Quit Smoking and Your Wedding is On Us

[Muslim Woman]

lol , brothers & sisters who do not smoke -- don't start smoking with this hope that u will quit this bad habit & will be blessed with a spouuse haha.

The campaign slogan: "Kicking the habit is on you, and marriage is on us" has gained interest from hundreds of men.

A Saudi charity based in Riyadh has come up with an extraordinary campaign to encourage men to stop smoking. Saudi Arabia has a population of 27.6 million, an estimated quarter of which are smokers. The campaign slogan: "Kicking the habit is on you, and marriage is on us" has gained interest from hundreds of men. One non-smoker has even pondered over the idea to start smoking so he could participate.


The grand prize winner, who will be announced on August 6, will win an all expenses paid wedding from the charity and twenty runners-up will win free furniture. The campaign has been receiving much attention, both positive and negative.


Some see it as a good way to kill two birds with one stone, creating a smoke free family and helping young men with their marriage expenses which are extremely high in Saudi Arabia. Others are criticizing the campaign calling it sexist or saying that it devalues what should be a holy union. Some women have even found the campaign to be insulting as they feel they are being placed in a situation where they feel they are being given away for free.

What is your take on the Saudi campaign? Do you think that such an initiative would work and should be emulated in other countries? Do you think it would be better to change the prize from wedding expenses to something else?

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/...pagename=Zone-English-HealthScience/HSELayout

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

wa alaykum us-Salaam
i really don't understand this whole campaigning against cigarettes, drink driving/alcohol etc...
such a waste of time and money, just stop selling the stuff :muddlehea

the campaign is sort of funny though....

 

[crayon]

Yes! I've seen ads from this campaign across the city, and I think it's great! They also had ads with 'quit smoking and your hajj is on us', so they send you to hajj as well! It's such an awesome idea mashaAllah, may Allah reward them for it.

 

[Muslim Woman]

How would participants prove that they've quit smoking?

I guess , they will be locked in a room with a lotta ciggarrtes ; who are chain smokers will unable not to smoke ; thus will fail & won't get any wife lol

 

[noorseeker]

Theres a device you blow into to show that you have not smoked, it measures your ---- levels, cant remember , but it tells you.

 

[crayon]

Some women have even found the campaign to be insulting as they feel they are being placed in a situation where they feel they are being given away for free.

That's stupid. Ahmed and Aisha want to get married but they can't afford it. Ahmed smokes, joins this program, quits smoking, they pay his marriage expenses. It's not like a pot luck bride sort of thing.

 

[Muslim Woman]

related info:


..... anyone who knows anything about Saudi Arabia, knows that getting married is a costly affair for the groom. And what the charity is paying for is the wedding and dowry, they aren’t going to find a bride or mediate, just pay the bills. So far so good.


Last Sunday a writer in al Watan newspaper Maha Al Jahilan slammed the charity comparing what the charity is offering to selling sex. I especially enjoyed her melodramatic conclusion which I translated:


Isn’t presenting a woman as a prize to a person who quits smoking comparable to what primitive societies did when they sacrificed women to gods by throwing them into rivers, or wild animals? Wouldn’t it be better if the charity offered to find jobs for the quitters to raise their income, or offered to help them in housing, or continue their education, or self-improvement courses instead of finding a solution that would create worse and uglier problem?


Come on?! Is she serious? I consider myself a Saudi feminist if there ever was one and I saw those posters long before I read about them. It never occurred to me that they were demeaning to women. Her suggestions are fine and so is paying for a quitter’s marriage costs. But probably the charity’s idea might be a stronger motivator for the younger love-stricken smokers. But if people who are calling for more women rights in Saudi raise arms at every silly thing then that will undermine what they stand for and the conservatives won’t take then as seriously.

http://saudiwoman.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/quit-smoking-and-well-give-you-a-wedding/