Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

28 February 2025

5 minute read

Dating back to medieval times, the hookah pipe, also known as hubbly bubbly or shisha, consists of a bottle of water at the base with a pipe running to the top, a cup and a pipe to pull. It is used with charcoal and tobacco flavours containing nicotine.

Used by many, the physically attractive look of the pipe, its trendiness, its acceptance as a social pastime even amongst women and children, as well as the myth that the water at the base cleanses the lungs, gives the misconception that the hookah pipe is a safer alternative to smoking. However, each ingredient in the pipe has its own specific effects, with one charcoal equating 350 cigarettes.

Hookah is “highly addictive,” says Nazia, because it contains nicotine. Certain flavours do make people feel light-headed, dizzy, and as with cigarettes, they elevate blood pressure, affect the throat and lungs, can lead to throat, mouth or lung cancer, and can also compromise the immune system. It can even lead to chronic diseases like Chronic Pulmonary Obstructive Disorder that has no treatment and leads to the patient requiring lifetime oxygen.

Only flavours with psycho-active ingredients can cause the effect of getting high. Although the initial flavours do not contain these ingredients, drugs and addictive substances are very often mixed into the flavours, thus increasing their already addictive nature. Some users even mix substances like alcohol into the water to increase the potency of the smoke. Fake flavours that are not safe for consumption are often sold by retailers, because regulations for hookah pipes are not enforced, and can be bought by anyone. The high that a person experiences when smoking hookah can jeopardise their senses; making them feel euphoric, relaxed, disconnected, and detached from reality; causing their sense of judgement to be skewed.

Many girls and women have taken up self-destructive habits like smoking hookah pipes as a coping mechanism, and this may be a symptom of a deeper problem; a cycle of addiction that she cannot break. Nazia says that there are other healthier coping mechanisms available that do not have the long-term ill effects of hookah pipes, that girls can consider.

Children watching their mothers indulge in this type of pastime usually become addicted themselves from a young age, accepting it as a norm. As there are no laws regulating hookah pipes, many teens and tweens openly smoke hookah pipes in public and even in front of their parents. At schools, hookah flavours mixed with marijuana are referred to as a “dirty pipe.”

“Your lungs are meant to take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide,” Nazia states. The effect of the hookah pipe gives the user a sense of relief, but it is short-lived with too many long-term effects. There are ways to stop, and a user can get help if he or she:

1. Acknowledges that they have a problem, and that smoking is bad for their health
2. Takes the steps to get help
3. Calls an organization like NISHTARA
4. Uses months like Ramadhaan to fight off desires
5. Develops willpower, using fear and love of Allah to apply themselves to overcome the addiction, and
6. Gets support from friends and family

There are also hygiene factors involved when sharing pipes and communicable diseases spread easily through using them. Your body has a threshold and if you overstep it, you end up putting it through unnecessary stress. Sister Nazia concluded that smoking hookah is an addiction, and in the effort to stop, or not to, “you will either suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regret”. Choose discipline and get the help you need to stop smoking that hookah pipe!

Listen to the full interview with Sister Katija Mohamed on Let’s Talk Life.