Not exactly what the Surgeon General had in mind when those warnings about smoking were first issued — but still, this is the Islamic State’s version of an anti-smoking message. “Syria: Isis chief executioner found beheaded with cigarette in his mouth,” by Gianluca Mezzofiore, International Business Times, January 6, 2015 (thanks to Anne Crockett):
In a grotesque twist of the saying “live by the sword, die by the sword”, an Islamic State executioner in Syria who carried out beheadings for the jihadist group has been found with his head cut off.
The body of the Egyptian man, known to be the deputy emir of the feared al-Hesbah (or Hisbah) force in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, was recovered near a power plant in al-Mayadeen city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The corpse showed signs of torture and carried the message “This is evil, you Sheikh” written on it. The severed head also had a cigarette in its mouth. It is unclear who carried out the decapitation but the message was obvious.
Islamic State’s (formerly known as Isis) ban on cigarettes is one of its signature polices. It has imposed a strict set of Sharia laws barring the use of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes in the territories it has conquered across a swathe of Iraq and Syria.
IS has declared smoking “slow suicide” and demands that “every smoker should be aware that with every cigarette he smokes in a state of trance and vanity is disobeying God”.
Hisbah is IS’s religious police who perform the role of enforcing the group’s twisted version of sharia in the self-styled caliphate.
Last year, Vice News released a documentary on what life is like under Hisbah in Raqqa during Ramadan. The footage shows how the religious police check on shops and scrutinise produce, while at the same time ensuring their strict rules on women’s appearances are adhered to.
The Vice reporter also spoke with inmates in an IS prison accused of abusing drugs and selling alcohol, learning of their punishments – which included being whipped.
The Syrian Observatory also reported that unknown assailants tried to kill two IS militants in al-Mayadeen.
wallace says
Lots of chatter coming out of Syria and Iraq at the moment wanting to know if nicotine patches are haram or halal, fatwa ruling coming soon.
Mirren10 says
Wallace ! Shrieks ! đ
cs says
Great image for illustrating the point.
Jay Boo says
You Islamophobes are so judgemental. You sure enjoy making fun of Muslims and criticizing them for their sharia laws yet ignore the very fact that in the West we also have limited smoking bans under certain circumstances.
North Carolina bans smoking in all restaurants and bars (excluding cigar bars and private clubs),
Violating this smoking ban in North Carolina at such locations could result in a FINE.
Isn’t that barbaric?
Shouldn’t we round up a bunch of indignant liberals and stage a mass protest after we complain to the ACL?
Isn’t having to pay a fine the exact same thing and just as bad as being beheaded?
Jay Boo says
ACLU
katarzyna says
You are making many great points.
As to some commentators here let them be who they are, namely ‘the clueless bolsheviks’.
To qoute latma tv ‘If they weren’t clueless…they could make the world a better place…’
King Dave says
Perhaps America should drop cartons of cheap cigarettes on these Islamic bigots instead
jewdog says
Warning: Sharia Law may be hazardous to your health.
dumbledoresarmy says
CORRECTION: “Sharia Law Is Hazardous To Your Health”.
Or: “Sharia Kills”. (Yellow sticker, to be stuck to copies of the Quran, Hadiths and Sira).
which gives me an idea.
Imagine a pub or church with a sign at the door – “No Sharia”.
Imagine a local council declaring themselves a “Sharia Free Zone” (you know, like all those places that used to vote themselves to be a “Nuclear-Free Zone”).
Google up images of “Nuclear Free Zone” and “No Smoking” signs and then use them as the basis for “Sharia-Free Zone” and “No Sharia” signs.
MKG says
Smoking? Who cares. What gets my attention from the story is the chief executioner getting executed. How poetic. LOL. Rot in hell you dirty scum.
Angemon says
In all fairness,the cigarette could very well be a red herring. Someone didn’t like what he said, or how he looked at them, or someone was after his wife (or wives), or job. Long story short: someone could very well be benefiting from his death, a death that no one will look into because it seems like it was just a devout muslim enforcing the law. If he was indeed caught smoking I’d expect the “official authorities” to make an example out of him and let their people know that the law applies to everyone.
Jack Diamond says
“Hisbah is ISâs religious police who perform the role of enforcing the groupâs twisted version of sharia in the self-styled caliphate.” Can’t resist editorializing, in this case to protect the reputation of untwisted Shari’a. Doubtful the author of such assurances has actually read any shari’a manuals but likely does know lots of nice Muslims. A perusal of the Shafi’l legal manual Umdat al-Salik, endorsed by Al-Azhar, gives us such twisted gems as “the penalty for a Muslim apostate (someone who no longer believes in or no longer follows the tenets of Islam) is death. 08.0 Apostates from Islam (Ridda) (O: Leaving Islam is the ugliest form of unbelief (kufr) and the worst. It may come about through sarcasm…) 08.7 Acts that entail leaving Islam –to intend to commit unbelief, even if in the future…to deny any verse of the Koran or anything which by scholarly consensus belongs to it (listening “reform” Muslims?)…Sodomites and Lesbians must be killed…laughing too much is forbidden. r19.0 Joking. Excessive joking is blameworthy, since it eliminates ones dignity and reserve, it also causes immoderate laughter, which kills the heart. r40.0 music, song and dance. The Prophet said “Allah Mighty and Majestic sent me as a guidance and mercy to believers and commanded me to do away with musical instruments, flutes, strings, crucifixes…of the pre-Islamic period of ignorance.” 2.0 creating pictures of animate life is forbidden “every maker of pictures will go to the fire, where a being will set upon him to torment him in hell for every picture he made.” Whose twisted version of shari’a is that?
The Islamic State didn’t invent THIS twisted interpretation of Islamic law.
“Wa alaykum salam wa rahmatuLlahi wa barakatuHu, Cigarettesâ and other forms of tobaccosâ being cancerous is well-known, as is a tobacco userâs increased risk for lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, etc, etc. For this reason, using tobacco is unlawful as is selling it. (Bughyat al-Mustarshidin p. 158, 321-33; Bujayrimi on Khatib v. 5, p. 233; Qalyubi on Mahalli v. 1, p. 69) It is necessary that one avoid dealing in tobacco; any profit had from it is devoid of blessings, goodness, and extremely disliked. (Bughyat al-Mustarshidin p. 158)
And Allah knows best.
Shafiifiqh.com Fatwa Dept. Note: Also see the chapter titled âTahrim At-Tadkhinâ or âSmoking [the forbiddance of]â in the English translation of âUmdat As-Salik, known as âReliance of the Travellerâ by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller wherein he quotes both the âUlamaâ of the past and of the (post) modern era holding the view that it is forbidden (haram).”
http://islamqa.org/shafii/shafiifiqh/30099
Semeru says
The Umdat As-Salik was written several hundred years before tobacco was introduced to Europe and the Orient
Angemon says
Semeru posted:
“The Umdat As-Salik was written several hundred years before tobacco was introduced to Europe and the Orient”
Tobacco is not the only thing that can be smoked…
Angemon says
Semeru posted:
“The Umdat As-Salik was written several hundred years before tobacco was introduced to Europe and the Orient”
The Reliance of the Traveler was published in 1232. But Erdogan claims muslim sailors reached the American continent in 1178, going as far as saying that Christopher Columbus mentions the existence of a mosque atop a hill on the coast of Cuba.
Now, as far as I can tell, 1178 comes before 1232.
Jack Diamond says
Let me give the full citation then. The ban refers to anything “harmful.” But thank you for caring.
w41.0 SMOKING (from j16.S) !Y:.l.AWI w41.1 (A:) Many contemporary scholars hold it is unlawful to buy, sell, use, or grow tobacco, because of the unlawfulness of consuming what has been proven to be harmful, which is attested to by the word of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), Let there be no harming, nor reCiprocating harm;’
940 http://www.islamicbulletin.com a well-authenticated hadith (n: of which Muhammad
Jurdani says, “The ostensive meaning of this hadith is the prohibition of all forms of harmful-
ness, great or small, since the grammatical indefinite [n: of the words “harming” and
“reciprocating harm”] in a negative context indicates generality” (al-Jawahir al-lu’lu’iyya fi sharh al-Arba’in al-Nawawiyya (y68), 244).)
w41.3 (Sulayman Bujayrmi:) Whatever harms the body or mind is unlawful, from which the
unlawfulness of the well-known tobacco (dukhan) is known (Tuhfa ai-habib ‘ala Sharh ai-Khatib aimusamma bi al-Iqna’ fi hall alfaz Abi Shuja’ (y6),4.276). w41.3 (A: This is an explicit text (nass) from a Shafi’i scholar that establishes the ruling for smoking in our school. As for the evidence that growing, buying, and 941 http://www.islamicbulletin.com
w42.0 Notes and Appendices selling tobacco is unlawful, it consists in the principle of Sacred Law that whatever leads to the unlawful is itself unlawful. A number of Islamic scholars have explicitly declared the total prohibition of tobacco, among them Hashim alKhatib, ‘Ali al-Daqar, Badr ai-Din al-Hasani, Sheikh al-Qalyubi, and Muhammad
Hamid. In past centuries, before the harmfulness of tobacco had been scientifically
established, some formal legal opinions (fatwas) were given that smoking was merely offensive. In light of what we know today about the harm tobacco causes, such opinions are plainly no longer the reliable position for Jatwa. If uneducated Muslims who follow these opinions may plead ignorance, Islamic scholars, for their part, should fear Allah and remember that there is scholarly consensus that it is not lawful to judge by other than the soundest and most reliable position (dis: w12.2). Someone with knowledge is obliged to teach people what is closer to Islam.)
–Reliance of the Traveller Revised Edition The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law ‘Umdat al-Salik by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri (d. 769/1368) in Arabic with Facing English Text, Commentary, and Appendices Edited and Translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller
Semeru says
Correction
So Agrononse the was/is direct ruling against smoking
SHOULD BE
So Agrononse there was not direct ruling against smoking
Angemon says
semeru posted:
“So Agrononse there was not direct ruling against smoking”
Semeru, who has yet to give us his credentials that allow him to comment on The Reliance Of The Traveler, claims “there was not direct ruling against smoking”. Notice that’s not the same as saying “there was no ruling against smoking”. But his original post only mentioned tobacco, not smoking, as if he knew that there was a ruling against smoking and was trying to discredit Jack on a technicality.
I smell a big, fat rat here.
BTW, your english still needs improvement.
Semeru says
Thanyou for posting w;41
I do no the appendices and notes with my down load of ROT
J says
Read the citation lower in the thread on bida. The fact tobacco is not specifically mentioned makes it no more permissible than the fact many modern drugs and intoxicants aren’t specifically mentioned. Intoxicants are prohibited in whatever form they enter the body and so are drugs harmful to the body as tobacco has been proven to be. Something is either good and permissible or bad and prohibited in Islamic law. There is no third choice. Smoking has been classified as prohibited pretty much across the board by the ulema for reasons cited below. What is your point exactly?
Jack Diamond says
that is me above “J”
Angemon says
J posted:
“What is your point exactly?”
Muddying the waters, trying to discredit members of the counter-jihad movement, whitewashing the unsavory aspects of islam to lull infidels into complacency… Business as usual for semeru.
For example, he tried to dismiss the notion that there was a conflict going on between sunni and shias in Sweden:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/08/sunnishia-conflict-arrives-in-sweden#comment-1096469
“This article is a total joke.
The photo at the top of the article has nothing to do with the incident, it is Sennels/Spencer projecting and spicing up this article
Firstly Sennels has nothing to support it has anything to to with the Sunni/Shia conflict, and could be just as likely Sunni/Assyrian.”
But just recently we’ve had a member of the shia community saying the opposite:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/01/sweden-mosque-fire-touted-as-islamophobia-was-an-accident
“âFor large celebrations, we usually have guards out there, but thankfully, we have not had any direct threats. Possible threats come from other Muslim groups and not from the extreme right. And we of course hope that we avoid threats,â he says.“
pumbar says
“The Umdat As-Salik was written several hundred years before tobacco was introduced to Europe and the Orient”
The phrase “and prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steed of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know but whom Allah knows.” (qurap 8.60) was written, in the koran, about 1200 years before the invention of the Toyota Hilux 4X4. Care to go and tell that to I.S?
Salome says
I’ve been trying to get a tune out of a crucifix for years but it just doesn’t seem to respond.
Jack Diamond says
Only Muslims can hear it. An unfortunate abbreviation of r40.0 “Allah Mighty and Majestic sent me as a guidance and mercy to believers and commanded me to do away with musical instruments, flutes, strings, crucifixes, and the affair of the pre-Islamic period of ignorance.”
eduardo odraude says
Jack Diamond,
My guess is the writer knows Islamic State sharia is not a twisted version. Or he doesn’t have an opinion either way. He calls it a “twisted version” only because if he doesn’t, he and his media outlet will get a bunch of angry letters and threats, Muslim employees will start complaining, and he, his boss and his colleagues will get all frightened about potential Muslim violence. Either he or his bosses can’t be bothered with all that, as they don’t really give a crap.
Always On Watch says
No smoking allowed, but beheadings are a-okay. Islam in a nutshell.
Kepha says
Sorry, folks, I can’t hep myself:
Behold, the Lord High Executioner!
A personage of noble rank and title!
A dignified and potent officer,
Whose function is peculiarly vital!
Apologies to G&S.
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Happy Eastern Orthodox Christmas, BTW.
Mirren10 says
Snicker . :
Nice one, Kepha !
Mirren10 says
That should have been : đ
eib says
ISIS’s attitude toward smokig shows how Islam is not religion but propitiary magic and superstition. In the ancient Near East, smoke patterns were a means of divination. To smoke, in the eyes of the ISIS savage, is to call the elemental spirits in which the savages still believe.
And this is for Justin: The West has never forbidden the worship of Jesus Christ. Throughout the Orient, in history and in the present, Christian worship is frustrated, forbidden, oppressed, and Christians are killed. The Christ hating West?????
We despise traitors, we forbid the treason and oppression and despotism of the Orient.
Salah says
Muhammad founded a cult that has brought nothing but hatred and discord between his followers (among themselves) and his followers and the rest of mankind.
Islam is of the devil.
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/12/perfect-man-of-islam.html
Buraq says
Lends a new meaning to ‘Dying for a cigarette’.
Clowns! All of them!
cs says
LOL, so true.
Mirren10 says
đ nice one !
pumbar says
Perhaps he made the mistake of saying he was just nipping out for a quick fag? A fatal error around US raised jihadis.
Gary Emerson says
Wait? Smoking is a sin against Allah, but it’s o.k. to rape and behead a child? This “Religion” is SICK!!!
Salome says
Smoking in a house with a child in it is pretty un-PC these days.
pumbar says
Yet beheading a child isn’t really if you’re part of the master ideology.
Mirren10 says
đ đ
When I told my husband this, he said this is exactly the sort of thing the SAS would do, as a righteous piss take.
Well, who knows ?
Either way, it’s hilarious !
I wonder what went through this monsters mind, just before the cold steel touched his neck ?
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Thank you, Jack Diamond, for finding
http://islamqa.org/shafii/shafiifiqh/30099 .
But this is puzzling. According to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tobacco ,
tobacco is a plant of the New World which could not
have been known to the ulema until, in 1492,
the Muslim atop the muezzinmast of Christopher
Columbus’s flagship discovered America, shouting out,
“Land ho! Allahu akbar!”
Can someone please cite the aya or hadith that
mentions tobacco? Any ruling on tobacco must
have come after 1492 and therefore be bida.
And where is the fatwa on e-cigarettes?
Jack Diamond says
Smoking, like everything in the world, can either be only good and permissible or bad and prohibited and as it something that came later, it has to be viewed in light of what the Shari’a prohibits as causing harm to the body. Rulings such as I cite above in the revised Umdat al_Salik are not necessarily bida. The orthodox Sunni site Islam Q&A defines bida: “in the terminology of shareeâah, bidâah means something that has been introduced into the religion of Allaah that has no general or specific basis to support it. So the pillars (essential parts) of bidâah are as follows:
1. It is something newly introduced
2. This newly introduced matter is described as part of the religion
3. This newly introduced matter has no basis or sharâi proof.
The view on smoking is that given all modern medical evidence it falls in the category of what is harmful to the body and it is consistent with Shari’a to prohibit it. This is not disallowed as innovation. “It is not permissible for us to allow or prohibit however we wish. When new issues come up, if we do not find a text in the Qurâaan or Sunnah, or in the sayings of the scholars of the salaf or the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah waâl-Jamaaâah who came before us, then we have to refer to trustworthy scholars and people of understanding, as Allaah commands us (interpretation of the meaning): â⌠so ask of those who know the ScriptureâŚâ [al-Nahl 16:43]. These are the scholars, who can do ijtihaad, examine the matter and make analogies (qiyaas) with the existing texts of Islam, taking into consideration the principles of necessity, and taking note of what is harmful to the interests of shareeâah and what is beneficial, relying on the basic general principles of shareeâah, such as the aayah (interpretation of the meaning), â⌠he allows them as lawful al-tayyibaat [(i.e., all good and lawful things as regards things, deeds, beliefs, persons, foods, etc.]âŚâ [al-Aâraaf 7:157] and the hadeeth, âThere should be no harming nor reciprocating harmâ (reported by Ibn Maajah, 2331), and avoiding following whims and desires. Every evil thing that is proven to be harmful is haraam, and every good and beneficial thing is halaal. If it is not known that it is either harmful or beneficial, then the general rule is that it is permissible (mubaah). And Allaah knows best.
http://islamqa.info/en/3922
“Allaah the Almighty has divided things in the world into two types, good or permissible (al-tayyibaat, al-halaal) and evil or prohibited (al-khabaa’ith, al-haraam), and there is no third type. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning) in surat al-A’raaf (7:157): “And He makes good things halaal for them and bad things haraam.”
Considering this fact, smoking can either be permissible and good or prohibited and evil.
Thus, we present some of its characteristics and let the person asking the question see himself in which type lies smoking There is no disagreement among the physicians and sane people that smoking is harmful for health. It is one of the major causes of lung cancer and other diseases. It is also one of the major causes of death. Since, it is known that the Islamic law prohibits everything that is harmful for a human being. Allah said (interpretation of meaning): “Do not kill yourself. Allah is Merciful unto you.” (Surat al-Nisaa’ 4:29) In addition, His Prophet SAWS (peace be upon him) said: “There is no harm or causing of harm (in Islaam).” (Arabic “laa darar wa laa diraar”) He SAWS (peace be upon him) also said: “A person will not be able to move on the Day of Judgment until he is asked about … his body as to what he engaged it in.”
Smoking also goes against the saying of the Prophet SAWS: “Your body has a right on you.”
The money that is spent on cigarettes is used on buying a harmful thing and is therefore an extravagance. Allah said (interpretation of the meaning): “⌠and do not be extravagant wasters. Those who are extravagant are kinsmen of Satan.” (Surat al-Israa’ 17:26-27) Extravagance (in Islam) means spending on something haraam. Spending money on cigarettes is a waste of resources as well. The Prophet SAWS (peace be upon him) said: “A person will not be able to move on the Day of Judgment until he is asked about ….. what he owned as to how he spent it.”
Considering all that has been presented, it can be clearly seen that smoking is an evil among many others. It is not permissible to indulge in it, or buy and sell it, or even to offer it to others. It is incumbent on a person who is addicted to it that he must make all efforts and get whatever necessary treatment to stop it. If the unbelievers have understood the harm caused by smoking and made laws regarding it, the Muslims should be even more eager to stop it and treat those who are addicted to it.
We ask Allah the Almighty to cure everyone indulging in this evil and help him in giving it up. Allah is the Best Guide to the Right Path.”
http://islamqa.info/en/110
gravenimage says
Smoking is also Bi’da in and of itself, since the vile “Prophet” did not smoke, so it is Haram on those grounds, as well.
mortimer says
It sounds like a revenge killing. Retaliation is normative Islam. More infighting will occur that will destroy ISIS from within. Count on it as ISIS falls apart.
somehistory says
The guy was the *chief executioner* and was beheaded…. beheading being the *chief* means of execution…would prove the words of Jesus written in Matthew 26:52 where He said those who *draw* or “those who take the sword will die by the sword.”
From the article: In a grotesque twist of the saying âlive by the sword, die by the swordâ,
*******************************************************************************************************
So, just how is this a “grotesque twist” of the saying? It may be grotesque to behead someone, but it isn’t a *twist* of the saying. The guy was the *chief* one drawing the sword and was then killed by it.
That is what Jesus meant. One reaps what they sow (Galatians 6:7).Hosea 8:7 “Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind”….
Just what this guy did.
Mirren10 says
I just want to say, how much I appreciate all the hilarious jokes on this thread !
This is *one* of the weapons the islamo-fascists don’t have, a sense of humour ! Why aye, maties !
Charli Main says
IS has declared smoking âslow suicideâ and demands that âevery smoker should be aware that with every cigarette he smokes in a state of trance and vanity is disobeying Godâ.
Muslims have been smoking wacky bakky AKA Hashish and Marijuana since the year dot. This weed is a plant native to huge swathes of Central Asia.
The cult of Assassins are on record as using hashish in the 11th century.
Perhaps Allah/Mohammed received a vision giving hashish smokers a dispensation.
duh_swami says
Book of Abu…narrated by Abu…I saw the Prophet roll up a doobie and light it with a Bic. After a big puff, he passed to Umar, who passed it to Abu Bakr who kept it…I heard the Prophet say, ‘Don’t bogart that joint my friend, pass it over to me’…and he did…later I heard the Prophet say, ‘I would walk a mile for a camel’…and he did that too.
David, Thailand says
If that happened in a Western country, the clueless authorities would be looking for a group of racist Islamophobic bigots.
gravenimage says
Islamic State chief executioner found beheaded with cigarette in his mouth
………………………
This should come as no surprise. Islam eats its own.
PRCS says
I noted that the article’s author stated (as so-called journalists so often do):
“Hisbah is ISâs religious police who perform the role of enforcing the groupâs TWISTED version of sharia in the self-styled caliphate.”
Twisted version?
Is he a Muslim? A ‘moderate’ Muslim?
Or just another uninformed moron parroting what his boss told him to write?
C Henson says
Referring to Isis as “Islamic State” confers a legitimacy that this horde of butchers does not have.
Jack Listerio says
JOINT STATEMENT ON THE RE-ASSESSMENT OF THE TOXICOLOGICAL TESTING OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS”
7 October, the COT meeting on 26 October and the COC meeting on 18
November 2004.
http://cot.food.gov.uk/pdfs/co…
“5. The Committees commented that tobacco smoke was a highly complex chemical mixture and that the causative agents for smoke induced diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, effects on reproduction and on offspring) was unknown. The mechanisms by which tobacco induced adverse effects were not established. The best information related to tobacco smoke – induced lung cancer, but even in this instance a detailed mechanism was not available. The Committees therefore agreed that on the basis of current knowledge it would be very difficult to identify a toxicological testing strategy or a biomonitoring approach for use in volunteer studies with smokers where the end-points determined or biomarkers measured were predictive of the overall burden of tobacco-induced adverse disease.”
In other words … our first hand smoke theory is so lame we can’t even design a bogus lab experiment to prove it. In fact … we don’t even know how tobacco does all of the magical things we claim it does.