Does the gradual prohibition of intoxicants have an effect on the ruling regarding smoking?

The questioner : I, my honorable Shaykh, my question is regarding intoxicants. When the Qur'an was revealed, it was revealed all at once, decisively, with no return. It was not revealed gradually, as the common people say. A man gave me an example a few days ago. He said to me, "My brother, leave smoking." I said to him, "My brother, let us consider smoking to be forbidden like intoxicants, whose prohibition was revealed gradually. I want to quit this smoking, and he is lying on his bed, his chest is tight, and he is still investigating the cigarette and smoking it." I said to him, "My brother, leave smoking, and Allah willing." He said, "My brother."

The Shaykh : He put down the phone. Is the natural phone line absent? What does he need to hear?

The questioner : Yes. Yes. I have it here. No. Please go ahead. Two hours on the farm, and then the second one said, "Come out and sing for us." He said to him, "What am I doing? It has been two hours for me. And it has only been one hour for me."

The Shaykh : Is it reaching? It is loud so that everyone can hear it. It has been two hours for you, it is not you, it has been minutes for you.

The questioner : The one who has been there for two hours is singing; he has not prayed for two hours. Yes. May Allah bless you and have mercy on our parents and your close friends. Amen. I said to him, "My good son, leave smoking. I am present for twenty sessions, and this is a matter of harm, and it is still forbidden. Leave it." He said, "Man, smoking has become like intoxicants. Intoxicants were revealed in stages. How were they revealed in stages? From the moment they were revealed, they mixed with the things that were present with them. Suppose they were revealed in stages, but from the first stage, they did not drink them. Do they drink them like an innovator, or as you want to cry now that it was revealed all at once or gradually? And those who were drinking it before the revelation of the decisive verse? You need to clarify all of this in the general context of the discussion so that I can tell him, "My brother, it was not revealed like smoking. Do not bring an analogy to this smoking. First of all, it is also distorted. Let me understand you that it is distorted." I spoke to him, and he said, "No, my brother, suppose like intoxicants, Allah revealed it in stages, and they kept drinking it little by little, and then He revealed it all at once and said, 'Stop drinking it.' So what is this? Clarify all these matters that have come together. This is days. You have a great reward."

The Shaykh : What clarifies it for you?

The questioner : Clarify for me whether intoxicants were revealed as forbidden from the first time, or whether they were revealed gradually.

The Shaykh : No, gradually.

The questioner : They used to drink it. Oh. It is not upon them.

The Shaykh : Intoxicants were revealed gradually. What do we base this on? And the legal ruling has settled that a little of intoxicants and a lot of it are forbidden. From the perspective of knowing the history of legislation, we say that it was forbidden gradually, yes. But in the end, it was forbidden definitively. So what does it benefit the one afflicted with smoking to know that intoxicants were forbidden gradually or all at once? Nothing results from it. The important thing is that he knows the ruling of the Shari'ah regarding drinking intoxicants: is it forbidden or lawful? Brothers in faith, the continuation of the discussion is in the next tape.