thereby annoying the public. A car may drive through the puddle, splashing the water onto people’s clothes, and repeated soaking certainly harms the asphalt; whenever water keeps coming over it, the surface begins to soften and break apart.

The lamentable fact is that we—despite being a Muslim community—show little concern for these matters, treating them as if they were trivial. A person throws filth into the marketplaces and does not care; he smashes glass there and does not care; he tosses sticks, pays no heed; he places a stone in the way, still pays no heed. Hence, it is recommended that whenever we notice anything harmful we remove it from the road, for that is a charity and one of the finest deeds.

The author continues: “I also found among their blameworthy actions that phlegm (nokhāʿa) is left in the mosque and not covered.” Nokhāʿa means phlegm, so called because it is expelled from the spinal passages. During the Prophet’s ﷺ era the mosque floor was covered with fine pebbles, so any phlegm could be buried in the earth. Today our floors are not earthen; therefore, if phlegm is found, it must be scraped away with a tissue until it is gone. Be aware that spitting in the mosque is unlawful: whoever does so incurs sin, for the Prophet ﷺ said, “Spitting in the mosque is a sin.” He thus declared it a sin and made its expiation burying it—meaning that if someone commits the act and wishes to repent, he should cover it; in our time, he must wipe it away with a tissue or the like until it disappears.

If this ruling applies to phlegm, then what about things even worse, such as what used to happen when someone entered the mosque wearing shoes he had not turned over and inspected? Manure stuck to the soles would drop onto the mosque floor, so the place became soiled. Reflect on that.