The distinction that has been drawn between tashmīt—saying “yarḥamuka’llāh” to one who sneezes—and replying to the greeting of salām is, in my view, unfounded. At root the two share the same ruling: either they are both sunnah, as al-Shāfi‘ī’s wording implies, or both obligatory, which is the stronger position held by many scholars. Consequently they ought to be treated alike—either both prohibited during the sermon or both permitted. Within the Shāfi‘ī school three opinions exist on the matter; al-Nawawī cites them in al-Majmūʿ 4/524 and concludes:
“The soundly transmitted position is that blessing the sneezer is forbidden during the sermon just as replying to salām is.”
I say: This view is closer to what I stated in al-Ḍa‘īfa under hadith 5665.

Next he said: “Thalabah b. Abī Mālik reported: ‘People would converse on Friday while ʿUmar was seated on the pulpit; when the mu’adhdhin fell silent ʿUmar would stand up and no one would speak…’ —al-Shāfiʿī narrated it in his Musnad.”
I remark: It is found in al-Umm 1/175, where al-Shāfiʿī says: Ibn Abī Fudayk narrated to us from Ibn Abī Dhīb, from Ibn Shihāb, who said: Thalabah related it to me, adding at the beginning:
“When the imam sits down, supererogatory prayer comes to an end, and when he speaks, conversation comes to an end.”

Mālik also recorded it in al-Muwaṭṭaʾ 1/126, and al-Shāfiʿī transmitted it from him through the route of Ibn Shihāb with similar wording. Mālik, however, places the additional sentence at the end as a statement of al-Zuhrī himself, and this is the more accurate version, for Mālik is more reliable than Ibn Abī Fudayk—whose full name is Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl b. Muslim b. Abī Fudayk.

Al-Nawawī states in al-Majmūʿ 4/220: “The hadith of Thalabah is authentic; al-Shāfiʿī related it in al-Umm through two sound chains.” Such are his words; he is referring to the lines of transmission through Ibn Abī Fudayk and through Mālik from Ibn Shihāb, and this