Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

A salmoulikum

Can you please clarify something for me.

I`m aware that smoking is haram but what is the rule the ablution (wudu).

Does it have to done all again?

Thanks
Salamoualikum 

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Answer:

Smoking and wudu

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Because the evil act of smoking is not mentioned by name as haraam in the Quran and the Sunnah, the absolute majority of the scholars have abstained from declaring it haraam….but without an iota of a doubt, they hold the act of smoking much much closer to the forbidden in Islam than the permissible.

All the schools of thought are absolutely unanimous in their opinion that the following acts invalidate one’s wudu or ablution:

1. Any release from one’s private parts (urine, sexual emission, wet dream release, menses blood for women, stool, wind, etc.)
2. Deep sleep
3. sexual intercourse

The scholars and jurists in Islam have a difference of opinion whether the following acts invalidate the wudu or not; some have opined that these acts invalidate the wudu while others have opined that they do not:

1. The touching of one’s private parts
2. The touching of women
3. Constant bleeding of blood from any part of the body
4. Vomiting
5. The consuming of camel meat
6. The washing of a deceased’s body.

The smoking by a person does not by itself invalidate one’s wudu or ablution. But the Messenger of Allah forbade the believers who had consumed onions or garlic from attending prayers in congregation, because of the foul smell the consumption of such products emit to those around them.

Jabir reports that the Prophet (saws) said: "Whoever eats garlic, onion, or leek should not come close to our mosques for the Angels are harmed by what harms the children of Adam."

Related by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

In light of the above guidance of the Messenger of Allah (saws), one who has been smoking must make sure that his clothes and his mouth does not emit the detestable smell of tobacco smoke while offering his prayers, for not only are his believing brethren made uncomfortable from its smell, but even the Angels who witness the prayers are harmed by it.

Your Question: Does it have to done all again?

Because smoking by itself does not invalidate one’s wudu, one need not perform the whole wudu again to make themselves available for prayer; but one must make sure that one thoroughly washes or brushes one’s mouth and perfumes one’s clothes sufficiently to kill the detestable smell of tobacco which invariably emits from a smoker.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan