Ramadan's Hookah Problem

It's a testament to the diversity within Islam--and to the sometimes ironic contradictions of its interpreters and clerics--that some Muslims will tell you that intoxicants of any kind, alcohol, coffee and smoking included, are categorically banned according to the Koran (not quite, but bear with me) while others will gather in hookah tents and while away the night with those water pipes and molasses-dipped tobacco to celebrate Ramadan, the holiest of holy Islamic months--and do so night after night.

So much so that in places like Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, "Shisha tents," as hookah gathering places are called (shisha is a variety of tobacco used on hookah pipes), have become a bit of a public health problem: too many smokers, too much second-hand smoke for non-smokers, too little regard, among smokers, for their own health.

Hookah smokers like to say that it's not as dangerous as cigarette smoke. But as the Mayo Clinic's Edward Rosenow says, "It's a myth that hookah smoking is safer than smoking cigarettes. The tobacco is no less toxic. Hookah smokers actually inhale more tobacco smoke than do cigarette smokers because of the massive volume of smoke they inhale." The most commonly referred to study on the matter is by the World Health Organization, which concluded that

A waterpipe smoking session may expose the smoker to more smoke over a longer period of time than occurs when smoking a cigarette. Cigarette smokers typically take 8-12, 40-75 ml puffs over about 5-7 minutes and inhale 0.5 to 0.6 litres of smoke. In Contrast, waterpipe smoking sessions typically last 20-80 minutes, during which the smoker may take 50-200 puffs which range from about 0.15 to 1 litre each. The waterpipe smoker may therefore inhale as much smoke during one session as a cigarette smoker would inhale consuming 100 or more cigarettes.

To tackle the problem, Bahrain's health minister called for a ban on shisha tents. His recommendation so far is finding no inhalers. The United Arab Emirates is taking a more measured, more regulatory approach: "Only four and five-star hotels will be allowed to serve shisha in the temporary iftar tents, under strict new regulations." In other words: if you're rich, you may indulge. If you're not--well, tough.

It's how Kuwait does it, too. Ostentation is one of the things Ramadan is designed to humble, at least a little. Don;t tell that to the Kuwaitis, if this shisha-chic advertisement for "Magical nights at Hilton resort tents" is an indication:

Hilton Kuwait Resort celebrates the Holy Month of Ramadan with special preparations that will delight everyone. Ramadan Tent with 600 sq.m. was fixed at Courtyard area by the beach side, ready to accommodate up to 400 guests with a spectacular view overlooking the sea. People can enjoy with every sunset during the holy month of Ramadan delicious lftar and Sohour buffet in a stylish setting. This feast for the senses includes carving stations and over 45 different dishes from cuisines of the region as well as a varied array of fresh salads and tempting desserts, entertainment by oriental live musicians. Shisha connoisseurs may also look forward to savoring different tobacco varietals.

Price: $43 per person, not including tip.

Would Mohammed (the Prophet) approve? Hookahs aren't of his time, and of course there was no tobacco smoking of any kind in the Arab Peninsula in the 7th century. The pipes are believed to have been invented at the court of Akbar the Great, the appropriately named Mogul emperor who ruled over what's present-day India between 1556 and 1605. He was the best of believers, avidly tolerant of all faiths, and impatient with silly strictures. The hookah would have been a natural indulgence. It migrated west, taking over the Arab Peninsula and the Levant. (I have fond memories of my paternal grandmother gurgling away the afternoon with her hookah, which she occasionally interrupted for a bout of much duller Catholic prayers: I was not allowed to puff at the pipe but wasn't allowed to beg off praying.)

So the Koran says nothing about smoking, but it's not hip on intoxicants. What eastern holy book ever is? Unlike some Native American tribes, where intoxicants' power, so wonderfully illustrated by the likes Black Elk (the great mythologist, not the wine), has spiritual dimensions, eastern religions take a dim view of what they consider competition: "Satan only desires to cause enmity and hatred to spring in your midst by means of intoxicants and games of chance, and to keep you off from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer," says the Quran (chapter 5, verse 90).

JHardest-edged believers, like Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia and their and their spiritual kin the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, push the prohibitions to extremes, including music and dancing in their definition of "intoxicants," and a few more Muslims take coffee to be an intoxicant, too. But those prohibitions aren't holding much sway in the less uptight world of re-emerging Muslim nations on the rim of the Arab Peninsula.

In the event:: Happy Ramadan, which began on Sept. 1.

More About Ramadan:

• What Is Ramadan? A Social and Historical Explanation
• Ramadan Jonesin' at KFC
• Malcolm X in Mecca
• A more religious view of Islam and intoxicants, by About's Huda