If Smoking Is Forbidden, Why Do Many Muslims Smoke?

Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear brother in Islam, it gives us pleasure to receive your question and to see the Muslim youth are interested in knowing the teachings of Islam, which Allah has chosen for His servants as a way of life. According to the Qur’an, a true Muslim should refer to scholars to acquaint himself with the sound image of Islam.

Smoking did not exist during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but our great religion of Islam has laid down general principles from which many laws are derived. From these principles, Muslim scholars have come to the conclusion that smoking is prohibited. A Muslim who smokes is ignorant of his religion and follows his lusts.

In response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada states:

"One of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence is that all that is harmful and filthy is considered haram (forbidden).

There is enough scientific evidence to prove that smoking is harmful to one's health. Islam teaches us to take care of our health and not to destroy it. By smoking we are causing our own destruction, and Allah’s order in the Qur’an is clear: “Do not cause your own destruction” (Al-Baqarah: 195); “Do not kill yourself, for verily God is ever Merciful towards you” (An-Nisaa': 29).

Allah has prohibited us from squandering our wealth, and there is no doubt that smoking is sheer wastage of valuable resources. The money thus squandered on tobacco could very well rid the world of poverty — if correctly utilized.

As for the question why many Muslims still smoke, I cannot find any reason other than their sheer ignorance of Islamic teachings or their being carried away by their lusts.

May Allah make us love faith and embellish our hearts with it, and make us detest disbelief, transgression and destructive habits."

Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.muslims.ca

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Allah Almighty knows best.