by Asma bint Shameem
Nowadays, hookah bars and cafes have popped up everywhere, fueled by the growing popularity of hookah smoking among teens and young adults.
It is a 'normal, everyday' thing, even in ‘Muslim’ countries, when father and son, brother and uncle, all go out to smoke hookah while the ladies stay home.
No hayaa', no respect, no sense of shame or guilt.
Hookah...evil?
But I thought it was harmless.....one might say.
Harmless?
Let's see how "harmless" hookah is.
Let the facts speak for themselves.
🔺What does science say about hookah?
❌1. Mayo Clinic research says:
"Although many believe that the water in the hookah filters out all the "bad stuff" in the tobacco smoke, this is NOT TRUE.
According to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) advisory, a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking exposes the user to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette!
Even after passing through the water, the tobacco smoke produced still contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens).
Hookah smoking also delivers significant levels of nicotine (about 70 times more )— the very addictive substance in tobacco."
(Pulmonologist Mayo Clinic Edward Rosenow, M.D., )
❌2. "One single session (45-minutes) of Hookah smoking will result in the smoker breathing in 100 times more smoke than regular smoking."!!
(World Health Organization)
❌3. “Contrary to what many beginning users may think, hookah tobacco use carries many of the same risks as cigarette smoking, including being linked to lung cancer and other lung diseases.” (John L. Kirkwood, President and CEO of the American Lung Association).
❌4. "Links have been found between water-pipe (hookah) usage and oral, lung and bladder CANCER, in addition to heart disease and clogged arteries,"
(American Lung Association).
❌5. "The water moisture induced by the hookah makes the smoke less irritating and may give a FALSE SENSE of security and reduce concerns about true health effects."
(Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics)
❌6. "Water pipes (hookah) smokers were five times MORE LIKELY than non-smokers to show signs of GUM DISEASE.
People who smoked water pipes had FIVE TIMES the risk of LUNG CANCER as non-smokers."!!
(Journal of Periodontology)
❌7. The World Health Organization (WHO) regional office in Cairo estimates that 17 percent of TUBERCULOSIS cases in the eastern Mediterranean are attributable to the smoking of water pipes!!!
Subhaan Allaah!
Cancer of the mouth, lung and bladder...!
Tuberculosis!
Heart disease, lung disease, gum disease....!!
Exposure to toxic compounds like heavy metals, nicotine, tar, arsenic....!!
You name it.
Yaa Allaah!!
Is there any more evidence one needs to know that smoking hookah is bad for you?!!!
🔺What our Sharee'ah says about Hookah?
❌1. It's harmful to yourself:
All these harmful materials collect in the person's body over time, resulting in a gradual killing of the organs and tissues.
These diseases may not appear all at once, but the one who smokes is most likely to suffer from some of them, and his suffering increases as he grows older. And anything that cause harm to one's body or to others is haraam in Islaam.
🍃 Allaah says: "Do not kill yourself. Allah is Merciful unto you." (Surat al-Nisaa' :29)
🍃 "...make not your own hands contribute to your destruction..." (Surah al-Baqarah:195)
🍃 The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa sallam) said:
“There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.” (Ahmed, Ibn Majah-saheeh by Albaani)
❌2. It's POISON!
Don't you see that it is a kind of slow poison with which a person kills himself?
The statistics show that over 3 million people worldwide die from smoking-related causes each year.
🍃The Prophet sal Allaahu Alayhi wa sallam said:
"Whomsoever consumes poison, thereby killing himself, then he will be consuming his poison forever in the fire of Hell and he will abide in it permanently and eternally." (Bukhaari, Muslim)
❌ 3. It is SUICIDE!
Knowing fully well the harmful effects of hookah, if someone still smokes it, it is suicide.
🍃 The Prophet sal Allaahu Alayhi wa sallam said:
“Whoever kills himself with something in this world will be punished with it on the Day of Resurrection.”
(al-Bukhaari, Muslim)
❌ 4. It is a waste of money and extravagance:
Extravagance in Islam means spending on something haraam.
The money that one spends on hookah is therefore an extravagance.
🍃 Allaah said:
"… and do not be extravagant wasters. Those who are extravagant are kinsmen of Satan."
(Surat al-Israa' :26-27)
❌ 5. You will have to ANSWER to Allaah for this:
🍃The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa sallam) said:
"A person will not be able to move on the Day of Judgment until he is asked about ..... what he owned as to how he spent it, and his body as to what he engaged it in."
(at-Tirmidhi-shaheeh by Albaani)
❌ 6. Your body and life have a right over you:
Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta'ala has given you this life and this body as an 'AMAANAH' to you.
You are supposed to take care of it and protect it from harm and haraam.
What will you say to Allaah when He asks you about it?
🍃 The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa sallam) said:
"Your body has a right on you."
❌ 7. Allaah requires you to CONTROL your DESIRES:
Smoking hookah is a kind of following one's desires, which is prohibited in Islaam.
Allaah wants you to be STRONG and be able to RESIST your desires.
🍃Allaah says:
"Allaah wants to let you into His Mercy, whereas those who follow the desires want you to drift far away (from the right path)." (Surah an-Nisaa':27)
❌ 8. Don't smoke it and don't let people smoke it:
It is not only haraam for someone to smoke hookah himself, rather it is equally haraam to offer it to people, to sell it, buy it, or promote it in any way.
🍃Allaah says:
"Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is Severe in punishment." (Surah Maidah:2)
❌ 9. Do NOT even SIT with those who smoke, EVEN IF you don't smoke yourself:
And even if you yourself don't smoke, if you keep company with those who do smoke, or even SIT with the people who are smoking it, then you are STILL COUNTED AMONGST THEM.
🍃Allaah warns us;
“And it has already been revealed to you in the Book (this Qur'aan) that when you hear the Verses of Allaah being denied and mocked at, then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk other than that; (but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be one of them. Surely, Allaah will collect the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell” [al-Nisaa’ 4:140]
❌CONCLUSION:
We need to realize that smoking is HARMFUL and WRONG and thus, FORBIDDEN whether it is hookah, cigarettes or anything else.
It is bad, not just for one's health, but also for other worldly matters and much worse for the Aakhirah.
It is our DUTY to EDUCATE ourselves, our kids, family, friends and communities about this evil, and teach everyone to stay away from it and to help those addicted to it to get help.
May Allah guide us and enable us to stay on the right path and do only those acts that are pleasing to Him. Ameen.
And Allaah knows best.
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