Ruling on leaving the obligatory prayer
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His Eminence the Shaykh: I am from the people of Madinah and I prayed in the Sacred Precinct. A man came in who had missed a rak'ah—while I had not missed a single rak'ah—and he smelled of smoke. When he came to stand beside me, I left the prayer and moved back to the second row. Is this permissible or not?
If someone prays next to you who has an unpleasant smell, whether due to smoke—on his clothes—or with onion or garlic or something else: if you are able to perform your prayer with tranquility and comfort, it is not permissible for you to leave it; because once a person enters the obligatory prayer, it is forbidden to leave it except out of dire necessity.
As for if you cannot bear it and are unable to, and you fear that you might feel dizzy or vomit, or at least that it disrupts your prayer, then there is no harm in leaving that place for another place free of it.
If someone prays next to you who has an unpleasant smell, whether due to smoke—on his clothes—or with onion or garlic or something else: if you are able to perform your prayer with tranquility and comfort, it is not permissible for you to leave it; because once a person enters the obligatory prayer, it is forbidden to leave it except out of dire necessity.
As for if you cannot bear it and are unable to, and you fear that you might feel dizzy or vomit, or at least that it disrupts your prayer, then there is no harm in leaving that place for another place free of it.