Smoking in Islam

Why people smoke: Many smokers find comfort in holding a cigarette between their lips. Psychologists call this ‘lip comfort’. Lip comfort is first used by breast-feeding babies. The longer an infant breast-feeds (2 years being the limit in Islam) the less he/she has to find ‘lip comfort’ as an adult. Even bottle feeding is no match for the mother’s breasts in producing a balanced adult. This is why many younsters feel the need to chew pens, bite their nails or suck their thumbs etc. These actions are used to reduce stress. Nicotine drug dependency increases stress levels and smokers need cigarettes to further reduce the stress, so it is a vicious circle and trick of the Shaytaan. Because of the addictive nicotine, the smoker only feels normal and relaxed while smoking. After a couple of weeks of quitting the nicotine will have left the blood leaving the ex-smoker normal again. Smokers are advised to replace the cigarette with a miswak/siwak. Such toothsticks are a Sunnah of our Beloved Nabi SAW so using them will bring the help of Allah Ta’ala in trying to quit. Miswaks and Siwaks also provide good lip comfort. Doing plenty of Dhikr/ Taubah and Salaah is a very necessary means in quitting cigarettes. Counting Dhilkr on beads ect. is also relaxing as it keeps the hands busy instead handling a cigarette.

The main reason why people smoke, is to do with peer pressure and wanting to be big. Young men associate smoking as a grown up activity when they see fellow Muslim elders ‘light up’. Muslims should realise that they are spreading harm to society when they smoke in public. Any sickness or sin which affects another Muslim may become a trial on the day of judgement for the original smoker. The action of smoking is filled with a lot of unsociable actions. Smokers know that everyone hates the smell of cigarette smoke and that on the whole non smokers all wish that

he stops his bad habit. The smoker also knows that Allah Ta’ala hates this habit as well, regardless of whether it is Haram or just Makruh. With this in mind the smoker continues to displease. He knows the health dangers as well as the wasting of wealth which it entails but he still persists. Such an attitude of persisting in this bad deed causes Nifaq. Nifaq is more poisonous than nicotine and all drugs put together. We pray that Allah Ta’ala guides us to realsie that this deed is not a small thing. It is a big deed with many amazing consequences.