Another thing that also changes in Ramadan is opening hours. Shops won't open in the morning, sometimes not also in the afternoon. I live in a 24/7 metropolis, but it is unbelievable how nights become even more kindled with joy, conversations, people in the streets, horns and... music. I live in a quiet neighbourhood (quiet for local patterns), but one of the neighbours always leave to the street in the middle of the night playing his tambourine. Of course, with such a liveliness in the evening, why bother with business during the day?
Well, that is for Ramadan today. But a friend asked in the national version of the blog about Muslims being allowed to smoke and I promised her an answer. So, here goes a quick answer by an outsider (if you are looking for an extensive research about the theme, google it, read a book or talk to a scholar).
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Tobacco has been used in the Americas (the continent) for years before the Europeans' arrival, but its further dissemination and commercialization as cigarettes started only in the 16th century, after their presence. Therefore, like other Sacred Books, Koran does not rule specifically about it, because it was written in the 7th century and believers should look for principles that guide them concerning the matter.
The theme is obviously very controversial: the ones who are con, will say it's prohibited because it harms your health, does no good to yourself and to others, is a signal of moral decadence etc. The ones who are pro will say there's nothing clear about it in Koran and that the addiction would be the sin, not smoking itself. There is actually a fatwa (new legal rulings made by Islamic scholars), which prohibits the use of tobacco.
However, the fact is that, prohibited or not, people do smoke a lot here. ;-)
I couldn't write this all by my own knowledge, of course. Besides Wikipedia, here are the sources:
- The evils of smoking: for inside opinion;
- Smoking Fatwa: for legal resource.
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