Sunan Abi Dawud 479

Sulayman ibn Dawud narrated to us: Hammad narrated to us: Ayyub narrated to us, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: One day, while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering a sermon, he saw phlegm toward the qiblah side of the mosque. He became angry with the people, then scraped it away. The narrator said: I think he said that he called for saffron and smeared it there. He said: ‘When any of you prays, Allah is before his face, so let him not spit in front of himself.’ Abu Dawud said: Ismaʿil and ʿAbd al-Warith narrated it from Ayyub, from Nafiʿ; Malik, ʿUbayd Allah, and Musa ibn ʿUqbah narrated from Nafiʿ similarly to Hammad, but they did not mention the saffron. Maʿmar narrated it from Ayyub and affirmed the saffron in it. Yahya ibn Sulaym narrated from ʿUbayd Allah, from Nafiʿ, the word khaluq (saffron-based perfume).