Mosque Etiquette

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضيَ اللهُ عنه أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، قَالَ: «أَحَبُّ الْبِلَادِ إِلَى اللهِ مَسَاجِدُهَا، وَأَبْغَضُ الْبِلَادِ إِلَى اللهِ أَسْوَاقُهَا».

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) informed that the most beloved places to Allah Almighty are the mosques, for they are houses of worship and acts of obedience and are built upon piety. And the most hated places to Allah are the marketplaces, because they are often filled with deception, fraud, usury, false oaths, broken promises, and heedlessness of the remembrance of Allah.

• The sanctity and high status of the mosques, for they are houses in which the Name of Allah is frequently mentioned.
• An encouragement to adhere to mosques and to frequent them often in pursuit of Allah's love and pleasure, and to minimize visits to marketplaces except when necessary, to avoid falling into things that incur divine displeasure.
• An-Nawawi said: The mosques are places where Allah's mercy descends, while the marketplaces are their opposite.

صحيح مسلم (1/ 464) (671). نزهة المتقين، لمجموعة من الباحثين (2/ 1250). بهجة الناظرين، لسليم الهلالي (3/ 305). شرح رياض الصالحين، لابن عثيمين (6/ 655). كنوز رياض الصالحين، لمجموعة من الباحثين (21/ 526).

عَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ رضي الله عنهما أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: «مَنْ أَكَلَ ثُومًا أَوْ بَصَلًا، فَلْيَعْتَزِلْنَا -أَوْ قَالَ: فَلْيَعْتَزِلْ- مَسْجِدَنَا، وَلْيَقْعُدْ فِي بَيْتِهِ»، وَأَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أُتِيَ بِقِدْرٍ فِيهِ خَضِرَاتٌ مِنْ بُقُولٍ، فَوَجَدَ لَهَا رِيحًا، فَسَأَلَ فَأُخْبِرَ بِمَا فِيهَا مِنَ البُقُولِ، فَقَالَ قَرِّبُوهَا إِلَى بَعْضِ أَصْحَابِهِ كَانَ مَعَهُ، فَلَمَّا رَآهُ كَرِهَ أَكْلَهَا، قَالَ: «كُلْ فَإِنِّي أُنَاجِي مَنْ لاَ تُنَاجِي». ولِمُسْلِمٍ عَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللهِ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: «مَنْ أَكَلَ مِنْ هَذِهِ الْبَقْلَةِ، الثُّومِ - وقَالَ مَرَّةً: مَنْ أَكَلَ الْبَصَلَ وَالثُّومَ وَالْكُرَّاثَ فَلَا يَقْرَبَنَّ مَسْجِدَنَا، فَإِنَّ الْمَلَائِكَةَ تَتَأَذَّى مِمَّا يَتَأَذَّى مِنْهُ بَنُو آدَمَ».

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.

• It is prohibited for whoever ate garlic, onion, or leek to go to mosques.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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).
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

صحيح البخاري (1/ 170) (855). صحيح مسلم (1/ 394) (564)، (1/ 395) (564). تيسير العلام شرح عمدة الأحكام، للبسام (ص204). تنبيه الأفهام شرح عمدة الأحكام، لابن عثيمين (2/ 260). تاج العروس من جواهر القاموس، للزَّبيدي (5/ 332).