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Science, Health, And What Is Halal And Haram
I’d like to ask about an activity that has negative effects on the body. Many people consider activities like smoking to be forbidden because they can harm the body, and they also link this to a verse in the Quran about not harming oneself.
Based on this, I have three questions:
1. To what extent can science determine what is halal and what is haram?
2. If an activity has a harmful effect on the body, can that activity be deemed haram?
3. If someone performs a stunt or engages in a sport that carries a risk of injury, should that activity be deemed haram?
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13 Replies
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Science, Health, And What Is Halal And Haram
updated 1 day, 2 hours ago
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13
Replies
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Harmfulness is not the basis of Hurmat (Prohibition). Harmfulness is measurable; here, intellect is invited to decide whether to adopt or avoid a thing or an activity.
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Is that true, sir? If so, what about the Quranic verse about not harming oneself, or the verse that people usually cite to argue that smoking is forbidden?
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This is the verse:
وَأَنفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلَا تُلْقُوا بِأَيْدِيكُمْ إِلَى التَّهْلُكَةِ ۛ وَأَحْسِنُوا ۛ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ) 2: 195
[And for this jihād,] spend for the cause of God and [by evading it] do not with your own hands cast yourselves into destruction. And do [this spending] graciously because God loves those who are gracious.
The implication is that those who evade sacrificing their life and wealth on such occasions are in fact flinging themselves into destruction because what these people of greed regard as success is destruction in the view of God.
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So, can’t this verse serve as a basis for prohibiting activities that cause harm to the body nsuch as smoking and other harmful activities?
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This verse is not referring to everything that is generally considered harmful.
Matters of common sense are left to human judgment. For example, many non-Muslims recognize the harms of smoking and choose to quit without relying on a religious text that explicitly forbids it.
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So can we say that an activity that could endanger someone cannot be considered haram—as long as the original intention was not to kill or harm oneself?
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The severity of harm determines the intensity of the crime committed by the person.
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I understand… what that means is that it would be a sin if he caused harm to others. However, if the harm comes from himself, then it is not considered a sin. Am I right?
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It is not allowed to harm yourself. It is disregarding God’s grant of life.
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Of course, I know that harming oneself is not allowed. What I mean is when the harm stems from external factors or side effects. For example, if someone works as a coal miner, we know this job involves many risks, such as exposure to toxic substances inside the mine or the possibility that the mine shaft might collapse during mining. Would we then forbid the job of coal mining because of the factors I just mentioned?
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This is a requirement of the job, not a voluntary harmfulness. This does not fall in the abovementioned category.
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That means it’s the same as smoking and other harmful activities. Since such harmful things are unavoidable, activities like smoking and other harmful practices can’t be considered haram, right?
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The word Haram is used for Shariah-prohibited things. And Shariah does not inlcude Harmfulness a cause for prohibition. This is the domain of intellect to decide what to avoid.
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