Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 200
! ! 200 clear commands and Islam ic customs , so that every single person can see and opine that they [the students] honor or follow the customs of Islam. The second factor which is essential for the reformation of morals and is principally forbidden by Islam , is to avoid b ecoming addicted to anything which is harmful. You see, the Shariah forbids the consumption of alcohol because it is the type of habit , which is hard to give up, and a person becomes entangled in various sins because of it. Such a habit causes a pe rson to lose his freedom and become enslaved by others. Smoking a hookah [water - pipe for smoking tobacco] or cigar ettes are both such habits from which significant depravities are borne. Once an Ahmadi came here and pledged that he would never smoke again because he had faced great humiliation that day. At that time, hookah w as not readily available here (alt hough now I have noticed that the scent of hookah travels from the markets and through the streets to our house) and he was addicte d to it. While searching for it, he ended up in Mirza Imam - ud - Din ’s neighborhood, who is our relative. He was the Promised Messiah ’s as paternal cousin, but a sta unch opponent of the community. When the Ahmadi gentleman joined him to smoke hookah , Mirza Imam - ud - Din began to curse the Promised Messiah as , mock, and ridicule him. For the sake of the hookah , h e sat quietly and listened to everything. He relates that at that moment , he resolved never to smoke hookah again , for it had corrupted him so greatly. He had some degree of faith, so he was saved. But there have been many m en who have come here to reform themselves but have gone astray when for the sake of smoking hookah, they wound up sitting in such company. Addiction to hookah and tobacco makes one coward ly, weak , and subservient to others. Pathans [ethnic Afghans] look down on Kashmiris [people from Kashmir], although their situation is not the same in India as it is in Kashmir. People who come here for manual labor are usually viewed as inferior. I once saw a Pathan , who had lost his pack et of powdered chewing tobacco and had grown very agitated , plead with a passing Kashmiri , “ O my Kashmiri brother, would you happen to have some powdered chewing tobacco?” Therefore, addiction makes one subservient and weakens the willpower. Allah has naturally