Connaissance Centre: Smoking: Is it safer and HALAL ?

Assalamualaikum and Hai everyone, I hope you and your family are healthy and safe...😊

`Recently on my page on IG, I have asked my followers to suggest suitable blog content for me to write... 🖍️🖍️

One of the suggestions is;

"Is flavoured & electric hookah injurious to health and your Imaan?" 🚬 🌬️

This topic quite interests me as we usually know some people in life who either smoke or vape (including smoke hookah).

So I would write a blog regarding this.

Here is my Content List.

- Greeting

- Introduction and disadvantages of consuming

- Islamic views-

How to quit smoking?

- My point of view

-references

1.0 INTRODUCTION AND DISADVANTAGE OF CONSUMING

First of all, I will introduce cigarettes, e-cigs (E-cigarettes and vape), and Hookah (shisha).

Cigarettes are something that we may have heard since our young age as it is widely sold for centuries. Yeah, it's pretty old. By the 1800s century, cigarettes were manufactured widely and received the name cigarette.

Image result for cigarette

I believe we already knew about the harm of smoking since we were kids.

Even nowadays, if I am not mistaken, even cigarette packets have warning messages with disease pictures that can be caused by smoking. Even, there is awareness spread via the television medium such as in movies or advertisements.

"But why is a cigarette dangerous when it seems just like a white paper tube filled with tobacco?"

Disadvantages of Cigarettes.

Actually, cigarette tubes are not only filled with tobacco but also with hundreds of ingredients. According to the American Lung Association, cigarettes contain at least 69 chemicals that cause cancer. Fuh, it's like a self-slow-killing process.

Some of them are in the picture below;

What Is In A Cigarette? Chemicals and Ingredient List Confirm How ...

For more reference, please click here.

"But you know, even if you are not a smoker and still inhale the smoke of cigarettes, it is still dangerous for you, same goes when you are a smoker and your family isn't.

Why is it like that?"

This happens because the non-smokers inhale the smoke exhaled by the smoker contains more than 4000 chemical compounds of which 250 are toxic and as I mentioned before, it also contains cancer-causing agents (carcinogens).

We call this secondhand smoke (a combination of smoke from a burning cigarette and smoke exhaled by a smoker), so people around them who don't smoke but inhale smoke are also in danger. (I hope it is not confusing).

Smoking may protect against Parkinson's disease – but it's more ...

In easy words, the longer you are around secondhand smoke, the greater the level of harmful substances entering your body.

Source: Reference

Next, e-cigarettes. This is like a new version of traditional cigarettes and is considered safer than cigarettes by some sites but it is not proven.

"But is it really safer?"

Before continuing, let me clear something out.

These e-cigarettes are quite different from vape (we will discuss this too).

Vapes vs. E-cigarettes: What's the Difference?

Ok, so the e-cigs (e-cigarettes) were introduced by a man named Herbert A. Gilbert in 1963 but since people were too fond of the real cigarettes at that time, the patent was expired. But in 2003, a Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik introduced the idea of e-cigs again.

As time passes, vapes were introduced and it is mentioned by the Wall Street Journal that a recent Wells Fargo study suggests that vaporizers (vapes) are growing twice as fast as standard e-cigs.

"But why the sudden craze for vapes?"

One main difference is that vapers can mix and match liquids to achieve liking in sort of flavour (such as Strawberries, Peach, Lime), cloud production (clouds of vapour), and throat hit (a feeling that gives you on the back of the throat as you inhale). In simple words, you can smoke something according to what you prefer.

Disadvantages of vaping

Many people think that vaping is better than smoking and less injurious than cigarettes but less do they know that it is still harmful to health too.

Yes, it is undeniable that vaping is also dangerous. Why am I saying this? Even though e-cigs don't have many chemicals like in ordinary cigarettes, it stills has chemicals in it.

Studies reveal that vaping can lead you to heart or lung diseases because of the presence of nicotine.

Even in studies, have shown that e-cigs will not help you to avoid traditional cigarettes as;

It is also sad to know that many people think that vaping can help reduce traditional smoking... But it is not... It is also sadder, that teenagers start vaping as their first tobacco experience...

Let me share a video with you guys.

"It is sad to say that e-cigs are becoming a trend now for nowadays kids and they don't realize the harm, they are causing to themselves."

"This maybe will be causing the next smoking epidemic through young people getting addicted to electronic cigarettes early in life"

And if you wonder why there is no specific long-term research to back up why smoking e-cigs are less harmful than traditional smoking. It is probably because a disease like Cancer takes years to develop and e-cigs were just introduced back a few decades. So it is impossible to determine whether the product increases the risk or not.

But it is better to prevent it as "Prevention Is Better Than Cure" cause I believe nobody would love to be diagnosed with cancer or any other serious disease.

Lastly, HOOKAHS a.k.a Shisha...

Just now, we talked about e-cigs which are quite safer than cigarettes but now, WE WILL TALK ABOUT SOMETHING BAD/SIMILAR to cigarettes themselves. Again, it's hookah a.k.a shisha.

Image result for Hookah

"I remember seeing some people smoking this in an Arab restaurant and believe me when I passed through it, the smell was horrible."

Back to the disadvantages,

It is researched that tobacco in HOOKAHs is no less toxic than a cigarette, and the water inside it does not filter out the toxic ingredient as it is pack inside its container so the smokers may actually inhale the large portion of smoke in one session than cigarette smokers.

According to an article from various sites, where one of them is from the MayoClinic website, the bad effects of the hookah are;

The World Health Organisation published a report in 2005 stating that smoking using a waterpipe poses a serious potential health hazard and is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, as an average shisha session typically lasts more than 40 minutes and consists of 50 to 200 inhalations, each range from 0.15 to 0.50 liters of smoke. (source)

.................................INTRO ENDS.....................

In conclusion, none of them are beneficial to health. It may be sufficient to satisfy the lustful ( nafs' ) needs but it won't benefit you at all. Smoking is also injurious to the environment as it can cause air pollution as well as water and soil pollution. It also creates a huge amount of toxic waste. Smoking also impacts pets and aquatic animals.

There's one advertisement that I would like to share with you guys, later I will interpret the ad message so those who don't understand the language will understand it.

In this ad, Akshay questioned the man who was smoking and asked him why was he smoking in front of the clinic. So the man said that his wife has a girl's problem and it is expensive to treat her as everything is expensive now...

But the man doesn't realize that he may not have enough money to treat his wife by buying sanitary pads (you have to watch a PadMan Movie for this 😂😂) but instead, he has money to buy cigarettes which would kill him one day.

So by only keeping 20rp, he could save two lives which are his (by quitting smoking) and his wife.

If you are wondering about the risks of smoking.

Some of the examples are below;

Just now, I share with you whether it is safer or not andddd it is concluded that it is NOT SAFE as "Smoking anything is injurious to health".

Now, my second point...

2.0 ISLAMIC VIEWS

Is smoking (any of the above) even halal and permissible in Islam?

According to the site of Mufti of Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia, it is haraam to vape as well as smoke as it harms the smoker and other people. Smoking, as well as vaping, is considered an activity that harms one's health.

It is mentioned in surah an-Nisa verse 29,

"O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful."

These two references show that it is haram to consume anything that kills you (directly or indirectly) or another person.

Destroying one's health through such activities (smoking) is against the teachings of Islam as the Quran mentions in Surah al-Baqarah verse no.195.

"Do not put yourselves into destructions, and do good. Of course, Allah loves those who do good"

Let me a share resource from Mufti Menk.

A sharing by Sh.Shady al Sulaiman.

One more reference from Dr. Zakir Naik which is seriously contentful.

And the majority of scholars and fatwas also say that smoking (cigarettes, vaping and shisha/hookah) is haram. Islam prohibits harming yourselves and others.

3.0 How to quit smoking?

1. Have a clear desire to quit smoking. (Niyah/intention)

Trust in Allah's words: "...When you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah. For Allah loves those who put their trust in Him. If Allah helps you, none can overcome you; if He forsakes you, who is it — after that — that can help you? In Allah, then, let believers put their trust" (Qur'an 3:159-160).

2. Change your habits- having a better circle of friends. Avoid joining friends who are smoking at the moment. Play sports or exercise and spend time with non-smoker friends or family.

Pray.

3. Change your routine to pursue your hobby or do things you love other than smoking like painting, cooking or watching your favorite shows.

4.Going for therapy to quit smoking.

5. Taking proper medication.

And if you wonder this 👇

4.0 My point of view

As a science student, what I can tell is that whatever you take either by eating, inhaling, or drinking, it is going to affect your inner body without you even realizing it.

You may feel better taking the bad things up for now and eventually, when the side effects affect you, you will have no idea. You have to fight with those desires. People may tend to start smoking either because of their friends, following trends, or even influenced by media. Seriously, smoking doesn't make you look cool as you don't how the makers of these items fool you. You have to stop taking this slow poison.

Life is beautiful and full of beneficial things so don't go for the minor bad things.

Save money and use it somewhere better, for a better future.

I know for the part of halal and haram, many Non-Muslim will be questioning about its benefit towards them. What I can say about this is ...

Halal and Haram labels/tags are not only given based on religious factors but also from many aspects as well. They are applicable for all, no matter Muslims or Non-Muslims. So if something is Haram, it has some benefit in avoiding it.

Such as pork is Haram in Islam (mentioned in the Quran) and one of the scientific reasons why it is haram is as it can deliver many diseases to humans.