Distribution of the Islamic Ruling on Smoking in 53,000 mosques within Egypt:
Mosques play a crucial role in developing the beliefs and the behavior of the society in this region. Its role goes beyond being only a worship place, to a social place were people meet, exchange information and learn. In Ramadan the role of mosques increase significantly because of the great number of worshipers who attend mosques to perform the night prayers, which are very important in this month. Mosques therefore are considered to be a very important means to introduce the Islamic Ruling on smoking. The best time to do so would be during the month of Ramadan. A plan of action was developed in the regional office to distribute the Islamic Ruling to all mosques in Egypt; Egypt was selected because of the large number of mosques in the country 53,000. The following steps were taken in this direction:

Summarizing the Islamic Ruling on smoking issued by the Grand Mufti of Egypt.
Getting the Grand Mufti's approval on the summary.
Getting the approval of the national Authority concerned, the Ministry of Awqaf.
After going through the above steps the regional office prepared 80 thousand posters of the summarized ruling. A private organization was contracted to distribute the "Ruling" all over Egypt in five days.
Some of the field workers were faced with problems, for example some mosques managers refused to place the poster. However, the worshipers themselves were very supportive of placing the poster, which gave the managers who objected no excuse, and finally the poster was placed everywhere.
After completing their mission a report was submitted to the regional office that describes in depth the process and the mechanism, which was followed in the distribution as well as the obstacle.
Distributing the poster was not only a very successful process but it also proved that some simple ideas could be very useful and that thinking globally and act locally is best practiced when looking at each region specialty and real needs. It also proved that distributing the Islamic ruling and enchasing it, needs a lot of creativity. Tobacco use is a social problem, and controlling it requires a real change in the social beliefs and norms. One thing that has worked successfully with this regard throughout the centuries in Member States of this Region is religion. Thus when ever possible the religious message has to be activated at all different levels.

The effect of distributing the poster was very encouraging, the regional office received many requests even from other countries to distribute the poster in their mosques. The distribution was extended to other places and areas; it was placed in the main squares and streets. Recently the Egyptian Minister of health decided to distribute it in all public hospitals.

Collaboration with the Coptic Church:
TFI met the Pope of the Coptic Church to introduce the role of his church in combating the tobacco epidemic. After the visit the Pope requested one of the bishops to write on the "Christian view on smoking". It was translated into English and posted on our web page and was printed during the World no Tobacco Day 2000 advisory kit.