Cairo  - Many Egyptians are perplexed as fierce debate erupts among scholars on whether smokers and people with insatiable appetites should be able to use therapy patches during fasting hours of Ramadan.

Nicotine and diet patches have spread widely in the Arab world, where they find lively use during the Islamic holy month that sees Muslims abstain from eating, drinking and sex from dawn until sunset, to promote self-discipline, sacrifice and empathy for the poor.

Some Egyptian Muslims have been concerned about using "therapy" patches, wondering whether they go against the regulations of fasting.

Muslim scholars have warned people against the nicotine and diet patches, saying they invalidate the fasting.

The English language daily The Egyptian Gazette reported that scholars have described those who depend on the patches as "fooling themselves if they think that this does not break the fast".

Others argue that using the patches is like applying ointment to the skin, which is permissible while fasting.

"As far as I know, a person's skin is not like the mouth, which is not allowed to accept food or drink from sunrise to sunset," the daily quoted one self-confessed patch-user, Ahmed Mohamed, as saying.

Around 25 per cent of the 80 million people in Egypt are smokers, while scholars are left wondering "why Muslim youth deny themselves the spiritual joys of fasting," or why they find it "unendurable".

One 28-year-old heavy smoker claims he suffers from insomnia, irritability, frustration, anger and difficulty in concentration if he does not apply a nicotine patch during the day in Ramadan.

Condemnation of such tactics comes as pharmacists sell both kinds of patches like hot cakes during the Ramadan month that began around two weeks ago.

High demand has prompted pharmacists to increase the price of a box of nicotine patches, which now sell for anything between 200 and 400 Egyptian pounds (around 38 to 75 US dollars).

Those who condemn using nicotine patches also reject the diet patches, which have a dulling effect on the appetite.

According to Diet-patch. com, when you apply the patch, "herb contents penetrate slowly, dissolve and stimulate the metabolism. They help control appetite, nourish the muscular system, reduce water tension and help to reduce fatigue".

Turkish scholars have reassured the patch-users they have nothing to worry about.

One Turkish theology professor was quoted in media reports as saying the patches do not invalidate the fast, as their effect is more akin to "showering, or applying pomade to the skin" than to eating.

But use of these patches in Ramadan is not approved of by Saudi religious scholars, who say more research is needed. They argue that if the patches are found to provide nutrition for anyone who puts them on, they would not be allowed.

"If you fast to discipline yourself, using patches is the same as doping in sport. It takes the achievement out of it," Sami Hamed, another Egyptian heavy smoker, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Hamed also suffers during the day in Ramadan. After noon, the 25- year-old engineer starts losing concentration and gets irritable. But he refuses to use nicotine patches.

"Ramadan is all about being able to fight temptation," he says. "Most patches are scams, and people should not use them anyway." (dpa)