Tobacco fatwa

A fatwa (Islamic legal opinion) that takes a position on the use of tobacco by Muslims is colloquially called a tobacco fatwa .

History of origin

Tobacco smoking has been an issue for Islamic legal scholars since the custom spread in Islamic countries. Legal scholars of the Ottoman Empire , and particularly Ibrahim Efendi , had widespread public debates on whether or not to smoke. The Ottoman Sultan Murad IV banned smoking in the 17th century. He tried to enforce his ban by closing public coffee houses in Istanbul . During the Sultan's campaigns, smoking was prohibited under penalty of death. Katib Chelebi noted that none of the measures could significantly reduce the spread of smoking. According to Muhammad al-Jibaly's latest publications, European countries have succeeded in curbing smoking by pointing out the harmful effects on health, while tobacco consumption in Islamic countries has reached new highs.

Two fatwas that prohibit smoking have become particularly popular:

• Ayatollah and Mardschaʿ-e Taghlid Mohammad Hasan Shirazi's fatwa from 1891, issued during the tobacco movement in Iran. It led to the revocation of a tobacco concession granted by Naser al-Din Shah to the British Major GF Talbot. Tobacco consumption had fallen so sharply after the fatwa was issued that the concession was practically worthless.
• the fatwa of Sheikh Nasr Farid Wassel, Grand Mufti of Egypt from 2000, at the beginning of the national anti-smoking campaign.

The Shirazi fatwa was less directed against smoking per se. It banned Shi'ites from smoking as a means to an end to exert economic pressure on the granted concession in Iran. This fatwa was the first in the modern Islamic legal history of the Shia , which was made for economic reasons and was to have far-reaching political consequences. Tobacco dealers and clerics organized a protest movement ( tobacco movement ), which forced the withdrawal of the concession. In January 1892, Naser al-Din Shah declared the concession null and void. A few days later, Shirazi lifted the previously issued ban with another fatwa. The Muslims could smoke again.

There is historical evidence of two open letters from Shirazi to Naser al-Din Shah from July and September 1891, in which he declared his rejection of the tobacco concession. In December 1891 a fatwa "against the use of tobacco" appeared in Tehran , which was signed by Shirazi. A comparable version of this fatwa had been in circulation in Isfahan since November 1891 . Whether or not Shirazi actually issued the fatwa cannot be proven today. Clergy-minded historians have attributed the success of the tobacco movement to the leadership qualities of the clergy involved and the effectiveness of the fatwa. It was forgotten that it was the tobacco traders who started the protest movement and who played a major part in its success.

As part of its program to reduce tobacco consumption in Islamic countries, the regional office of the World Health Organization EMRO in Cairo has been awarding the Mirza Shirazi Prize to personalities who have made particular contributions to this topic since 2009.

Legal appreciation

The Koran does not explicitly prohibit smoking. Mostly it is quoted:

• "... and don't throw yourselves into ruin! ... “( al-Baqara , 2/195).
• “... and eat and drink! And don't be wasteful! God does not love those who do not discipline ”( al-A'raf , 7/31).

The health effects of smoking are valued differently by the individual Islamic legal scholars. Some say smoking is perfectly allowed. The more recent tendencies, however, are to reject smoking as potentially harmful and to ban it. Arab Muslims tend to reject smoking, while Asian Muslims regard it as legally permitted but not desirable.

The behavioral effectiveness of fatwas that are directed against smoking has been examined in several empirical studies. The results are inconclusive. A more recent study from Pakistan showed that Muslims are now more likely to avoid smoking. A study carried out among US Muslims also found that there was less smoking. In contrast to this, there is a study from Egypt that denies the connection between knowledge of a fatwa directed against smoking and smoking. There was no evidence of a decrease in smoking.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Muhammad al-Jibaly: Smoking: A Social Poison , 1996
2. ↑ Hamid Dabashi: Islamic Liberation Theology. Routledge, 2008. pp. 77f.
3. ^ Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences ( Memento of March 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Nazim Ghouri, Mohammed Atcha, Aziz Sheikh: Influence of Islam on smoking among Muslims . In: BMJ . tape 332 , no. 7536 , February 2006, p. 291–294 , doi : 10.1136 / bmj.332.7536.291 , PMC 1360407 (free full text).
5. ↑ Abdul Hameed, M. Asif Jalil, Rozina Noreen, Iqbal Mughal, Shaid Rauf: Role of Islam in prevention of smoking . In: J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad . tape 14 , no. 1 , 2002, p. 23-25 .
6. ↑ Sondos MS Islam, Carl Anderson Johnson: Correlates of smoking behavior among Muslim Arab-American adolescents . In: Ethnicity & Health . tape 8 , no. 4 , November 2003, p. 319-337 , doi : 10.1080 / 13557850310001631722 .
7. ↑ Ghada N. Radwan, Ebenezer Israel, Maged El-Setouhy, Fatma Abdel-Aziz, Nabiel Mikhail, Mostafa K. Mohamed: Impact of religious rulings (Fatwa) on smoking . In: Journal of the Egyptian Society of Parasitology . tape 33 , 3 (Supplement), December 2003, pp. 1087-1101 , PMID 15119472 .