The ruling on the habit of eating onions and smoking in leaving the congregational prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, is the habit of eating onions and smoking an excuse for leaving the congregational prayer? And is smoking analogous to that?
The Shaykh:
It is not an excuse for leaving the congregational prayer. A person does a forbidden thing and says, "This is an excuse." He is deluding himself. 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 a forbidden thing and the crime of leaving 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 that he does not harm the worshippers and offend the mosque and the angels. He should set another time for eating onions, or, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, he should eat them cooked, cooking them until their smell is gone. Or, if there are substances that remove the smell of onions, he should use them in his mouth. Yes, the important thing is that he does not eat onions and say, "I will leave the congregational prayer." That is not permissible. He should avoid onions. Onions are not necessary. Onions are not necessary. The congregational prayer is necessary.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, sometimes, does the one who eats onions or garlic drive people away, even in gatherings, or even in a car if he rides with them?
The Shaykh:
In vehicles or if he sits with them in gatherings, he harms them. And harming Muslims is not permissible. If this is in prayer, it is even more prominent.
Honorable Shaykh, is the habit of eating onions and smoking an excuse for leaving the congregational prayer? And is smoking analogous to that?
The Shaykh:
It is not an excuse for leaving the congregational prayer. A person does a forbidden thing and says, "This is an excuse." He is deluding himself. 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 a forbidden thing and the crime of leaving 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 that he does not harm the worshippers and offend the mosque and the angels. He should set another time for eating onions, or, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, he should eat them cooked, cooking them until their smell is gone. Or, if there are substances that remove the smell of onions, he should use them in his mouth. Yes, the important thing is that he does not eat onions and say, "I will leave the congregational prayer." That is not permissible. He should avoid onions. Onions are not necessary. Onions are not necessary. The congregational prayer is necessary.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, sometimes, does the one who eats onions or garlic drive people away, even in gatherings, or even in a car if he rides with them?
The Shaykh:
In vehicles or if he sits with them in gatherings, he harms them. And harming Muslims is not permissible. If this is in prayer, it is even more prominent.
Source
ترك الجماعة بحجة أكل البصل والثوم — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.