Of Smoking and Religion

“Smoking is only makruh if it is only one stick and only becomes haram if you smoke too much i.e. a whole box in a day”

This statement has clearly annoyed me from the first time I heard it. To annoy me more, I never did think about it when it was first stated.

Seriously though, is it even remotely possible for something to be in the grey within Islam? As far as I know, Islam is as clear as the religion is, black and white, right and wrong. No grey areas whatsoever.

Anything that falls within the ‘grey’ area is shubahah and automatically falls in the haram category.

At the exact moment when I heard that statement, I wasn’t really paying attention. Probably I was daydreaming or too sleepy to argue, but the words did stick deeply inside me.

I came back, sat, and thought about it.

Smoking is haram as it harms our body as well as others around us through second-hand smoke. Not only that, it is also a form of wastage.

Prophet Muhammad SAW also said;

“A person should not commit such acts which are harmful and cause harm to others”

And there is definitely nothing good about it.

Here is where it becomes interesting within my point of view.

Alcohol or red wine specifically is known to be good for our heart in small amounts. But alcohol is strongly prohibited in Islam.

Well, if smoking – which have no benefit to us – is only makruh if it is one stick, why isn’t red wine too? After all, it has some sort of benefit for us.

And My Point Is...

At this moment, most of the readers would silently think that I want to push ahead for red wine to be considered makruh in small amounts so that it can be consumed.

No. I am not asking for that. I know very well (and my readers too) that alcohol, is haram for Muslims to consume.

All I want is that the statement at the beginning of the post can be corrected and cleared of any doubts, especially for smokers who like to find all this small ‘loopholes’ for their benefit.

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If there are any mistakes within the post, I stand to be corrected.