Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Sixth Fascicle

scholars, on the other hand, stated that tobacco fell within the
interdiction in the hadîth-i-sherîf: “Let him who have eaten onions
or garlic not approach our mesjîd (mosque)!” Scholars of Fiqh
stated that things with a bad smell should be taken out of the
mesjîd. Tobacco has been said to be a bid’at. However, a bid’at
[reform, change] that is harâm is one which is made in tenets of
belief and/or in acts of worship. Bid’ats in customs and habits are
not harâm; they are mubâh. Bid’ats that run counter to sunnats or
to the causes of sunnats are forbidden. For instance, the reason for
the miswâk’s [1]
being sunnat is that it will remove the bad smell
from one’s mouth. Tobacco eliminates this hikmat (divine reason
or cause). Bid’ats that are beneficial to religious practices are
beautiful things. Tobacco is not one of them. Tobacco has been
stated to be khabîth. People with a nature called ‘selîm (mildserene)’
are disgusted with tobacco. Some scholars said that it was
smoked for amusement and pleasure and as an indulgence in
arrogance. This reason would suffice to make tobacco harâm,
although it is mubâh essentially. According to some scholars
tobacco is isrâf (prodigality, wastefulness), since it is something not
necessary. It is identical with giving away one’s property only for
pleasure. There may even be people who would pay very much
property to buy it. It may cost acts of worship, such as performance
of namâz in jamâ’at. It may cause acts of harâm, such as lying,
backbiting, talebearing, and gossiping. This statement is reinforced
by events such as tobacco smokers’ being dreamt of after death,
the changes seen on their faces and mouths when their graves were
reopened, and their graves’ having been filled with smokes. As is
seen, there is a variety of different statements and fatwâs
concerning tobacco. Scholars, let alone laymen, have failed to get
round this matter. Some scholars have said that it would be halâl,
mubâh. Some of them have warned against the threat it has posed.
According to those who have said that it would be halâl,
“Something that is harâm must have been clearly declared to be
so, or that it is harâm must be a bare fact. Tabacco has not been
interdicted clearly (in the four sources of Islam). And there are no
longer any authorized mujtahids to arrive at the conclusion that it
is harâm. As for the authorized mujtahids of the past; there is not
a single statement concerning tobacco on their part. On the other
[1] Please see the thirteenth of the adabs of an ablution dealt with within
the second chapter of the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss for the word
‘miswâk’.
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