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Should one respond to someone who sneezes or greets while one is reciting the Quran, or should one continue reciting?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"Saying 'Yarhamukallah' (may Allah have mercy on you) to one who sneezes and returning the greeting of 'Salam' are rights a Muslim has over his brother. Returning the 'Salam' is obligatory, according to the correct opinion, while saying 'Yarhamukallah' to one who sneezes is a Sunnah or obligatory. It is permissible for one who is greeted with 'Salam' or hears a sneezer praise Allah to respond to them, even if they are in the middle of reciting the Quran. Then, they can continue their recitation. This is because responding to a sneezer and returning the 'Salam' are acts of worship linked to a specific cause, whereas Quran recitation is not linked to such a cause, and interrupting it for a legitimate religious reason is permissible."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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