Breathe peace, not nicotine!

Tarawih prayers let out on Steinway Street, and the chattering crowd moves slowly down the block through the low hanging smoke. There are almost 25 Hookah cafes in an approximately one-block stretch. With lolling fat men with mustaches and nubile nymphettes showing bare shoulders as they sip from Shisha pipes, the scene is from a bad 1950’s sword and sandal epic, perhaps a tale spun off from the Bible and populated with eye-rolling Philistines and other Hollywood “Middle Eastern” types. It is an orgy of Arab self-indulgence—and a carnival of cancer.

 

The fast of Ramadan is meant to help free us from bad habits. But as the month ends, how many of us have used this time to get free of the smoking habit?  Since starting a program called Nafis Salaam to study and stop smoking among Muslims, I have begun to notice smokers everywhere, and especially among the young. I see them clustered in doorways, I notice their itchy fingers and hungry mouths, I smell them smoking next door and downstairs, I notice their air of defensiveness, evasion and sometimes desperation.

 

Every day in the USA, 4,000 young people start smoking. And every year, some 400,000 Americans die from smoking related illnesses. Around the world, some Muslim ethnicities have the highest rates of smoking—over 50 percent among Turks, Bosnians, Muslims from the former Soviet republics, Bangladeshis. Arab communities’ smoking rates are also increasing, as tobacco companies target them in marketing. Studies demonstrate how sedentary and unhealthy many Arab nations are becoming, with increasing rates of cancer and heart disease.

 

Consumption of unbalanced foods and well as cigarettes is affecting your friends and neighbors. While perhaps slightly healthier than cousins back home, the South Asians in New York have been found to have a 28% rate of diabetes. And Nafis Salaam’s polls of over 150 diverse New York Muslims show that over 50 percent are regularly exposed to second hand smoke. We should be alarmed by this health crisis.

 

On top of this, we are now seeing the rapid spread of Shisha as an economic engine, chic—or kitschy--celebration of identity, and a habit that is more dangerous to your health than cigarettes. Steinway Street rakes in the cash from nargila pipes, while everywhere Yemeni and Egyptian delis sell packet after packet despite the prohibitive prices.

 

This is self-imposed genocide. This is mass delusion. We do this to ourselves. Interesting that NYC Mayor Bloomberg should ignore these Shisha cafes, making an exception to his tough anti-smoking laws. This exception easily kills more Arabs than Israelis killed in Gaza. Why, when even in Baghdad and in Istanbul new regulations against smoking are finally being implemented?

  

Unless they are smokers, imams are generally very clearly against smoking. Some will deliver passable Khotbas on the subject. And yet, how very few will organize AA style support groups for quitters in their congregations. I have floated the idea—but the real push for this must come from within the congregation. So many Muslims are passive consumers of religion and have low expectations. African American communities seem a step ahead on understanding the need for social services, but are woefully under-funded. Someone has to start this service! How will our mosques grow into the healing gardens they were meant to be?

 

Many leaders have promised to help our Nafis Salaam program, but are slow to water our own gardens. Imams should step up to the plate on smoking prevention and cessation, no messy gender issues for them since it mainly affects male Muslims. We hope to soon have videos of imams' khotbas posted along with quitters’ stories. We would also be willing to post your personal stories.

 

As we go through the NYC Muslim community, I meet men and women who tell me stories—of loved ones unable to quit, who die suddenly, of their own attempts and frustration, and also stories of victory. ‘I feel so healthy and clean” they say. “I can taste food again!”

 

Recently I have been reading some Ibn al Arabi passages that remind us that how we treat our bodies is a service to God. I have to admit I hardly ever think this way. I wonder: if we were all more in touch with this intimate truth, would we be more tender towards His creation, and to each other?

 

Addiction is such a prison and smoking is a internal rendition. It is not enough to hate this evil in our hearts! It is more appropriate to ask, “How can I help?”  You may risk a sour look, but why not tell Muslim merchants not to sell this haraam. Even if you think it is just Makruh, help your friends and family to get free. Help them lovingly.

 

And if you are a smoker reading this please know that this struggle to quit is a form of the Greatest Jihad. Let us all celebrate quitters, and seek the inner freedom through struggle, insha’Allah. There are streams of waters beneath our feet along smoky Steinway Street— you can almost hear these silent waters--healing is so near. Breathe peace, not nicotine, not 15 known carcinogens.

 

Our community can often seem like a broken thing. With the self-congratulatory public iftars, the insecurities and blame, all the habits of our beleaguered cultures, it is as if we sit on a hill of ants. But we can begin to listen to our human souls, in order to address the disconnect between cultural versions of Islam and the spirit of the deen.

If you think you might be able to help us develop this movement of awareness against the smoking habit, a movement of liberation and empowerment, a hope for new life, please be in touch. Please contact or call 718 512 5176. Peace to you.

this is a re-post from Adem Carroll of the Muslim Consultative Network

Comments

[Dina B.]

Outstanding post. Beautifully written on how we can empower ourselves only when we make the intention and take the initiative. I would definitely like to participate in the Nafis Salaam program.

I think what's needed in most mosques is a health ministry at most and a health worker at the very least. Part of the campaign I'm working on is to help create this capacity so that faith communties begin taking care of health as an important part of wellbeing. Will connect with you Adem iA. Blessed Eid for both you and Ibrahim