South Africa - SANHA have condemned cigarette smoking..

May 17, 2010 - Muslims in South Africa have been told to quit smoking because of fears of contamination of cigarettes with pig produce and alcohol. A halaal products organization, the South African National Halaal Association, or Sanha, made the claim in mosques and via the Internet. (Halaal (حلال, halāl, halal) is an Islamic Arabic term meaning "permissible". In English it is most frequently used to refer to food that is permissible according to Islamic law. In Arabic it refers to anything that is permissible under Islam. Meaning of Halaal..)

News briefs - hemoglobin containing cigarette filters:
Hemoglobin obtained from pigs may be used in cigarette filters..;
Pig hemoglobin used in cigarette filter to trap harmful chemicals..

Sanha stated that "Muslim Jurists have for a long time condemned cigarette smoking." Now that makes plenty of sense. Having read the Quran from cover to cover in Arabic, I have no doubt that if the prophet Muhammad were alive today, he would forbid the smoking of cigarettes.

Now Muslim-owned businesses are being urged to stop selling cigarettes. I think this is also sensible. How can a God-fearing person possibly knowingly sentence people to a slow and painful death? How can a Muslim pray five times a day and then go to his shop and sell cigarettes to a pregnant mother, for example?

And how can any dutiful Muslim wash and take care of their body as prescribed by Islam and then go and put the many poisons from smoking cigarettes in their body? This not only makes no sense but is a great hypocrisy indeed.

Whether cigarettes contain pigs' blood or rum or wine products should be irrelevant. As a matter of fact, any doctor would agree that there is far worse in a cigarette than any minute amount of pig or alcohol product can possibly be.

South Africa's largest cigarette manufacturer, British American Tobacco SA (Batsa), naturally denies it all in a report in the local Cape Argus, a local newspaper in Cape Town. However, what the cigarette manufacturers cannot deny is the thousands of deaths and illnesses their industry regularly causes. Cigarettes are the leading health concern in South Africa after HIV/AIDS. And that is not in dispute by anybody, regardless of their religion.

Both the Tobacco Institute of SA and the major manufacturers in the South African market have categorically denied that either haemoglobin filters or alcohol are used in any local products. The website of the Phillip Morris parent company in the US listed alcohol as an ingredient in some of its brands.

Muslim smokers and business owners want to see the hard evidence before they give up smoking or stop selling cigarettes. Sanha has not yet identified any brands where the haemoglobin filter is used. Internet research by Weekend Argus has thus far confirmed the use of the haemoglobin filter only in clove-flavoured cigarettes popular in Indonesia but unavailable in South Africa. (Muslims want solid proof to stop puffing by Ward Meyer and Fatima Schroeder IOL.co.za, 5/15/2010)

References; Muslims Told to Stop Smoking by South African Halaal Authority by Suzanne Zacharia, EzineArticles.com, 5/14/2010; Halaal body bans cigarettes by Fatima Schroeder and Warda Meyer Staff Writers, IOL.co.za, 5/14/2010.

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