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Fatwa CenterTelling shopkeeper that selling cigarettes is prohibited
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wabarakaatuhu. If I tell a shopkeeper that smoking is haram, do I also need to tell him that selling cigarettes is also haram? I assume the shopkeeper does not smoke himself.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, we congratulate you for your keenness to deny evil. We ask Allah to enable you to do every good deed.
There is no doubt that selling cigarettes is forbidden, as we have already highlighted in fatwa 82827.
Since the sale of cigarettes is forbidden, as we clarified, it is obligatory to tell the shopkeeper that selling cigarettes is forbidden, regardless of whether he is a smoker himself, because this is part of denying evil by the tongue, and this is obligatory on the one who does not fear for his life or wealth (if he denied evil). Being negligent in denying evil is one of the major sins.
Ibn Hajar Al-Haytami said in his book Az-Zawaajir ‘an Iqtiraaf Al-Kabaa’ir, “The grave, major sin number 393-395: Leaving the matter of enjoining good and forbidding evil while being able to do so, such as when he does not fear for his life and his money (wealth).”
Allah knows best.
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