What does Islam say about smoking cigarettes and/or marijuana?

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

It is a universally accepted and indisputable fact that smoking has many serious health and life hazards, for example, lung cancer, etc. to the smoker as well as those (non-smokers) in his (smokers) environment, therefore, not permissible. Shari'ah has explained in great length the importance and virtue of good health to the extent that Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) even advised to maintain a balance in eating and drinking as an imbalance could be harmful to health.[i] He advised having dates, being hot in nature with cucumber, as it (cucumber) has a cooling effect. (Shamaail)[ii].

On one occasion, Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) even stopped Hadhrat Ali (Radhiallaahu Anhu) from eating dates upon recovering from his illness and advised him to have vegetables instead.[iii] Although dates are not only nutritious but also a means of obtaining blessing, but in certain conditions, since it could be harmful, Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) advised against it. From that, one can gauge the extent of abstaining from cigarettes which contain many harmful ingredients, for example, carbon monoxide, nicotine, tar and benzene vapour. Therefore, smoking is harmful to the smoker as well as those around him. 

Consider the following: Muhammad Abdul Ghaffaar al-Afghan in his book, 'Ninety-nine harms of smoking' has said that smoking results in many sicknesses which doctors have explained and they all amount to ninety-nine. Doctor Salahuddeen Abdur-Rabbi Nabiy, a neuro surgeon in Cairo says, 'When a person becomes enslaved to the habit of smoking, it has a very harmful effect on the smoker's health, especially to his heart. As a result, his heart beat and blood circulation becomes unstable and he experiences drowsiness from time to time due to the shrinking of his brain arteries. Sometimes, during old age, he suffers from high blood pressure and angina. Similarly, his digestive and respiratory systems are harmed and the smoker loses his appetite. He is also afflicted by a cough which is known as the smoker's cough. When his nervous system is affected, the smoker feels a prickly sensation, a numbness in his limbs and also a pain in the nerves. 

In the annual conference of the American Doctors Council which took place in Chicago in 1966, the main topic discussed was the harms of smoking. Doctors, who were aware of the role that smoking played in lung cancer, became alarmed when they heard that the least harm smoking causes is that it arouses anxiety. Doctor Edward Kweller Hammond, head of statistics in the Cancer Association of America said, "Verily lung cancer which is caused by smoking cigarettes is not so serious in comparison to the injury caused by smoking with other means." 

It is stated in the ninth edition of "World of Knowledge" magazine that the time has come wherein it has become necessary to expose all the harms of smoking. It should also be realised that these despicable substances even cause death. It is also necessary to elucidate the harms of smoking in the hope of saving many intelligent and educated youth, who will be astonished on how much has been written regarding this topic. It is also stated in the above-mentioned magazine under the following heading, "Cancer Caused by Smoking": This fatal illness is the culmination of many illnesses which are the result of thin blood and other sicknesses which are related to the blood vessels. All these are connected to this loathsome substances. 

However, lung cancer is the most likely outcome of smoking. Lung cancer was a very rare disease, but the end of this century witnessed a high rise in its occurrence, primarily in men and thereafter in women. In the beginning of the sixties, the death rate due to lung cancer increased compared to before. Smoking also yields other health hazards besides its general and specific economic harms. 

PROOF FOR THE PROHIBITION OF SMOKING

Smoking did not exist in the time of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu alayhi Wasallam), but our magnificent Deen has laid down general principles from which many laws are derived. From these principles, the Ulama (Allah's mercy be upon them) have come to the conclusion that smoking is Haraam.[iv]

An Aayat of the Noble Qur'aan states,

'And do not throw yourself into destruction with your own hands.' (Baqarah 195)

Smoking causes fatal sicknesses, for example, lung cancer, tuberculosis, etc.

In another Aayat, Allah Ta'ala says, 

'And do not kill yourselves'. (Nisaa-29).

Nabi Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam said, 'Whomsoever drinks poison, thereby killing himself, will sip this poison forever and ever in the fire of Jahannum. Cigarettes consist of many poisonous substances and furthermore, the smoker indulges in a slow suicidal act by smoking this poison.

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

(2000-08-27)