🧒 Raising children (tarbiyah) · #48
My teenager has been caught smoking or vaping. What is the ruling and how should it be handled?
The National Fatwa Committee Muzakarah has ruled that smoking is forbidden because of its harm, and a special Muzakarah in 2015 ruled that electronic cigarettes and vaping are also forbidden.
The basis is the prohibition on throwing oneself into destruction (al-Baqarah 2:195) and the principle from the hadith: there is to be no harming of oneself or of others (Sunan Ibn Majah 2340). Yet teenagers rarely stop because of the ruling alone. Ask calmly since when and why — peer pressure, emotional stress or simply trying it out. Explain how nicotine causes addiction and affects a brain that is still developing. If a parent smokes, this is the best time to quit together. Government health clinics offer quit-smoking services. Limit unmonitored pocket money without humiliating the child. See Educating the family.
The basis is the prohibition on throwing oneself into destruction (al-Baqarah 2:195) and the principle from the hadith: there is to be no harming of oneself or of others (Sunan Ibn Majah 2340). Yet teenagers rarely stop because of the ruling alone. Ask calmly since when and why — peer pressure, emotional stress or simply trying it out. Explain how nicotine causes addiction and affects a brain that is still developing. If a parent smokes, this is the best time to quit together. Government health clinics offer quit-smoking services. Limit unmonitored pocket money without humiliating the child. See Educating the family.
Sources
Surah al-Baqarah 2:195Sunan Ibn Majah 2340 (sahih)National Fatwa Committee Muzakarah (smoking; electronic cigarettes and vape)