Abu Bakr al-Jaza'iri held that smoking invalidates the ablution.

The questioner : All right; another question. It says that Abu Bakr al-Jaza'iri, in his thesis "Smoking: Substance and Ruling," states that smoking invalidates the ablution, and his evidence is that smoking causes relaxation in the body... And I think he says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the Muslims to perform ablution from the meat of camels...?

The Shaykh : Are you conveying this to yourself or to someone else? You are conveying this statement... Did you convey it, or did someone else convey it to you?

The questioner : I read it.

The Shaykh : Did you read this statement?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So, can we say, based on your report, that Abu Bakr al-Jaza'iri says that if a smoker, who was in a state of ablution, went to pray in his home or mosque, his prayer is invalid?

The questioner : ... He says that... it invalidates the ablution.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : I am very surprised...

Another questioner : He said this statement... He reported that smoking invalidates the ablution.

Another questioner : ... The Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Jaza'iri said regarding the abrogated hadith "Ablution is from what fire touched": he said: It is better for the smoker... to use water directly to perform ablution...

Another questioner : No, he said it invalidates the ablution, I am certain... He said: It invalidates the ablution.
...

Another questioner : ... The evidence?

Another questioner : The evidence is "Ablution is from what fire touched," this is an abrogated hadith.

The Shaykh : Is this his evidence?

The questioner : Yes, and the evidence he cited is: eating the meat of the... He said that smoking causes relaxation in the body...

Another questioner : ... The Shaykh, when... the question is based on Abu Bakr al-Jaza'iri's statement, as reported by you, that if a person entered his mosque or home to pray... The Shaykh, when... the question, based on your statement, says: Yes, it becomes invalid. He did not say: It becomes invalid...

The Shaykh : His report is different from this; his report differs from this report. He does not attribute my question to him, but to this. I strongly doubt that Abu Bakr says what you attribute to him. If he did say it, then it is an error and a slip of the scholars; because the things that invalidate ablution in the Shari'ah are limited, and it is not permissible for a person to expand them through analogy and derivation. If he said, for example, that the one who smokes faints, and he was in a state of ablution, and he woke up from his fainting, then that would be true. But as for him, who has his mind and reason intact, and is speaking and lecturing like the shaykhs of al-Azhar (what Allah wills!), and they smoke, and attend the prayer, and stand to pray, it is said: His prayer is invalid; I do not think a scholar would say this. So you must reconsider; in which book did he say this?

The questioner : "Smoking: Substance and Ruling," a thesis.

The Shaykh : Did you read the thesis? Is it available with him?
...

The Shaykh : Show it to us, bring it so I can see.

Another questioner : If Allah wills.

The Shaykh : All right; what about others? The important thing is that smoking is forbidden, but it does not invalidate the ablution.

The questioner : All right; what are the evidences... because there are scholars...

The Shaykh : ... .
...