I understand smoking cigarettes was makrooh and has now been made haraam due to its harmful nature. Does this mean selling cigarettes is haraam or are we making things haraam which are not made so in the deen thereby making things difficult for ourselves?

There is a Fiqh maxim that states, “Whatever is Haram to use, it is Haram to give, take, own or request” [1] meaning that a Muslims cannot in any way own or benefit from a Haram item, this includes benefitting from the sale of cigarettes.

Therefore, selling and purchasing cigarettes is haram. Unfortunately, many Muslim businesses have made the sale of cigarettes one of their primary sources of income.

From the perspective of public welfare (Maslaha), cigarette smoking causes approx. 5 million deaths annually. Furthermore, it has no benefits which can outweigh its harms. By selling cigarettes, you are helping people kill themselves and this is the opposite of public welfare, this is public endangerment. The person who sells the cigarette is also responsible in the Afterlife for any harm caused by the cigarettes to the people who purchased it, because he sold it knowing the harm it causes.

Allah knows best.

[1] Al-Wajeez, p. 387