Date : 03-03-2009

Question :

I quit smoking long time ago but couldn’t stand for it, so I swore by Allah to quit for good, and once again couldn’t resist the whispers of the devil and relapsed. What should I do?


The Answer :

 



All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all of his family and companions.


First, we (Iftaa’ Dept.) seek refuge in Allah from cursed Satan and ask Him,The Exalted to Help you in obeying Him and avoid committing sins.


 



However, you (Question) ought to know that the feel of regret and acknowledgement of guilt is of a great value, for Allah likes to see the fear of Him obviously on His salve, to be afraid of His greatness and those who turn in repentance.


 In this regard, Abu Huraira Narrated: I heard the Prophet (PBUH) saying: "If somebody commits a sin and then says: 'O my Lord! I have sinned, please forgive me!' and his Lord says, 'My slave has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for it, I therefore have forgiven my slave (his sins).' Then he remains without committing any sin for a while and then again commits another sin and says: 'O my Lord, I have committed another sin, please forgive me,' and Allah says, 'My slave has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for it, I therefore have forgiven my slave (his sin). Then he remains without Committing any another sin for a while and then commits another sin (for the third time) and says: 'O my Lord, I have committed another sin, please forgive me,' and Allah says: 'My slave has known that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes for it I therefore have forgiven My slave (his sin), he can do whatever he likes." [Related by Al-Bukhary].


Therefore, we advise you to do your best as regards quitting and to take all possible ways to achieve this goal, but if you couldn’t do so, then you have to repent and ask Allah for forgiveness for He is The most Merciful, most Forgiven.


 In conclusion, you are obliged to pay oath expiation: Feeding 10 poor Muslims a Mud (600gr of the common food of the country- 60 piaster’s worth) for each one. And Allah Knows Best.