Tobacco Smoking under Islamic Law : Controversies over Its Introduction by Aziz A. Batran

Dr. Aziz Batran’s work, advanced in this volume, is pioneering on two important levels. It is the first work to appear in any language on the tobacco controversy and analyzes it within the frame of the religious and political atmosphere of the first period of its introduction. Secondly, this book has the merit of discussing the importance of legal opinion [fetwa], a neglected institution little known to Western scholarship. Taken together, these two contributions add greatly to our knowledge of the history of West Africa and the Maghrib during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. Moreover, by its careful analysis of more than thirty relevant Arabic texts, Dr. Batran’s history, and offers fertile ground for comparative study in the areas of law and religious history