Why did the Qur’an not forbid cigarettes and drugs?

Dear Brother / Sister,

In the Qur’an, forbidding wine means forbidding drugs, too. Although the word “hamr”, which was emphasized in particular for its popularity at that time, was attributed to drinks such as “wine”, the etymological meaning of that word is “covering”. Therefore, the concept “hamr” taking place in the Qur’an includes every kind of narcotics covering the mind. Indeed, the Prophet (pbuh) explains the wide meaning of that ayah (verse) by declaring “using every kind of substances causing man to be drunk is forbidden”, “every substance causing to be drunk is hamr and every hamr is forbidden”. (Majma’ az-Zawa’id, 3/58-59).      

We should also consider that how can talking about a narcotic material that did not use to exist at that time and telling man to refrain from it be reasonable! Can we expect such a thing from a heavenly book which has a reasonable style like the Qur’an?

How can a substance -which did not exist in that age- like a cigarette could be forbidden!

However, it is possible to comprehend every kind of harmful substances from the ayah with the meaning “Make not your own hands contribute to (your) destruction” Qur’an, The Cow (Al-Baqarah); 195 (2: 195)

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