The Imamate of a Tobacco User Who Watches Films

Question

There is an imam of a mosque who watches films and the like, although he is also a scholar (‘alim). He smokes bidis (a thin Indian cigarette rolled in a leaf) and cigarettes heavily and chews betel mixed with tobacco, lime and the like. All the muqtadis of the mosque are extremely displeased with this conduct of his. He has been admonished many times, but he does not desist from his antics; instead he resorts to argument and brushes us, the unlettered, off by calling it [merely] makruh.

Answer

Consuming foul-smelling tobacco is makruh because of the bad odour. However, before going to the mosque one should clean the mouth with a miswak or the like. If the tobacco is fragrant, then it is not even makruh. However, if the tobacco is intoxicating such that one loses one’s reason, then eating or smoking it is haram.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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