Whoever ate garlic or onion should keep away from us—or he said: from our mosque—and stay at home."

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Hadith
Explanation
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Jābir ibn ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever ate garlic or onion should keep away from us—or he said: from our mosque—and stay at home." The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was brought a pot containing green legumes. Upon noticing it had an odor, he asked and was informed of the legumes therein. He said: "Bring it near" to one of his Companions who was with him. On seeing that he disliked eating it, he said: "Eat, for indeed, I privately converse with one you do not converse with."
Authentic hadith - Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim

Explanation

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the one who ate garlic or onion from going to the mosque so as not to offend his brothers, attending the congregational prayer, with their smell. It is a prohibition of Tanzīh (what is not strictly forbidden) from going to the mosque, not from eating them because they are from the permissible foods. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was brought a pot containing vegetables, and when he sensed an odor therein and was informed of what it contained, he refrained from eating it and brought it near to one of his Companions to eat from it; however, he disliked eating from it in imitation of the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him), who said upon seeing him: Eat, for indeed, I converse with the angels through the revelation. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) informed that the angels are offended by unpleasant odors just like people.

Benefits from the Hadith

  1. It is prohibited for whoever ate garlic, onion, or leek to go to mosques.
  2. The same ruling applies to everything that has an unpleasant odor that those praying find offensive, such as the smell of smoke, tobacco, and the like.
  3. The cause of prohibition is the odor. If such an odor no longer exists due to excessive cooking or anything else, then it is no longer disliked.
  4. It is disliked to eat these things for one who has to attend prayer in the mosque, so that he does not miss the congregation in the mosque, as long as he does not eat them as a ploy to escape the obligation of attending, in which case it is prohibited.
  5. The Prophet's abstention from eating garlic and the like is not by way of prohibition but because of conversing with Jibrīl (Gabriel) (peace be upon him).
  6. The Prophet's excellent approach in teaching, as he coupled the ruling with the clarification of its cause to reassure the addressee by letting him know the rationale behind such a ruling.
  7. Al-Qādi said: Based on analogy, scholars decided that this applies to places, other than mosques, where people gather for prayer, like the Eid praying area, funerals, and their likes from places where people gather for worship. The same applies to knowledge and Dhikr assemblies, banquets, and the like. However, this does not apply to markets and similar places.
  8. Scholars said: This Hadīth includes evidence on forbidding one who has eaten garlic and the like from entering the mosque, even if it is empty because it is the angels' place and given the general indication of the Hadīths.

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