving
I'm not sure if touching a woman is worse than yawning...
So I've now dealt with fatwas on laughing too much, yawning, now how about sneezing? What does Allah think of allegies?
"Allah loves sneezing but dislikes yawning; so if anyone of you sneezes, praise Allah. When anyone of you yawns, Satan laughs at him."
Hay fever is good, being bored is not.
When you hear a sneeze, you should say, "Praise be to Allah"
Thanks for the sneeze, Allah, that was great!
Ibn Mas'ud reported that the Prophet "There are four things that one Muslim owes another Muslim: to visit him when he is ill, to be with him when he dies, to accept when he invites him, and to ask for mercy on him when he sneezes."
I just thanked Allah for the sneeze, now I have to ask for mercy? This isn't in the Quran..
Abu Hurayra said, "We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when a man sneezed and praised Allah. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' Then another man sneezed but the Prophet did not say anything to him. The man, 'Messenger of Allah! you responded to the other man, but did not say anything to me!' The Prophet said, 'This man mentioned Allah, so I mentioned him. You forgot Allah, so I forgot you.'"
That cracked me up!
Iyas ibn Salama related that his father said, "A man sneezed in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Prophet said, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' Then the man sneezed again and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'This man has a cold.'"
So did that one!
Mujahid said, "When a son of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, either Abu Bakr or 'Umar, sneezed, he said, 'Ab!' Ibn 'Umar said, 'What is this "Ab"? Ab is the name of one of the shaytans who comes between the sneeze and the praise.'"
Who said there is no humour in Islam?
When a Jew sneezes
Abu Musa said, "The Jews used to sneeze in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, hoping that he would say to them, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' He used to say to them, 'May Allah guide you and put you in order.'
hmmmm......
Question Can a Muslim say 'bless you' to a non-Muslim when he sneezes?
Answer: No, he cannot utter such a meaningless statement even to a Muslim. Sneezing is caused by lack of food, and leads to energy.
And Allah knows best
But Allah didn't say any of that, his partners did and now we have fatwas on laughing, sneezing and yawning. Sounds like shirk to me but it does make for a good laugh...unless you thought the blog was boring and you yawned, sorry if I coldn't make you sneeze.
In my book; The Humor of Islam...you'll die laughing has much more on Islamic Medical advice....funny as hell. www.thehumorofislam.com
Az Zaqqum Islamic Scholar for the Infidel
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