Working in cigarette factories is prohibited in Islam according to a recent Fatwa issued by Dar Al-Ifta Al-Misriya (the Egyptian Religious Edict House), the institution’s secretary Mohamed Abdel-Samia asserted in video.
He noted that working in cigarette factories is a sin because smoking causes physical damage.
“We say to those who ask about the rule of the working in cigarette companies: leave the company, but if you do not have other job than with cigarette company, stay until you find another job,” Abdel-Samia said in the video.
According to population estimates for 2016, 20.2 percent of over 15s in Egypt are smokers, which is equal to 12.6 million, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced.
The rate of cigarette smoking differs greatly between men and women, with 38.5 percent of men being smokers compared to just 1.5 percent of women, CAPMAS added in a statement on the occasion of the World Health Organization’s No Tobacco Day for May 31, 2017.