Eating onions and garlic, smoking, and abandoning the congregational prayer

The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh! Is the habit of eating onions and garlic an excuse for abandoning the congregational prayer? And is smoking analogous to that in terms of obligation?

The Shaykh:
It is not an excuse for abandoning the congregational prayer. A person does a forbidden thing and says, "This is an excuse." It is obligatory for him to repent from smoking, because smoking is a sin. It is obligatory for him to repent from smoking, because smoking is forbidden. He should not use it and say, "I will pray at home." He combines two crimes: the crime of consuming what is forbidden and the crime of abandoning the congregational prayer.
As for onions, they are permissible, but they have a foul smell, so a person should not eat them near the time of prayer. He should refrain from eating them near the time of prayer so as not to harm the worshippers and to avoid causing offense to the mosque and the gatherings. He should set aside another time to eat onions, or as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, he should kill the smell by cooking them, cooking them until the smell disappears, or if there are substances that remove the smell of onions, he should use them in his mouth. Yes, that is the important point.
He should not say, "I will eat onions and I will still perform the congregational prayer." That is not permissible. He should avoid onions. Onions are not necessary, but the congregational prayer is necessary. Yes.

The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, sometimes...

The Shaykh:
In fact, the one who eats onions or leeks should turn his face away from people, whether in prayer, in gatherings, or in a car. If he rides with them in vehicles or sits with them in gatherings, he should turn his face away from them. It is not permissible for the Muslims to be in that state. If this happens in prayer, it is even more severe.