Jump to full article: AP, 2008-09-20
Author: KARIN LAUB and DALIA NAMMARI
Intro: "I don't want to quit smoking," said Romaneh, 42, who lights one Gauloise Light with another, inhaling deeply in between sips from a glass of thick Arabic coffee. "Smoking is a joy."
Like Romaneh in this West Bank Palestinian city, millions of Muslim smokers get on a nicotine roller coaster during Ramadan, which ends this year in late September. But health campaigners are increasingly trying to get them to quit altogether, using Ramadan as a springboard for anti-smoking drives.
A London mosque runs a "Stop smoking for Ramadan, stop smoking for life" appeal on its Web site, and a Saudi volunteer network is trying to bring that message to 10 million Arab Internet users. . . .
Clerics might be reluctant to issue a fatwa that forces Muslims to choose between faith and addiction.
"(Even) if you say 'haram,' people will keep smoking because they are addicted," said Imam B. Prasodjo, a sociologist in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, where almost two-thirds of men smoke. Prasodjo is trying to persuade Muslim leaders to at least impose a ban on cigarette advertising. . . .
Smoking is embedded in the culture of many Muslim countries. About 63 percent of men smoke in Jordan; 49 percent in Tunisia; 42 percent in Syria; 38 percent in the Palestinian territories and 28 percent each in Lebanon and Morocco. Few women smoke because of cultural taboos.
Cigarette packs in Egypt carry graphic images such as a dying man in an oxygen mask. In Jordan, billboards warn about the risks. In Lebanon, many restaurants have no-smoking zones.
But it remains a battle, even — and perhaps especially — during Ramadan.
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