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What is the ruling on using Sudanese "shamah," which is placed on the lip, is similar to smoke, and is not among narcotics, knowing that the user is committed to prayers, memorizing the Quran, and good conduct?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The ruling for using al-shamma (chewing tobacco) is the same as that for smoking, the prohibition of which has been established. Furthermore, its danger surpasses that of smoking in terms of health and social harms. Medically, al-shamma poses a significant risk to the nerves, causes tremors with advancing age, and can lead to lip cancer, a danger against which the Sudanese Ministry of Health has warned. Socially, people find its users repulsive, and it emits a foul odor that harms those around them.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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