1) Almighty Allah states in the Quran: "And he (The Messenger) makes lawful unto them (the believers) pure substances and he makes unlawful for them impure, filthy substances." (Surah 7, verse 157)
2) The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: "There shall be no harm to oneself, nor harm to others."
3) The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) also prohibited those who consumed strong, foul smelling foods (such as raw onions or garlic) from attending the Musjid so as not to offend the Angels and fellow worshippers.
4) Rasoolullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) prohibited every substance that intoxicates or damages the body.
These hadith are mentioned in almost all the major works on the subject.
Let us now view the practice of smoking in the light of the above. In smoking there is definitely harm to the human body. There exists overwhelming and indisputable medical evidence that smoking is the cause of serious health disorders, from lung cancer to heart disease. There are several reasons in Shariah why a substance or food can be prohibited. These are: impurity, injury to health, un-Islamic slaughter, unlawfully obtained property. Smoking will fall within the ambit of the second reason. On the basis of the above hadith and principles, smoking will be prohibited since it is detrimental to human health.
Smoking also causes harm to others who inhale the smoking. This is called passive smoking, and has been under-pinned as a cause of lung disease in people who are subject to smoke inhalation. On the basis of the second hadith, this should constitute another reason for prohibition.
Smoking leaves a nasty and unpleasant smell in the mouth and body of the smoker. In fact, even the clothes of habitual smoker takes on this terrible smell, which is greatly offensive to non-smokers. This falls under the prohibition mentioned in the third hadith. There is, though, a difference between onions/garlic, and cigarretes. The former is food that provides tremendous nourishment to the body and has huge medicinal propensities, whilst the latter has no such qualities and is in fact a disaster to human health.
Smoking to any non-smoker of normal habits is offensive and filthy. The verse quoted above refers to such filth. In the Tafseer of this verse, Imam Qurtubi and others write that any food or consumable substance that is considered dirty and despicable by normal human beings of sound mind and nature, will fall under Khabaa-ith, the Arabic word used in this verse meaning dirt, rubbish, filth, etc. Here too, we have another reason for the prohibition of smoking.
Ulema of latter generations have gone so far as to declare the testimony of a habitual smoker as inadmissible in a Shar'ee court. For all these reasons, we are constrained to declare smoking as non-permissible. But this is not in the category of Haraam, hence we call it Makrooh Tahreemi, meaning a stage just below haraam, but definitely sinful. One who does it habitually will eventually earn the sin of committing haraam.
The following user has entered a message:
Email: arkariapper@gmail.com
Name: Rifai
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Message:
some muslim countries they smoke not cigar but some kind of instrument don't know the name. I hope smoking any how prohibited in islam. Meanwhile I heard that with this special instrument they can smoke (hope it zeesha). Is it true?
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Mufti Siraj Desai
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