The Prophet ﷺ loved palm-branch sticks and almost always held one in his hand. He entered the mosque and saw some phlegm on the wall facing the qiblah, so he scraped it off. Then he turned to the people, angry, and said, "Would any of you be pleased if someone spat in his face? When one of you faces the qiblah, he is only facing his Lord , with the angel on his right. So let him not spit to his right, nor toward the qiblah. Let him spit to his left, or beneath his foot. And if something forces him to spit quickly, let him do like this."Ibn Ajlan demonstrated it for us, that he should spit into his garment and then fold part of it over the other.
حدثنا يحيى بن حبيب بن عربي حدثنا خالد يعني ابن الحارث عن محمد بن عجلان عن عياض بن عبد الله
أن النبي ﷺ كان يحب العراجين ولا يزال في يده منها فدخل المسجد فرأى نخامة في قبلة المسجد فحكها ثم أقبل على الناس مغضبا فقال أيسر أحدكم أن يبصق في وجهه إن أحدكم إذا استقبل القبلة فإنما يستقبل ربه عز وجل والملك عن يمينه فلا يتفل عن يمينه ولا في قبلته وليبصق عن يساره أو تحت قدمه فإن عجل به أمر فليقل هكذا ووصف لنا ابن عجلان ذلك أن يتفل في ثوبه ثم يرد بعضه على بعض
[Sahih] Ahmad narrated it (3/9, 24) from the hadith of Khalid bin Harith, with the same wording. Ibn Hibban graded it sahih in Ihsan (2267, 2268), as did Hakim according to the criterion of Muslim (1/257), and Dhahabi agreed with him. Ibn Ajlan explicitly stated that he heard it directly, and the hadith has other lines of transmission.