A person once sneezed and thereafter loudly recited, “Alhamdulillah!” 

Hakim al Umma Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (Allah have mercy on him) was engaged in writing his correspondences at the time. When he heard this person recite “Alhamdulillah”, Moulana Thanwi replied, “Yarhamukallah,” and thereafter said, “A considerate person will recite ‘Alhamdulillah’ in very low volume voice. On account of you reciting it aloud, I was forced to leave the work that I was engaged in to fulfil the obligation of replying to the duaa that you recited after sneezing.” 

Hakim al Umma then added, “In such situations, when people are engaged in some work, then ‘Alhamdulillah’ should be recited in barely audible voice after sneezing. When I am in public, I always recite Alhamdulillah softly so that I will not inconvenience them by making it waajib upon them to reply”.

 Similarly, Hakim al Umma Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (Allah have mercy on him) would recite the verses of Sajdah Tilaawah in the Holy Qur’aan  softly so that he would not inconvenience others by causing the Sajdah to become waajib on them. 

(Malfoozaat Husnul Azeez pg.485)

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