SNEEZING. Arabic ‘utas عطاس
According to the Muslim religion, it is a sacred duty to reply to a sneeze. For example, if a person sneeze and say immediately afterwards, “God be praised” (al-hamdu li-llah الحمدلله), it is incumbent upon at least one of the party to exlaim, “God have mercy on you (Yarhamu-ka’llah يرحمك الله). This custom of replying to a sneeze existed amongst the Jews, whose sneezing formula was “Tobim khayim! i.e. “Good life.”
There are interesting chapters on saluting after sneezing in Tylor’s Primitive Culture and Isaac D’Israeli’s Curiosities Literature.
Replying to a sneeze is amongst the duties called Farz Kafi’i. (Mishkat, book v. ch. i. pt. 1..)
Abu Hurairah relates that Muhammad said, ‘ Verily God loves sneezing and hates yawning.” (Mishkat,book xxii. ch. vi.)