SMOKING IS VALEOLOGICALLY DANGEROUS TO HEALTH (I) !!!

[Abbas Bubakar El-ta'alu]

                                                            "Life, from the beginning of time, revolved upon the accepted
                                                            principle of intellectuals and thinkers on the pursuing of the
                                                            good and discarding of the harmful".
                                                                 Ali Hassan Ali Abdul Hameed (2006)
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   However regarding the above quotation, the intellects of people differ regarding that which is beneficial and harmful. This is because of differences in of the human mental faculties in strength, weakness, soundness and deficiency. There are so many beneficial things which people understand to be harmful and leave aside, because of their suspicion of its harm. On the contrary, there are so many harmful things which people advance towards believing to be beneficial, therefore practicing them. This is due to the ambiguity of so many things whose reality is not apparent and therefore not understood. Is it something beneficial which has to be pursued or something harmful which has to be abstained from and discarded? The following hadiths of Nabi Mohammad, sallallahu alaihi wasallam substantiate this fact: "Halaal and haraam are evident and between them (halaal and haraam) are doubtful things which many people are unaware of".
   Verily that which is halaal is beneficial and that which is haraam is harmful. From amongst halaal and haraam are those things, whose benefit and harm are self-evident, for example, the benefit of honey and the harm of poison or the benefit of doing good and the harm of evil actions. But between these are many things whose benefits or harms are not known to everyone, except to people of experience, correct understanding and intellect. From amongst these is the subject of cigarette smoking, whose reality is vague and hidden from many people.
   Cigarette smoking first came to light in the Islamic States towards the end of the hundred and tenth year of hijrah. The first people to import it were the European Christians [Ali Hassan Ali Abdul Hameed (2006)]. This means that cigarette smoking did not exist during the time of the Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him), but the great religion of Islam has laid down general principles from which many laws are derived. From these principles, Muslim scholars of the Presidency of Islamic Research and Fatwas, people with the capability of Ijtihad (deriving verdicts in new situations), more than 25 years ago, issued a ruling that makes tobacco smoking and other methods of consumption, as well as its growing and selling forbidden in Islam [Adil. A. Salahi. (2005)]. A Muslim who smokes is ignorant of his religion and follows his lusts. The Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean of the World Health Organization, which caters for 21 Muslim countries, published a book entitled "The Islamic Ruling on Smoking", in which about 15 distinguished scholars issued their separate Fatwas. All but two of these fatwas make smoking strictly forbidden, while the other two say it ranges between strongly reprehensible, i.e. makrooh, and forbidden. Many other scholars have subscribed to these fatwas and the number is always increasing. No scholar has ever revised his ruling of prohibition on smoking, while many who used to be reluctant to issue such a ruling found it necessary to change their mind when they knew the full extent of the danger tobacco smoke causes to the health of the smoker and those who are in close proximity to him.