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Persisting in disobedience

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
Translated by Ustadha Zaynab Ansari, SunniPath Academy Teacher

I read that persisting in disobedience to Allah is one of the inner enormities. Does someone who is addicted to cigarettes fall into this category? Is a cigarette smoker committing an enormity?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Without doubt, cigarettes have been proven harmful. Imbibing anything which harms the body is unlawful, cigarette smoking included. According to Imam Bajuri, a later scholar, in his commentary on Ibn Qasim (1/357), “Smoking is disliked. However, if one is sure that smoking is harmful, then it is unlawful.

Today, according to medical experts, we know for a fact that smoking is harmful. The Ministries of Health even put warning labels on cigarette packs that smoking is a major cause of lung cancer. The Ministries of Health have statistics that relate the number of mortalities due to cigarette smoking.

Smoking in and of itself is a minor sin. But we believe that persisting in a minor sin makes it an enormity. However, there is some debate about the definition of “persistence.” Some of them [the scholars] have said that to persist means that [a person] had enough time to repent but did not. It is also said that persistence means continuing the same kind of sin. Finally, it is stated in the Commentary of Shirwani on the Tuhfa (10/214) and in the Commentary of I`ana on Fath al-Mu’in that [persistence] is to commit the sin three times without repentance.

Amjad Rasheed
(Translated by Ustadha Umm  Salah)


السؤال : قرأتُ أنّ من الكبائر الباطنة الإصرار على معصية الله , فهل المدمنُ على التدخين من هذا الصنف ؟ هل المدمن على التدخين يفعل كبيرة ؟
الجواب : لا شكَّ في ثبوت ضرر الدُّخان المعروف ، وتناولُ ما يضرُّ بالبدن حرامٌ ، وهذا منه كما تصرحُ به عبارةُ العلامة الباجوري من متأخري أئمتنا ؛ فإنه ذكر أولاً في حاشيته على ابن قاسم (1/357) : أن الدخان مكروه ثم صرح بأنه يكون حراماً إن تيقن ضرره ، وقد ثبت ضررُه اليوم يقيناً كما يقوله الأطباء المختصون ، بل نرى مكتوباً على كثير من علب السجائر إنه سببٌ رئيسي لسرطان الرئة منسوباً ذلك لوزارة الصحة ، وعند وزارات الصحة قوائمُ بنسب الموتى من آثار التدخين ، وعليه فالتدخينُ معصيةٌ وهو من الصغائر ، وعندنا أن الاصرارَ على الصغيرة يصيرها كبيرةً ، لكن اختلفوا في معنى الإصرار هنا فقال بعضهم : الإصرارُ هو أن يمضي زمنٌ تمكن فيه التوبة ولم يتب . وقيل : هو الدوامُ على نوع واحد منها. وقيل : أن يرتكبها ثلاثَ مرات بلا توبة ، كما هو مبينٌ في “حاشية الشرواني” على. “التحفة” (10/214) وحاشية “الإعانة” على ” المعين فتح”.

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