Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Smoking water pipe takes the same ruling of smoking cigarettes which is that of prohibition, because it is harmful to health, let alone a waste of money.
Responding to your question, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mukhtar Ash-Shinqiti, Professor of Political Ethics and Religions History at Qatar University, states:
Water pipe is worse than smoking cigarettes because the amount and the duration of smoking is longer. Therefore, it is more harmful.
As the majority of scholars nowadays say smoking is forbidden, therefore we should put water pipe under the same category.
The basis for this prohibition is the absolute harm on one’s body and others’, which goes against the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): “Harm should neither be inflicted… .” ) (Ibn Majah)
Another reason for the prohibition is the waste of money, which is also forbidden in Islam.
Therefore, smoking, be it tobacco or water pipe, can be put under the category of prohibitions.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.