the Messenger ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Or he may do this,” and he took the edge of his cloak, spat into it, and folded one part over the other (1). In this case, he has not spat to his right or to his left, nor in front of his face.

A third method is to spit beneath his foot, on account of the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: “Rather, to his left or beneath his left foot” (2). But this method cannot be used in the mosque, for the Prophet ﷺ said: “Spitting in the mosque is a sin” (3). Likewise, spitting to the left cannot be done in the mosque, unless one is at the edge of the mosque, such that if he spits to his left, the spittle falls outside the mosque.

But if we adopt the first manner—namely, that he spits to his left—then this is unavoidable, for he must either spit to his left, to his right, or in front of his face; and he cannot spit behind himself unless he turns away from the qiblah, which is not possible.

So we say: the angel on the right holds a rank higher than that of the angel on the left. Indeed, some reports state that Allah has given him authority over the angel on the left, such that the angel on the left does not write