What is the ruling of Islam regarding smoking? And what is the ruling on selling it? Then the Shaykh spoke about intoxicants, musical instruments, and desires.

The questioner : What is the ruling of Islam regarding smoking, and what is the ruling on selling it? And can a person be in a state of dire necessity regarding it?

The Shaykh : The question is very weak. What is the ruling of Islam regarding smoking and selling it, and what else?

The questioner : And is it possible for him to be in a state of dire necessity for selling it?

The Shaykh : Regarding its sale, some of those afflicted with smoking this foul tobacco may imagine that they are compelled to smoke it, especially since there may be some doctors who do not adhere to the Islamic legal rulings who tell some patients that there is no harm in smoking, for example, two or three cigarettes a day, and so on. So this person afflicted with smoking tobacco imagines that he is excused in this situation regarding smoking tobacco. Then this tobacco becomes for him like what afflicts those afflicted with narcotics of many types; he becomes addicted to smoking tobacco. So when he is afflicted with addiction, it becomes very difficult for him to stop smoking tobacco. So we say: I do not imagine that there is a person who is compelled to smoke tobacco. First, and a fortiori, that he is compelled to sell tobacco. That is, if we want to explain the sale of tobacco, I do not imagine that there is a person compelled to sell what harms Muslims. Because tobacco is harmful, without any dispute, by the testimony of the disbelievers, let alone the Muslims. And perhaps you all hear on the radio and read in the newspapers and magazines the very serious news resulting from the addiction of some people in those countries to smoking tobacco, and that one of the effects of that addiction is falling into the foul disease known as cancer. So it is certainly not permissible for a Muslim to smoke tobacco, and it is not permissible for me to imagine that a person is compelled to smoke tobacco or to sell tobacco. Rather, this is from the whispers of Satan who justifies for the children of Adam: "You are compelled to smoke tobacco." Why? Because you are nervous, for example. And this phenomenon, unfortunately, we see it in Ramadan, the month of fasting, the month of purifying the souls. The soul of this tobacco addict becomes the foulest it has ever been in Ramadan. Why? Because he annoys his companion if he leaves it for a day or so. Therefore, every person afflicted with smoking this foul thing must quit it. But we do not say that it is easy to quit it in one step; rather, it must be done gradually. Because the issue of gradualism with the soul that commands evil is part of the legal policy. But what we want to say is that it is very easy for anyone afflicted with smoking tobacco to stop it within two or three months or close to that. And this has been tried with many people. But the matter requires, first, to keep in mind the legal ruling, which is prohibition, and what is beyond that, the fear of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So he places this as a means of avoiding the disobedience of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And someone might say: Where is the disobedience in smoking tobacco? We say: In smoking tobacco there are sins, but most people do not know. Many people, unfortunately, seek a text in the Qur'an or in the Sunnah that details this text according to their minds: "Smoking tobacco is forbidden." So they know that such a text does not exist. Therefore, in their questions, they say: "Is there a text prohibiting the smoking of tobacco?" Some even went so far as to say: "Intoxicants are not forbidden in the Qur'an." No, they are forbidden. Okay, bring us a verse so we can see that intoxicants are forbidden in the Qur'an? Ah, this does not mean prohibition. Indeed, there is no text in the Qur'an that says smoking intoxicants is forbidden. But in the Qur'an there is what leads to this meaning for one who uses reason. So whoever does not use reason, those are the disbelievers, or they have hearts by which they do not understand . Avoiding a thing means its prohibition . So the point is: if he is not satisfied with this and we bring to him the authentic hadith , he will tell you: "No, I want a verse from the Qur'an." He wants it his way; he wants a verse from the Qur'an, and he knows that there is no verse in the Qur'an. He asked many scholars, and they told him: "There is no verse in the Qur'an with the word 'forbidden,' but there is a verse in the Qur'an that leads to the meaning of the word 'forbidden.'" No, he wants a detailed text his way. When we brought him a detailed text his way and said to him: "The Messenger of Allah said..." he said: "No, I want it from the Qur'an." So this man is a man of desire (hawa), and this desire today has dominated many of those who consider themselves callers to Islam, and millions of Muslims have been deceived by them, thinking they are callers to Islam. They have fallen into this problem. So they say, for example, regarding some entertainments like music and musical instruments: "There is no text in the Noble Qur'an prohibiting it." So we return to the jurisprudential rule: they claim that the original ruling for things is permissibility. We said: Yes, the original ruling for things is permissibility, unless a text comes in the Qur'an or in the Sunnah. The Sunnah exists, but this Sunnah is weak, so-and-so, and so on. They go around and around. Either they are seeking a text in the Qur'an, or they do not accept it. And when we bring them the hadith, they reject it, either by denying it from the start, as they did with the hadith of al-Bukhari : "Musical instruments, all instruments of amusement and pleasure, are called amusement and play, and they become transformed into apes and pigs." I do not want to digress too much. I return to the fact that tobacco is forbidden by many things, and very many, known by the people of knowledge and jurisprudence, about whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And I bring closer to you, before I come to the details of the prohibition of tobacco, a narcotic substance today known as opium or hashish. From the mercy of Allah to some of His servants is that they have not yet reached the stage reached by some smokers, which is doubt about the prohibition of tobacco. They have not reached doubt about the prohibition of hashish and opium, and praise be to Allah. But we say now: hashish, opium, and tobacco are all one family, whether from the legal aspect or the botanical aspect. So all these things are originally plants, made without doubt. Likewise, from the legal aspect, their ruling is one: all these three things—tobacco, hashish, and opium—there is no text, neither in the Qur'an nor in the Sunnah, that they are forbidden. So if we say that opium is lawful, and we say that hashish is lawful, some will come out and say: "Tobacco is lawful because there is no text prohibiting it." We say: No, no, no. Rather, we say these things are all forbidden, even if we did not have but one hadith. And this hadith, may Allah be pleased with it, is considered by the scholars of Islam to be one of the comprehensive words of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Look at this hadith: how concise it is, how beneficial, and how it gathers meanings, namely his saying (peace be upon him): "No harm and no reciprocating harm." Two words that include the prohibition of everything that harms a person in his health, in his body, in what branches from his body, in his sight, in the society in which he lives. All of it becomes forbidden because it harms himself and harms others. And this is the meaning of his saying (peace be upon him): "No harm." To oneself and to others. No harm to yourself and no reciprocating harm, meaning causing harm to others. And tobacco is among the foul things in its essence that its harm extends to others afflicted by its smoking. So you, for example, if you are, as we hope, free from smoking tobacco, because you will feel the feeling of those free from smoking tobacco, if you travel a journey for Hajj and 'Umrah in a taxi and there is among the five or six passengers one who smokes tobacco, they all are annoyed by him and are harmed by him. Why? From the tobacco he emits into the air of this small room traveling with them to the House of Allah the Sacred. So here there is causing harm. And some scholar-doctors mention that this tobacco exhaled by the smoker, if the non-afflicted person inhales a lot of it, may affect him, because the nicotine substance also reaches the stomach of, yes? Those who smell the smell of tobacco. So here there is annoyance beyond the apparent annoyance. Indeed, by Allah, my brother, you have made our life difficult. We no longer see the road, the trees, and the streets; our eyes are blinded, while this is also reaching their lungs. So when the two mentioned in the hadith of the Messenger are realized, look at how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibits causing harm to others, even by consuming the permissible, and the permissible does not mean in the literal sense that there is no good or evil; rather, the beneficial permissible. How is that? He said (peace and blessings be upon him): "Whoever eats from this foul tree, meaning garlic and onions. All people, praise be to Allah, eat this lawful garlic and onions. But all people know, with the benefit of eating these two trees, that their smell is disliked. And therefore, he said (peace be upon him) when he prohibited them from eating garlic and onions, he said to them: "Unless you cook it." So cooking changes this dislike. So whoever eats it raw, let him not approach our mosque. Why? The Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned a type of noble creatures that are harmed by what harms the children of Adam. So he said (peace be upon him), explaining this legal ruling: . So the children of Adam are harmed by the smell of onions and garlic, so what about the angels who attend the mosques morning and evening, in two shifts, and they leave in the 'Asr prayer, as that came in the authentic hadith. So it is not permissible for the one praying to enter the mosque after having eaten from this foul tree, garlic and onions, thickly and closely. But if the time is far, there is no harm, because with the change of saliva, the foul smell is eliminated. So what do we say about the smoker of foul tobacco who has become part of his life and part of the smell of his body, and the effects of this smell appear in his mustache, if he has a beard, in the mustache, and in his fingers, which are greenish and yellowish. This harms the worshippers every time he enters the mosque, and we feel that if we are before Allah in the row and a man comes and stands next to us, we immediately know that this person is afflicted with tobacco, because this smell has become attached to him. So there is causing harm to others, let alone causing harm to himself. So he says to thisThe questioner : The one who says there is no text forbidding smoking, my brother, there is a text forbidding smoking, first of all, and there is a text stating that it is not permissible to harm your Muslim brother with the bad smell of eating something lawful, based on the authentic Sunnah. Therefore, the truth is that the harms of smoking are many and very many, and the texts regarding its prohibition are not hidden from one who intends to know the ruling of Allah, rather than one who intends to justify the matter, erase it, and feed the people, because they say, "When the affliction becomes widespread," what happens? It becomes "easy." But this is never permissible to use in these aspects, because it helps in the spread of evil.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, they also say that the fetus, the child, is affected by his mother's smoking.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : And even those sitting nearby.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, its harms are many, yes.