Prayer of one who has an unpleasant smell in his mouth
Question If I pray and the smell in my mouth is unpleasant, is my prayer valid?. Praise be to Allah. The one who is praying is conversing with his Lord, as the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When one of you stands to pray, he is conversing with…
Question
Praise be to Allah.
The one who is praying is
conversing with his Lord, as the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When one of you stands to pray, he
is conversing with his Lord” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (390) and Muslim (762).
So he should be fully prepared for standing before his Lord, and his body
and clothes and the place where he prays should be clean and free of any
offensive smells. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O Children of Adam!
Take your adornment (by wearing your clean clothes) while praying [and going
round (the Tawaaf of ) the Ka‘bah] and eat and drink but waste not by
extravagance, certainly He (Allaah) likes not Al‑Musrifoon (those who waste
by extravagance)”
[al-A’raaf 7:31].
So the worshipper is
enjoined to adorn himself and look presentable when praying.
And the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Were it not for the fact that I
did not want to make things too hard for my ummah, I would have commanded
them to use the siwaak at every time of prayer.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari
(838)and Muslim (370).
With regard to the validity
of prayer when there is an unpleasant smell in the mouth, it is valid but it
is makrooh (disliked).
If the prayer is offered in
the mosque and this smell is obvious to such an extent that it annoys other
worshippers and the angels, then it is haraam. Al-Bukhaari (806) and Muslim
(870) narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “Whoever has eaten of this plant (i.e., garlic), let him not
approach our mosque.”
And he (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever has eaten of this plant let
him not approach our mosque and annoy us with the smell of garlic.” Narrated
by Maalik in al-Muwatta’ (27).
Our advice is to pay
attention to cleaning your mouth, and if it needs some treatment then have
it treated so that you will not be embarrassed and keep away from prayer in
congregation.
And Allaah knows best.
