It also comes through several chains of transmission: Mansur said, “I heard Rabiʿī ibn Khurāsh narrate it from him.” Al-Ḥākim declared the isnād “sound,” and al-Dhahabī concurred—and it is as they both said.

Al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah likewise recorded the report, though without the phrases “if that spot is vacant” and “and rub it in.” Al-Tirmidhī commented, “A ḥasan-ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth, and the people of knowledge act upon it.”

This is the second ḥadīth that the original work was referring to.

These narrations prove that it is forbidden to spit inside a mosque toward the qiblah or to one’s right, for the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—explicitly prohibited it and spoke sternly to whoever violated the ruling. He even removed from office the imam who had done so, telling him, “You have offended Allah and His Messenger.” That stands as the clearest evidence of the prohibition, and the words of the leading scholars on the matter have just been cited.

They also furnish unequivocal proof that it is permissible to spit inside the mosque toward one’s left or beneath the left foot, on condition that it be buried. This refutes al-Nawawī, who wrote in his commentary on Muslim: “His words—peace be upon him—‘Let him spit beneath his foot and to his left’ apply outside the mosque; as for someone praying inside a mosque, he should only spit into his garment.”

The answer to him is that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—uttered those very words in connection with the mosque when he saw the phlegm on its qiblah wall, and he forbade them from that practice and from spitting toward—