Is the failure of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif to directly prohibit smoking, despite their knowledge of its impermissibility, considered a concealment of the truth and a violation of religion?

Sins are among the causes of calamities and punishments, and infallibility after the prophets is non-existent. The ultimate authority lies in the infallible revelation from the Book of Allah and what is authentically narrated from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. No one is an authority over Islam. Ibn Uthaymeen divided scholars into three categories: scholars of the religion (millah), scholars of the state (dawlah), and scholars of the nation (ummah).

As for the issue of smoking, scholars differed on it in the past due to the lack of definitive scientific knowledge about its harm, so some permitted it. However, with the advancement of medicine and the development of scientific methods, the harm of smoking has become known and definitively established. Therefore, Muslim scholars today almost unanimously agree on the prohibition of smoking.