Smoking is haram, says Muhammadiyah

One of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organizations, Muhammadiyah, has issued an edict that prohibits its followers from smoking cigarettes.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has previously issued a similar edict, but that only bans children and pregnant women from smoking.

Muhammadiyah’s decision gained great support from the National Commission for Child Protection, which has been voicing concerns on children smoking.

Muhammadiyah deputy chairman Yunahar Ilyas said the Koran bans Muslims from taking their own life. Smoking, he said, is proven to slowly kill smokers.

The organization’s health council also ruled that smoking posed a threat not only to smokers’ own lives but also those around them.

Yunahar said money spent on cigarettes, therefore, was wasted.