WOW !!!!
source bbc

A controversial new fatwa has been issued in
              Egypt ruling that having a spouse who smokes
              is legitimate grounds for divorce.

              The ruling was given by the country's mufti,
              Farid Naser Wasel, at the request of an
              anti-smoking campaign group after a fatwa
              against cigarettes earlier this year was largely
              ignored.

              This latest fatwa is raising eyebrows though
              because it comes at a sensitive time in public
              perceptions of marriage.

              Cheap pleasure

              About half of all
              Egyptians indulge
              either in cigarettes, or
              water pipes, or both.

              It is a cheap form of
              pleasure which is on
              the rise, especially
              officials say, among
              young people and
              women, for whom it
              was long considered
              unseemly to light up.

              Although a state-owned company still sells
              Egypt's most popular brand of cigarettes,
              Cleopatra, the government and anti-smoking
              campaigners are now trying to curb the trend,
              with the help of Egypt's religious authorities.

              The traditional Islamic view has always been
              that anything that harms your health is sinful,
              but enlisting religion in the fight against
              smoking is a new tactic.

              The mufti's latest ruling
              against cigarettes has
              provoked controversy
              by declaring the habit
              legitimate grounds for
              divorce.

              Some fear that the
              institution of marriage -
              the bedrock of
              Egyptian society -
              could go up in smoke if
              the ruling is widely
              observed.

              Earlier this year a new
              law making it easier for women to divorce
              provoked an outcry from men.

              The debate now is whether the health risks of
              smoking outweigh the risk of family break-up.

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