Against Smoking: An Ottoman Manifesto

Michot provides an introduction into the work (Risaleh Dukhaniyyeh) and an outline of the scholarly debates concerning smoking that occured in Turkey in the 16th and 17th centuries. -Islamic Horizons

Against Smoking is a gem of scholarship. This compact book is a major contribution to the study of Islamic pietism in general and Ottoman religious and cultural history in particular. -Professor Ahmet T. Karamustafa, Washington University in St. Louis

One of the earliest Arabic texts against smoking, Ahmad al-Aqhisari’s Epistle on Tobacco is presented here for the first time in a scholarly edition, together with a fully annotated English translation. Yahya Michot expertly sets the epistle within its Ottoman social, intellectual, and historical context. Includes thirty illustrations.

Yahya Michot is professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations at Hartford Seminary, Connecticut.