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One of the restrictions during Ramadan, aside from the obvious food/drink/sexual relations, is smoking. And one of the saddest things I have seen in my life is the group of smokers gathering just outside the mosque, craning their necks to hear the adhan (call to prayer) that signifies the end of the fast, waiting to break their fast not with a date, or a glass of water, but with a cigarette.

Smoking has always been a questionable practice from an Islamic perspective -- some scholars deem it to be forbidden because it harms the body, while others find it allowable if distasteful. But you wouldn't know it from walking down the street in any Muslim-majority country. As the pool of customers for cigarettes dries up in the West, the tobacco industry has targeted the developing world, including the Muslim world. In some of these countries, cigarette smoking among men has reached reached alarming proportions.

Also, it's not just cigarettes. The Middle East has a long tradition of shisha (or hookah) pipe smoking. With the more explicit prohibition on alcohol, shisha pipes are seen as a lesser evil in the context of social activities. Even today in Western countries, the practice has caught on with young people seeking a cultural alternative to bars and clubs where alcohol is served.