is smoking hookah haram ?

[sana08]

salam. i would like to know if smoking hookah/sheesha is haram or not. i know smoking is definately haram and anthing that harms the body. but the thing with hookah is that its 3% tobacco and middle eastern muslims smoke hookah after meals.

please enlighten us with your opinion on this discussion. thank you.

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Reason for Editing: edit title

[Imam]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu


All Praise be to Allah who is the Lord of the Worlds, and may Endless Blessings be showered upon His Most Beloved, and Final Messenger of Islam, Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam


Smoking is not haram, and smoking hookah/sheesha is not haram either.


For something to become haram is must be clearly (sarih) stated expressly in the Qur'an, or the hadith. There is no such verse of the Qur'an, nor is there a hadith which renders smoking as haram. Therefor we cannot claim that it is haram due to our own negligence, regardless of how filthy the habit is.


However most scholars have said that it is makruh, and makruh of the higher scale which is closer to haram, known as 'makruh tahrimi'. Some have said that it is makruh alone, and some say that it is mubah, which is neither halal, nor haram.


So we must be very careful when we assert that something is haram, as we are not the lawgivers, but Allah the Almighty, and His Beloved Messenger Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam. They are the ones who have decided what is halal, and what is haram. They are the things which are contained in the books. For example, carrion, blood, swine, alcohol etc.


I hope that this simple principle about claiming what is haram and what is not, has been understood, that it is not we who claim something to be haram, but what has been expressly stated to us, in the form of the Qur'an, and the Sunnah.


Jazak'allah for your question.



Wallahu A'lamu Biththawaab


M. Waseem Ashrafi

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Reason for Editing: edit grammar