INDONESIA
Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has issued an edict stating that e-cigarettes are haram and banned them among the organization’s 22 million followers.
While binding only on those who agree with the ulema’s opinion, the fatwa affirmed the organization’s staunch opposition against cigarettes and tobacco products.
Wawan Gunawan Abdul Wahid, a member of the fatwa division at Muhammadiyah’s central executive board, said, “The e-cigarettes are as haram as conventional cigarettes. They fall into a category of consuming something destructive or harmful.”
The Muhammadiyah ban encompasses all kinds of cigarettes, either the electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS), electronic non-nicotine delivery system (ENNDS), or heated tobacco products. Muhammadiyah has been campaigning against cigarettes for decades. A haram fatwa on smoking has also been issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), but limited its scope to children, pregnant women, and smoking in public spaces.
However, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which has close to four times more followers than Muhammadiyah and some of them living in Java’s tobacco-producing region, are more flexible in their view about cigarettes, saying consuming cigarettes can be permissible or forbidden depending on circumstances.