Islamists Debate Plan to Make Tobacco Forbidden

Source from:  tr.itsmyiq.com Sep 2, 2008 09/03/2008

East Javanese tobacco farmers have protested against a proposal to declare smoking forbidden under Islamic teachings, according to a report in The Jakarta Post. The Tobacco Farmers' Association chairman, Amin Subarkah, apparently said the farmers had visited the Indonesian Ulema Council's Surabaya branch on Friday to protest against its plan to issue a fatwa declaring smoking haram (forbidden). Subarkah said it was unfair to make a smoking haram on the basis that it could be bad for some people. In fact, he said, forbidding smoking would only cause pain and suffering to tobacco farmers and their families. "There are 1,367 tobacco factories in East Java, employing thousands of workers," Subarkah added. The head of the council's Surabaya branch, Ulama Abdussomad Bukhori, told the farmers to continue planting tobacco because the plan was still being debated. Enditem