Smoking in ihram…

In the state of Ihram, one is not allowed to apply any kind of perfume or fragrance to the body or clothes. To smell any perfume, sweet smelling flower or fruit intentionally is disliked (makruh). However, smelling some perfume unintentionally will have no significance. (See: Radd al-Muhtar, 2/487 & Manasic of Mulla Ali al-Qari)

Now, this perfume or fragrance has been defined in the famous Hanafi Fiqh work, al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya as follows:

“Perfume is everything that has a pleasant scent to it, and it is considered by sensible people (u’qala) to be a form of perfume.” (al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, 1/240)

Thus, in light of the above, smoking would not be considered to be intentionally smelling perfume, for the scent found in smoking cigarettes is not considered to be pleasant, rather the opposite. Thus, it will not be considered to be violating the restriction of Ihram.

However, one must remember that, many contemporary scholars hold smoking cigarettes to be unlawful (haram), as mentioned in detail in many posts on this site.

Thus, one should try to abstain from smoking, especially when one is in the state of Ihram. If one, keeping in mind the respect of the sacred places and rituals, tries his best to stop smoking in the period of performing Hajj or Umrah, then who knows Allah Almighty may make it easy for him to quit smoking altogether.

And Allah knows best

Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari