Muslims in South Africa have been told to stop smoking for fear of contamination from cigarettes with pork products and alcohol. A halaal product organization, the South African National Halaal Association, or Sanha, made the claim in mosques and on the Internet.

Sanha stated that “Muslim jurists have long condemned cigarette smoking.” That makes a lot of sense. Having read the Quran cover to cover in Arabic, I have no doubt that if the Prophet Muhammad were alive today, he would ban cigarette smoking.

Muslim-owned businesses are now being urged to stop selling cigarettes. I think this is also sensitive. How can a God-fearing person knowingly condemn people to slow and painful death? How can a Muslim pray five times a day and then go to his shop and sell cigarettes to a pregnant mother, for example?

And how can any obedient Muslim wash and care for his body as prescribed by Islam and then go and put the many poisons of cigarette smoking into his body? Not only does this make no sense, it is outrageous hypocrisy.

If the cigarettes contain pig’s blood, rum, or wine products, it should be irrelevant. In fact, any doctor would agree that there is far worse in a cigarette than any minimal amount of pork product or alcohol.

South Africa’s largest cigarette maker, British American Tobacco SA (Batsa), naturally denies it all in a report by local Cape Argus, a local Cape Town newspaper. However, what cigarette manufacturers cannot deny are the thousands of deaths and illnesses that their industry regularly causes. Cigarettes are the main health problem in South Africa after HIV / AIDS. And that is not disputed by anyone, regardless of their religion.

So if you are a Muslim smoker, what should you do? Are you waiting to find out if there really are pork and alcohol additions to cigarettes? Find a way to quit smoking in the meantime? What if you quit smoking and later discover that cigarettes don’t contain these things? Do you then go back to smoking, fully aware of the other, and arguably more serious health risks?

Perhaps Muslim or not, we were given a body to care for with love and respect. They taught me that we were created in the image of God and that we are God’s creation. How sad it is that so many religious people continue to desecrate this great gift of our body by regularly and systematically abusing it with cigarette toxins.

If you are a smoker and any of this resonates with your beliefs, for crying out loud, stop doing it. There are many great ways to help you quit smoking wherever you are. You may find that quitting smoking is the greatest token of gratitude you can give to God. And in return, going through the process in a responsible and healing way can bring you spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally closer to God and closer to a life of true satisfaction.