Can a person who has a cold or a cough be prevented from attending prayers in congregation for fear of harm and infection?

We know that the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
did not allow those who had eaten onions or garlic to attend prayers
in congregation, so what about those who have the flu, if their
attendingprayers in congregation will lead to others becoming infected
because of the spread ofgerms due to their continual sneezing? What
about those who have continual coughing, if they attend the khutbah on
Friday and keep coughing and disturbing the people around them so that
they cannot hear the khutbah because of that?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
Al-Bukhaari (855) and Muslim (564) narrated from Jaabir ibn 'Abdillah
(may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever eatsgarlic or onions, let him
keep away from us, or keep away from our mosque and stay in his
house."
Muslim (567) narrated that 'Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allah be pleased
with him) delivered a khutbah oneFriday in which, among other things,
he said: O people, you eat two plants which I find to be nothing but
repugnant, this onion and garlic. I remember the Messenger of Allaah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), if he noticed their smell
coming from a man in the mosque, he would issue orders that he taken
out to al-Baqee'. Whoever eats them, let him cook them to death.
The fuqaha' have stated that it is makrooh for the one who has eaten
garlic or onions to attend the mosque and that it is mustahabb to
expel him therefrom. Some of them are of the view that it is haraam
for him to attend and it is obligatory to expel him. They added to
that one who has an offensive smell such as body odour or halitosis
and those who work in slaughterhouses and thelike, if they have a
smell that bothers other worshippers.
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said in at-Tamheed (6/422):
The hadeeth mentioned also indicates that the one who has eaten garlic
should be kept away from the mosque and should be expelled therefrom,
because the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) said: "He should not approachour mosque or our mosques because he
annoys us with the smell of garlic." If the reason for expelling him
from the mosque is that he causes annoyance, then by analogy anyone
who annoys his neighbour in the mosque because he has a sharp tongue
and insults the people in the mosque, or he has a foul odour because
of the nature of his work, or hehas a disease that may harm others
such as leprosy and the like, andanything that causes annoyance to
people if itis present in one of theirneighbours in the mosques and
they want to expel him from the mosque and keep him away from it, they
have the right to do that so long as the reason for doing so is
present, untilit is no longer present. Once that reason is no longer
present, he has the right to return to themosque. End quote.
Thus it is known that it isessential to ward off annoyance and harm
from the worshippers. If they are bothered by one who has a cold or a
cough, and that cannot be treated by means of medicines that would
reduce it and lessen the annoyance and harm – of which there are
manynowadays – then he should not attend the mosque until that which
is bothering other worshippers has gone away. If he can pray at the
edge of the mosque or in the courtyard, he may do so.
In the margin of Asna'l-Mataalib (1/262) it says: If he has an
offensive odour and he is able to stand outside the mosque in such a
way that he does not cause annoyance, then it is appropriate that he
should be obliged to attend Jumu'ah. End quote.
Secondly:
If a man has a sickness that Allah, may He be exalted, has made mixing
with people affected by it a cause of contracting that sickness, which
is what is called a contagious disease, then he is excused for not
attending Jumu'ah and prayers in congregation,lest he harm other
worshippers. In fact he may be prevented from entering the mosque
until his illness has gone away, because the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) forbade bringing a sick individual among
healthy ones, as al-Bukhaari (6771) and Muslim (2221) narrated from
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "No sick one should
be put with a healthy one."
For more information onthe issue of contagion, please see the answer
toquestion no. 45694
Dr. Sulaymaan ibn Waa'ilat-Tuwaijri, a member offaculty at Umm al-Qura
University was asked about a man affected with a contagious disease
(such as measles)– is he obliged to pray inthe mosque with the
congregation?
He replied: One of the excuses that waive the obligation to pray in
congregation and to attend Jumu'ah is sickness, if recovery from this
sickness will bedelayed or if it will be made worse. That also
includes contagious diseases, the harm of which may be passed to
others. In this case the individual is excused and is not obliged to
pray in congregation because of his sickness and because of the fear
of contagion, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) forbade the one who has eaten garlic or onions to come to
the mosque lest the people be bothered by his smell, and this one
(i.e. the one who is sick) is obviously more bothersome than one who
has eaten something that has an offensive smell. And Allah knows best.
May Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon
his family and companions.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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