What is the ruling on smoking?

The questioner : O our Shaykh, what is the ruling on smoking?

The Shaykh : May Allah preserve you and protect you from it.

The questioner : May Allah accept it from us all.

The Shaykh : It is forbidden, without any doubt or hesitation, because before medical science revealed the harms of smoking, we used to say: And this is among the virtues of the wise Shari'ah. The hadith means, in this brevity, that it is not permissible for you to consume something that harms yourself or harms another. Before the harm of smoking to the smoker, and then to his friend who does not smoke like he does, was established, before these medical facts were proven, we used to say: The one who smokes harms and injures his companions. How so? We have an authentic hadith from the Messenger (peace be upon him) where he said: — I do not want it, and if you wish to give me something to drink, give me water — . So we used to combine with . It is a reality that the one whom Allah has spared from smoking is certainly harmed by the smoker. The harm comes from the smell that clings to the smoker, just as one is bothered by someone who has eaten garlic or onions. And regarding the smell of garlic and onions, the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: . Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to eat food containing raw garlic or raw onions at a time when he knows that he will harm those around him. We do not know among the people we know anyone who dislikes eating onions or garlic, but smoking is not like that. Many people dislike smoking, not just the act of smoking, but its smell. Our understanding of his (peace be upon him) statement: is that it is not permissible for a Muslim to consume a means by which he harms his Muslim brother, even if that means is permissible in its origin, but it has a foul smell that affects others. He (peace and blessings be upon him) confirmed this, as it came in "Sahih Muslim": "That he entered the mosque one day and smelled the scent of garlic from one of them, so he ordered him to be taken out to al-Baqi'" (the cemetery), as if he was making the attendees feel that this person who harms with the smell of garlic or onions is not fit to live among the living, but should live among the dead. What did he commit? He committed nothing except that he ate from what Allah has permitted, namely garlic or onions. And I think you all know that garlic and onions have many benefits in their consumption, to the point that I have heard that some medicines are taken from the extracts of garlic or onions. I am a transmitter, not a scholar, and the point is...
The student : The first time we have heard you say that you follow a scholar (taqlid).

The Shaykh : What is the problem?
The student : O our Shaykh, may Allah bless you, you always say that no one is free from following a scholar (taqlid).

The Shaykh : Not at all.
The student : We always hear it from our Shaykh, of course.

The Shaykh : Is it possible for a person not to follow a scholar? Heh.
The student : I said you have a viewpoint in everything.

The Shaykh : ... The important thing is...
The student : O harsh one.

The Shaykh : If the Messenger (peace be upon him) had this stance toward those who harm Muslims with the smell of lawful garlic and onions, what would be his stance toward those who harm Muslims with the smell of forbidden smoking? This is what we used to say before the news of the scholar-doctors spread that smoking addiction is a strong cause of cancer. Finally, we heard, and we did not know, for your sake, that this smoke which the smoker exhales in the gathering harms the other people, because the nicotine will enter their bodies and harm them as well. So the harm is no longer limited to what? The foul smell. Therefore, it is true of the smoker that he has contradicted the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in its two parts: in himself, and he has harmed himself: in another, and he has harmed another. So what is it? It is forbidden, if smoking is not forbidden. Leave aside the extravagance and wasting of money, and the annoyance of the wife and wives whom our Lord described in the Qur'an, saying: . Because when he wants to lie with her without being shy, and he wants to disobey her, that disobedience, heh, he will harm her with the smell of smoking more than that disobedience. Do you see how? Except in one case, if her nature is like his, and she smokes, then the harm will be greater, heh.
The student : By the way, Professor, regarding women in Jordan, it is one of the strange things I have recently come across that a very high percentage of them are smokers, especially the sector of female employees.

The Shaykh : Is this following a scholar (taqlid) or knowledge? Heh.
The student : Speak, no harm, O our Shaykh.
Another student : It is true, I swear by Allah, seriously, O Professor.

The Shaykh : Do you allow me to leave now? I have started to feel my shoulders, the cold is starting to seep in now. Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise be to You. I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek Your forgiveness and turn to You in repentance.