THE USE OF TOBACCO BY MUSLIM PEOPLE

Smail  Balić

(...) “As soon as the new guest appeared in the Islamic world, some commotion began. People began to speak and write against smoking. It was particularly true of some dervish orders and some religious dignitaries such as Fahrudin Muhamed Čivi zade, the religious head of Muslims (shaykhul-Islam) during khalif Murat III (1594-1603). Under the influence of these people, rulers prohibited the use of tobacco and often punished offenders most strictly in this respect. Thus, in the Turkish empire, they initially pierced smokers' nose and inserted the cigarette-holder through the wound, and later on killed them. The offenders with the inserted cigarette-holder were forced to immediately mount a donkey, facing the donkey's back, and ride so disfigured through the city or the town, and had to keep the cigarette-holder in the nose as long as they lived. Sultan Murat IV (1623-1640), one of the bitterest opponents of smoking, used to visit coffeehouses personally and immediately execute anybody he caught smoking. “And is it not irony of fate,” one of our writers says, “that today there are most smokers in Turkey, where such draconian punishments against smoking used to be in force.”

(...) When Mehmed IV repealed the prohibition of the use of tobacco, the contagion of smoking became rampant in the whole Turkish empire. It has remained more or less the same up to this day. The permanent use of pipe in the mouth by Muslims caused people of other religions to consider this habit as a kind of Islamic symbol. Thus the author of “Gorski vijenac” (The Mountain Wreath) Njegoš says, through the mouth of his Crnogorac Janko:

„Ukrešite koju da pušimo,

To je duša vjeri prorokovoj,

Neće biti žao efendiji“.

(Strike a match, let us smoke,

It is what Prophet's religion likes,

The effendi won't be sorry)

(...) In Bosnia, like elsewhere, the emergence of tobacco aroused reaction. The most prominent opponent to this evil was dervish Kaimi-baba. He even wrote an entire poem (qasida) about the harmfulness of tobacco. I partially record it here because of its interesting content.

(...)

Zločesta je rabota,

Pušit ga je sramota,

Jer je vrlo grehota.

Ostante se tutuna!

(It is evil,

It is a shame to smoke it

Since it is a big sin,

Get rid of the tobacco!)

Ko uspuši pako

On je sebe smako

I uvijek je plako,

Ostante se tutuna!

(Who smokes a pack

Signed a death sentence

And always cried

Get rid of the tobacco!)

I mi smo ga pili

I u smradu bili

Kao Bogomili.

Ostante se tutuna!

(We also drank it

And lived in stench

Like Bogomils

Get rid of the tobacco!)

Nemojte se po zlu vrijet,

Čujte što ću vama rijet:

Ko god hoće čisto mrijet,

Nek s’ uvede tutuna,

(Don’t befriend evil,

Listen to what I’ll say:

Who wants to die

Let him use the tobacco.)

Nuti muke tvrde,

Sve haljine smrde,

Svakomu se grde.

Ostante se tutuna!

(It’s such a nuisance

All the clothes stinks,

Everybody hates it.

Get rid of the tobacco!)

Ko ga pije zlopati,

Nemojte se trovati,

Lulu, kamiš kopati.

Ostante se tutuna!

(Who drinks it suffers.

Don’t poison yourselves

Don’t struggle with a pipe, a cigarette-holder.

Get rid of the tobacco!)

Zločesto je po vjeru,

Ružno, jedni umjeru.

U zemlju se uvjeru.

Ostante se tutuna!

(It is not good to the religion,

It’s nasty, some people die

And are buried in the ground.

Get rid of the tobacco!)

Smoking was most resisted by women. Their social position did not allow them to become sufficiently familiar with phenomena in the downtown and in the market, i.e. in the men's world. Understandably, the emergence of smoking seemed funny to them at first. Besides, by their nature, women felt the natural revulsion to tobacco poison more than men. A folk poem speaks about their attitude toward it, as follows:

„Jesam li ti govorila, dragi,

Ne pij vina, ne puši duhana,

Ne ašikuj, ne veži sevdaha.“

(Didn't I tell you, my love,

Don't drink wine, don't smoke tobacco,

Don't flirt, don't court.)

Later on, passionate smokers could be found among older Muslim women, and there are many even today. In general, smoking seems to be the main pastime of old Muslims. Our people like to say: “A pipe, a friend of the old man.” Young people used to scruple to smoke in front of the older, though it has disappeared due to decline of shame and morality.

In olden days, people typically smoked the pipe (cigarette-holder) or the hookah, a special device fairly similar to a ewer, with elongated and flexible hose and a neck of small diameter. Inside the device there was usually water, which absorbed lots of tobacco poisons. Today, the hookah is rarely used.

Muslims have an old custom to smoke while drinking coffee – taking it easy, which is nicely depicted in the verses of our folk poem about a visit of Ahmedbeg od Varada to Mustajbeg Šestokrilović in Kaniža.

„Tutun  puši, crnu kafu srče

I odbija dime na topove.“

(He smokes tobacco, sips black coffee

Puffing heavily.)

People particularly smoke heavily at get-togethers. At a time, Slavonian poet from the 18th century Matija Antun Reljković wrote the following verses about it (inviting his fellow countrymen to give up nasty customs inherited from Turks):

„Još  imade  osobita  skula (običaj)

Da Bog dade, dade da bi se razasula!

Koju Turci kod nas ostaviše

I divan joj ime nadivaše.

Pak i vaši idu na divane,

Zalud side i puše duhane.“

(There is another custom,

I hope it will disappear!

Which was left by Turks here

And named it a get-together.

Now our people also go to get-togethers

Sit aimlessly and smoke tobacco.)

Besides, people smoke a lot in coffeehouses, which are mostly visited by Muslims.

Today, there are generally many smokers among people of Muhammed's (a.s.) religion. They could easily be attributed the words which, some time ago, Stjepan Majstrović in Glasnik Zemaljskog muzeja in Sarajevo used to characterize a villager from Bosnia and Herzegovina: “I could live without bread for three days, but without tobacco, not even three hours.”

This great love for tobacco dates back to two or three centuries ago. Describing the hard life in Duvno at the time, an anonymous writer of “Duvanjski arzuhal” from the 18th century complains:

„Ni čaršije, ni hana,

A nestade duhana,

Već pijemo smrdana,

Razumite,  gospodo!“

(There is no market, no inn,

And even the tobacco has run out,

We are already drinking a stinky thing,

Understand us, gentlemen!)

This is the view of most part of the Islamic world, which proves that nicotine addiction is a prominent and black spot among many Muhammed's (a.s.) followers. However, there is a considerable number of Muslims who consider the use of tobacco as illicit or even despised....”

Source:

• Balić, Smail, “Duhan u narodnoj upotrebi muslimana”, Novi Behar, year 13/1939, no. 7-10, pp. 103-106. (The content in the text above is taken from pp. 103-104.)