Smoking Cigarettes
Question
What is the ruling on smoking cigarettes?
Answer
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
It is a universally accepted fact that smoking harms the smoker, the surrounding people, and the environment. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, tobacco is one of the world’s most-devastating causes of death and disease. In the late 1990s, there were approximately four million tobacco-caused deaths per year worldwide. This estimate was increased to approximately five million in 2003. Allah Almighty says in the Qurʾān (2: 195): “And do not throw yourselves into destruction with your own hands.” Smoking cigarettes is a form of slow suicide and results in wasting money; both of which are prohibited in Islam. Experts suggest that smoking causes much more harm to the surrounding people compared to the smoker himself, due to passive smoking. To harm others in this manner is prohibited in Islam. The Prophet ﷺ said, “The believer is the one from whose hand and tongue, other believers are protected” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 10). Therefore, smoking is prohibited in Islam.
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
17 Rabīʿ al-Awwal 1427 / 15 April 2006