One Year Anniversary - Yahoo!

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh...

All praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. As of Yesterday, 26th December 2009, it is now officially one year since a very significant event in my life. An event which has given the result of many great blessings and prosperity in my life.
It's been 1 year since i quit smoking!
Alhamdulillah... and i've honestly never felt better. After years of subjecting my lungs to severe exposure of chemicals and intoxicants, on 26th December 2008, i have made the brave step to break myself free of the shackles of cigarettes and nicotine addiction.

It's amazing that i've come such a long way from where i started. Back in younger days i was quite a heavy smoker, and I couldn't imagine myself spending days without having a cigarette. Pretty much every single milestone in my daily life had to somehow be accompanied with cigarettes.I couldn't leave my house without making sure that i have a pack of cigarettes handy, or at least enough money to go out and buy a new pack if i'd finish my current one. Allahum-Musta'an.. I was so dependent on this stuff that it really made me feel WEAK.

I knew I had to quit. And so it began... months and months of self-conflict and denial. So how did I succeed? It's this amazing thing called Iman. Throughout the process of myself trying to quit, I was (and still am, of course) striving my best to improving myself and becoming a better person. And as the days, the weeks, the months passed by while I was still on cigarettes, I started to feel a spiritually unhealthy feeling inside of me... a disease of the heart inflicting myself. Almost as if I was planting seeds of hypocrisy. I asked myself:

"Do you really think God will allow you to be a good Muslim, whilst you openly, publicly, and slowly kill yourself with that stuff? "
Allah says: "..And He makes good things halaal for them and bad things haraam.." (Al-A’raf 7:157)

What good did smoking ever do to me? Besides having some company with a few friends who did the same? What makes me any different from guys who drink alcohol purely for the excuse of hanging out with other friends who drink, under peer pressure?

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“O you who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves unjustly except it be a trade amongst you, by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves. Surely, Allah is Most Merciful to you.” (An-Nisa’ 4:29)

"And spend in the Cause of Allah, and do not let your own hands throw yourselves into destruction, and persevere in doing acts of good. Truly, Allah loves the righteous good-dooers" (Al-Baqarah 2:195)

Subjecting ourselves to these thousands of chemicals every day, enslaving ourselves to the addiction of nicotine, and spending our wealth in this path of extravagance - are these not ways that we are killing ourselves?

the Prophet (saw) narrated to us in a hadith Qudsy that Allah says "O My servants, I have made oppression unlawful for Me and unlawful for you, so do not commit oppression amongst yourselves" (Muslim) Allah has made it unlawful (haram) for us to oppress each other; and one form of oppression that we always blindly overlook is the oppression against our own bodies. Our own bodies are a gift that Allah has bestowed on us; we don't own it, and it is not ours to do as we wish - He has entrusted us to take good care of it so we can use it in the way that pleases Him most.

And He didn't just entrust us with our bodies, we are also been entrusted with the gift of money. Allah says in the Qur'an:
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"… and do not wastefully spend your wealth in the manner of a spendthrift. Those who are extravagant (i.e. spendthrift) are brothers of the Shayatin (the devils), and the Shaitan is ever ungrateful to his Lord." (Al-Israa' 17:26-27)

Spending money towards buying cigarettes - to buy things that we eventually end up burning - is a perfect literal representation of the expression 'burning money'. For what gain? What benefit?
Looking back and reflecting on these teachings granted to us by God, it was impossible for me to see that continued smoking would have some serious detrimental effects to my health, but worse yet, my heart as a Muslim. since we were young, we have been indoctrinated with the thinking that smoking is just makruh - something that is detested by Allah, but is not considered forbidden. What is our attitude with respect to this? Oh it's just makruh, it's okay... so what if Allah hates it?

Think about it - Whenever we find out that our parents don't like something, we try our utmost best to try and avoid it. Whenever our wives hate something, we try our best to please them by avoiding it. But when it's concerning Allah, the Supreme Creator, Nourisher, Sustainer and Lord of all these Creation, we put on the "oh it's okay, it's only makruh. Allah hates it but we're not sinful, so that's cool" attitude.... Allahum-Musta'an. Is this not a sign of a disease of the heart?

Alhamdulillah, Allah has given me the willpower to give it up. And He sent down help to me in the form of a handy little pill called Champix. I won't be having blatant advertisements here, don't worry =). But the effective methods of quitting smoking are out there... you just have to bite the bullet and go for it!

Allahu Akbar!

O Muslim brothers and sisters.. How much longer do we want to fool ourselves into thinking that smoking is not haram? How much longer do we want to close one eye to the disobedience to Allah at the unjustfulness and the oppression that we commit towards our own bodies?

You still need proof that it is haram, you say? Why - so you can find 100 different opinions, and when 99 of them say it is haram, and 1 of them say it is 'okay', you will blatantly choose that 1 opinion, in favor of your own personal preference?

Yes, people around you smoke. Perhaps your own father, perhaps your boss, perhaps your colleagues, perhaps your friends. And you feel 'its okay' because everyone around you is doing it. But God reminds us... stand up for yourself, and do not to simply follow the crowd - use your intelect, and think maturely -

"If you follow the MAJORITY of people on Earth, they will lead you astray. That is because they follow conjecture and fail to think" (Al-An'am 6:116)
"And when it is said to them: "Follow that which Allah has revealed", they say: "Nay, we shall follow that which we found our fathers (following)." (Would they do so) even if Syaitan invites them to the torment of the Fire?" (Luqman 31:21)

Let us support each other towards being better people. May Allah make it easy for us to follow His Straight Path, and abstain from sins and things which cause deficiencies in our hearts. Ameen...