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Date: | Mon, 31 Jul 2000 01:54:35 -0700 |
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WOW !!!!
source bbc
A controversial new fatwa has been issued in
Egypt ruling that having a spouse who smokes
is legitimate grounds for divorce.
The ruling was given by the country's mufti,
Farid Naser Wasel, at the request of an
anti-smoking campaign group after a fatwa
against cigarettes earlier this year was largely
ignored.
This latest fatwa is raising eyebrows though
because it comes at a sensitive time in public
perceptions of marriage.
Cheap pleasure
About half of all
Egyptians indulge
either in cigarettes, or
water pipes, or both.
It is a cheap form of
pleasure which is on
the rise, especially
officials say, among
young people and
women, for whom it
was long considered
unseemly to light up.
Although a state-owned company still sells
Egypt's most popular brand of cigarettes,
Cleopatra, the government and anti-smoking
campaigners are now trying to curb the trend,
with the help of Egypt's religious authorities.
The traditional Islamic view has always been
that anything that harms your health is sinful,
but enlisting religion in the fight against
smoking is a new tactic.
The mufti's latest ruling
against cigarettes has
provoked controversy
by declaring the habit
legitimate grounds for
divorce.
Some fear that the
institution of marriage -
the bedrock of
Egyptian society -
could go up in smoke if
the ruling is widely
observed.
Earlier this year a new
law making it easier for women to divorce
provoked an outcry from men.
The debate now is whether the health risks of
smoking outweigh the risk of family break-up.
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