Assalamualaikum I would like to clarify a few things in regards to prayers. 1. When we sneeze during prayers do we 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.

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 is His slave and Messenger.

In general, the Sunnah when one sneezes is to cover his face with his garment or with his hand and 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’s left side like the text which states that spitting in prayer should be to one’s left side. Also, we have not come across any statement 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-Bukhari which reads “One of you should not spit towards his Qiblah but to his left side or to under his feet”: “There is evidence 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-shaaf Al-Qinaa’ (a Hanbali book) reads: “If one sneezes, he should cover his face so that others will not be harmed by his saliva (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 we adopt 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 reciting Al-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 Subhaan Allaah) 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, then he 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 the obligatory 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, please refer to Fatwa 178109.

Allaah Knows best.