And speaking while there …

His statement, “and speaking while there,” means that it is disliked for a person relieving himself to speak in the lavatory. The evidence is that a man passed by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, while he was urinating and greeted him with peace, but he did not return the greeting (1).

They said: Had speaking been permissible, he would have returned the greeting, for returning a greeting of peace is obligatory (2).

Yet the implication of this reasoning is that speaking while relieving oneself is forbidden. For this reason, Ibn Muflih, may Allah have mercy on him, the author of al-Nukat, mentioned this issue and said: “The apparent implication of their reasoning is that it is prohibited,” and this is one of the two views on the matter (3).

However, they offered two answers to avoid the ruling of prohibition (4):

The first is that the one who gave the greeting did not deserve a response, since one should not greet a person who is relieving himself. Whoever gives a greeting at a time when he should not do so does not deserve a response. This is weak, because the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, did not explain his failure to return the greeting by saying that the man had greeted him at a time when he was not entitled to a response.

The second is that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not neglect an obligation, because after he had finished urinating, he returned the greeting and apologized to him (5).