Prohibited anyways
” According to Islam, money should be spent for the benefit of the people and religion and cigarettes do neither “
Saudi scholar Mohamed bin Saleh al-Uthaymeen
The discovery places more than 100 million Muslim Arabs in an extremely awkward situation, especially considering that several fatwas have already been issued prohibiting smoking altogether. This new information would make the previous prohibition all the more valid for Muslims.
The late Saudi scholar Mohamed bin Saleh al-Uthaymeen argued that verses from the Quran support the prohibition of cigarettes. He specifically referred to a verse that prohibits squandering money in useless things and called people who do so “profligates.”
“According to Islam, money should be spent for the benefit of the people and religion and cigarettes do neither,” said the fatwa.
Uthaymeen also based his fatwa on the Quranic verse that prohibits Muslims from undertaking actions that might lead to their death.
“Smoking causes fatal diseases like cancer and eventually leads to death. Thus, it is against the words of God,” the fatwa added.
Cigarette filters, aimed at reducing the amount of smoke inhaled, were first invented by the Hungarian Boris Aivaz in 1925. The first filtered cigarette was produced in 1927.
In 1935, a British company started developing a machine that would produce filter-tipped cigarettes. By the 1960s, all cigarettes came with filters.
Cigarette filters are made of a fine material called acetylated cellulose, extracted from crepe paper. |