What is the ruling on eating garlic and onions, applying the rule of "no harm and no reciprocating harm" to their consumption?

The Shaykh : Now, we pause at a specific detail that is permissible by the consensus of the Muslim scholars, but in a specific circumstance, if harm that extends beyond the person consuming it—where it benefits him and does not harm him—results from this permissible part, yet in a specific circumstance it harms others, this becomes prohibited by the Shari'ah, even though its original ruling is permissibility. What is it? It is garlic and onions. Garlic and onions are permissible by the consensus of the Muslims, but we all know by experience that the smell of garlic and onions is foul, and very foul. Therefore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So why did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) not eat this garlic and onions, even though they are lawful? Because he was conversing with the angels, who are harmed by the foul smell. Therefore, on the basis of this harm caused by the foul smell, from which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) refrained out of consideration for his conversation with the angels, this ruling was extended to the general Muslim community in a specific circumstance and in a specific place. We know for certain that this specific place is intended to be attended by the angels of Allah. In that case, it is not permissible for a Muslim to attend that place and carry that foul smell in his mouth, even if it comes from lawful food. That is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Our mosques." What is the operative cause? He (peace be upon him) said: "The angels are harmed by what the children of Adam are harmed by." So, whoever eats garlic and onions before the time of prayer in the mosque, he should do one of two things: The first thing: If he is afflicted with eating it before the time of prayer, he must use the means that remove the foul smell from the mouth, such as mint and similar removers. Otherwise, the original ruling is to refrain from consuming this beneficial, non-harmful food, whose smell is not harmful to the eater, but to consume it before prayer at a time sufficient for the smell to leave his mouth with the passage of time. The matter of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not stop at saying: . Rather, he applied a ruling containing an element of discretionary punishment and discipline for the one who attended the mosque with the smell of garlic in his mouth. It is reported in "Sahih al-Imam Muslim": "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) entered the mosque one day and found the smell of garlic from one of the attendees who had come to perform the obligatory prayer, the obligation of prayer and the obligation of congregation in prayer. Here, a short pause is necessary: Many Muslims today, and I mean those who are committed, who are constant in prayer, and who maintain it at its times, are lax in performing their obligation. They are lax in performing another obligation, which is: performing the prayer as an obligation in the mosques of the Muslims. Your Lord, the Lord of the Worlds, said in the Noble Qur'an: . The Lord of the Worlds did not say only "Establish prayer and give zakah," but He added and attached to these two obligations, whose obligatoriness is established by the consensus of the Muslims: performing the prayer at its times and zakah. However, He (Blessed and Exalted is He) added to these two matters and said a third command: . And the meaning of "Bow down with those who bow down" is: This prayer which you have been commanded to perform, it is not permissible for you to pray it alone in your houses, even in congregation, but you must pray it in the mosques of the Muslims. Despite this, when that man came to perform this second obligation, which is the obligation of performing the obligatory prayer with the Muslim congregation in the mosque, when he found the foul smell from him, he ordered him to be taken out. He ordered him to be expelled from the mosque. To where? If you knew! To outside the mosque, certainly? To the street? No, but he ordered him to be taken out to al-Baqi', and you know that al-Baqi' is the cemetery of Madinah. Here is a wonderful point: From his eloquence (peace be upon him) and his rhetoric, he made the people feel, when he ordered the one who came to perform the obligation, the obligation of prayer, but had that foul smell in his mouth from lawful food, to be taken out to al-Baqi', indicating that one like this, who harms first: the Muslims, and second: the angels who take turns attending the mosques, does not deserve to live among the living, but rather in the cemetery among the dead. He ordered him to be taken out to the cemetery of al-Baqi'. So, this is a great, great jurisprudence here. If the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) ordered this for the one who ate the lawful, but harmed the Muslims on one hand and the angels brought close on the other hand with this lawful food, because of the foul smell, what does the Muslim jurist, or rather the rational Muslim, and it is not necessary that he be a jurist, what does the rational Muslim say when he hears from his Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) these two hadiths: , and the other hadith when he ordered the one who had the smell of garlic in his mouth to be taken out, ordered him to be taken out of the mosque and to al-Baqi', to the dead? What does this jurist, or rather that rational Muslim, say when he finds that people today, or many people, are afflicted with smoking, whose harm in the body and in the lungs in particular has been established, and it is not like garlic and onions, whose benefit has been established, and extracts are taken from them and sometimes placed in pills, in treatments with which they treat some ailments and diseases? Despite this, because of this foul smell, you have heard what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said about the one accompanied by this foul smell from this green vegetable or this beneficial herb for the body of the eater? What would the Messenger (peace be upon him) say if he had reached this time, or if smoking had reached him in that time? No doubt he would order the smokers to be taken out of the mosques absolutely; because the foul smell has become part of their lives. And those who were spared, and those whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) spared from smoking, hardly does one of them enter upon a person without judging that this person smokes, because his smell, unfortunately, pervades—if this expression is correct. And the research on this is actually a long and very long research, and the space now is narrow, and the free man, as it is said, is satisfied with a hint, and this amount is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : It is not complete, but it is food, if food is present.

The questioner : The speech is invalid.

The Shaykh : The speech is invalid.