format_quote Originally Posted by
JamesBond007
Salaam Brothers and Sisters!
So I am new to these forums, and I consider myself to be a pretty good Muslim in most cases (but who is to judge that but Allah), but I have found myself falling into a habit that is regarded as haram in our religion.
Of course, this habit I am talking about is Marijuana. I have read many reasons as to why marijuana is haram in Islam, but I feel as if people are misguided on the drug. I am not encouraging the drug, but instead I am trying to gain knowledge, and persuasion in a way to get me out of this habit.
Firstly, I don't smoke much, probably once every weekend, sometimes only 2 times a month. I never saw the harm in smoking Marijuana and I still do not, but I don't want to be committing a sin, I do believe in Allah and the Quran.
Now this is what I don't understand, in the Quran it says that we are not allowed to consume anything that intoxicates our mind. Alcohol is a clear indicator of intoxicating the mind, but Marijuana has a completely different effect. I feel more creative, more open, accepting of life, etc. Before I started smoking, I wasn't really close to Allah, but as I started smoking more and more I felt His presence around me and I noticed myself becoming a better person overall.
I started to listen to my mom, started praying 4-5 times a day opposed to 0, I stopped being lazy and made more of my life. I started researching Islam and have bettered myself to what the Quran says. I'll be honest, I had a gf before I started smoking, once I started smoking I broke it off with her, I didn't want the sin of any act before marriage on my conscious or to be showed on the Day of Judgement.
Now, I hear everyone saying that Marijuana is haram... why? It's made my life (obviously it was the will of Allah to improve my life) so much better! I feel so much better about myself, and even my family says that I have become a better person. (They have no idea I smoke)
Why is it that this drug, that seems to enhance my mind and life, get such a bad rep in our religion? It doesn't make sense!!!
Asalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatu
My dear brother. Allow me to do what I think no one has done for you.
I think you will find the following response at the very least personally beneficial.
As a former dank smokin, gonja havin, weed sellin guy from the streets and a small and insignificant student in Islam, and a simple researcher of topics, I find myself having to dissect this matter in three categories
These categories are
The Islamic View of Intoxicants
The Nature of Marijuana
The Islamic Concept of Waraa
I would in a nutshell consider the first as the basis in understanding drugs in general, and then I would classify the second in terms of how it really doesn't qualify as an intoxicant per se, and how it differs from other drugs, and then the last of the three is the ultimate conceptualization of the view in its spiritual significance and how one can come out with a personally conclusive and accurate view on the topic.
i say all of this because I myself had to properly understand this topic.
1. The Islamic View of Intoxicants
This topic actually needs no thorough elaboration on it as i believe pretty much everyone understand the concept. However just to reiterate the matter, Islam is of the view that all substances that alter the state of the human mind from its natural state and into a higher state of consciousness is forbidden.
What people fail to grasp and actualize tawheed here is that when there is a command, and the world questions us as to why we do or do not do something. The ULTIMATE and primary reply is because "Allah desired it for me" or "Because Allah said so".
Many of the rulings in Islam do not have a "reason" as to why we were ordered or prohibited from something. And this is where one can delve into the subject of rationality and its role. From the Islamic standpoint, our human intellect is subservient to the textual dictates of the lawmaker (ash-Shaar'i). The opposite of this ideology is the secular liberal ideology of modernity where the textual revelations of the Lawmaker are to be analyzed by the rationale and are given a validation or a rejection by the specific individual in question. The former is the essence of Islam because the basic meaning of Islam comes from "istislaam" which means that we submit our stubborn will to the Will of Allah Subhaanahu. The latter ideology is the exact antithesis of Islam because it entails that the Lawmaker makes istislaam to man and thereby making Allah a muslim to our own desires.
At any rate, our view of the subject should be that if Allah said so, then that is enough for us because Allah classified the believers as being those who when they hear a decision from Allah or His Messenger, their response is "We hear and we obey", and for such people, there is no more discussion.
Secondly, from the wisdoms of Islamic law in the affairs of this world, is that there is no such thing as something that is made haraam to be purely evil or of no benefit. No, rather there is benefit to be found in such things. LIKEWISE, the same is said for its opposite. When Islam mandates something, there is nothing that negates that thing to have any negative aspect to it. The essence of the shariah of Islam is that Islam (as it relates to law) did not come to eradicate all evil or to rid the world of any negativeness. The Islamic belief and spiritual system does that. As for the law itself, what Islam came to do was to MINIMIZE the corruption of this world in its social sphere and to MAXIMIZE the proper behavioral etiquettes as it pertains to societies.
I will give one slight example in order to allow for the readers to envision the matter. For many, the veil for Muslim women is obligatory and this has been the consentual view of the Muslim nation for about 13 centuries. Just for arguments sake, even if the reader is not of the view that it is obligatory, just for arguments sake, let us just say that it is. Let us say that the intent of covering for women in the Qur'an is indeed veiling, which inadvertently happened to be the exact practice of all the muslim women companions of the prophet and not just the prophet's wives.
Now, what we have in certain Muslim countries is that prostitutes use the veil for their prostitution. What would happen is that if the women finds a man that is to her liking, all she does is unveil her face to him and that becomes the signal for the hanky panky.
However, because the law of that country is set up under some form of Islamic legislation either to a larger extent or lesser extent, then the implementation of such vices like these become extremely hard to perform and thus the corruption and vice doesn't become the DNA of that society and the social fabric is not so deteriorated unlike in other muslim countries where the stripping of Islamic law has brought its people almost on par to its secular masters.
Thus the benefit of the covering of women outweighs the minuscule harm that such people may do to abuse such laws. This is because a universla rule of the human experience is that no society will be free of "criminals" i.e. mujrimeen. There will be no age in which any society will not have no criminal. What Islam offers is
1. safety from their harm (which entails the penal code of punishments [hudood])
2. and to reduce their affects on society with the implementation of our law, so that criminal activity becomes extremely hard to perform and likewise halaal activity becomes extremely easy to perform.
unfortunately in modern times, its seems as though the abolishment of the shariah has flipped the world where haraam is as easy as breathing and halaal is not as easy.
At any rate, I mention all of that so as to give us a tool to correctly understand our personal doubts about the nature of some things that are judged as haraam by Muslim scholars. Allah Himself testifies that there is some benefit in khamr (alcohol/intoxicants). The essence of all that I have stated above is based on the following ayaah where Allah said
They ask you (O Muhammad) concerning alcoholic drink and gambling. Say: "In them is a great sin,
and (some) benefits for men,
but the sin of them is greater than their benefit." [2:219]
One of the reasons for Allah highlighting this is so as to kill any persistence that we may come up with regards to ideas and highlighting the benefits of such things. In simpler terms, Allah has virtually refuted the act of people trying to rationalize the acceptability of such things that were declared as haraam as being halaal under the topic of "its benefits.
this lets us as servants of the Lord know that the declaratory nature of Allah's judgment's do not necessarily reside merely on sole benefit or sole harm, but in the weighing between the two as is evidenced in the underlined portion of the ayaah.
2. The Nature of Marijuana
Now this is a subject that i think needs to be studied. In my own personal view, I have found that weed does not have the properties of an "intoxicant". From my own personal experience (of smoking it) and as well as research on the properties of it, I would rather smoke a blunt than a cigarette because the prohibition of the cigarette was based on the fact that it can kill you. Marijuana on the other hand has no harmful effects like cigarettes does. Some medical analysis have found some harmful effects to the brain , but the research is with regards to heavy users. Moreover, it does not alter your state of consciousness like actual intoxicants. My own personal belief is that the subject of marijuana was administered to the research departments of various islamic communities or councils and they have judged the matter on the notions of the society who has had no experience with the plant and their already conceived notions of it. In the end, these societal emotions have placed a stipulation on this plant which inevitably lead to judging the issue based on biased research or views which i feel needs to be looked at again and reviewed.
However with all of that aside, I am not validating anything, I am rather presenting the issue as is, I myself would not revert back to smoking it on the basis that it was proven to be halaal once more which leads me to the next topic
3. The Islamic Concept of Waraa
al-Wara` - means to keep oneself from doubtful matters lest one should indulge in forbidden things unknowingly
[from Ibn Hajar’s Buloogh ul Maraam with notes from Subul us-Salaam by as-San`aanee [publ. by Dar as-Salam]
The feeling of abstinence from committing sins is wara'. It is even beyond the feeling of taqwa; it is avoiding the doubtful all together.
If a person has taqwa, he avoids the unlawful: He does not look at the unlawful, he does not touch the unlawful, he does not eat the unlawful. If a person has wara', he stays away from the doubtful with a fear of committing an offense. He acts very carefully. If a person is not careful, he may slip into the sin that would incur the wrath of Allah. That would be a terrible end for a person.
Some of the Zuhaad (Imaams of Abstension and piety) define wara’ as the conviction of the truth of Islamic tenets, being straightforward in one’s beliefs and acts, being steadfast in observing Islamic commandments, and being very careful in one’s relations with God Almighty. Others define it as not being heedless of God even for the period of the twinkling of an eye, and others as permanently closing them-selves to all that is not Him, as not lowering oneself before anyone except Him (for the fulfillment of one’s needs or other reasons), and as advancing until reaching God without getting stuck with one’s ego, carnal self and desires, and the world.
Wara’ relates to both the inner and outer aspects of a believer’s life and conduct. A traveler on the path of wara’ must have reached the peaks of taqwa; his or her life must reflect a strict observance of the Shari‘a’s commands and prohibitions; his or her actions must be for the sake of God; his or her heart and feelings must be purged of whatever is other than God; and he or she always must feel the company of Allah for as we know, if we cannot see Allah, then we definitely know and are cognizant of Him being aware of what we do.
One such example is when the sister of Bishr al-Khafi' asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal:
O Imam, I usually spin (wool) on the roof of my house at night. At that time, some officials pass by with torches in their hands, and I happen to benefit, even unwillingly, from the light of their torches. Does this mean that I mix into my earnings something gained through a religiously unlawful way? The great Imam wept bitterly at this question and replied: Something doubtful even to such a minute degree must not find a way into the house of Bishr al-Khafi.
It was also during this period that people shed tears for the rest of their lives because they had cast a single glance at something forbidden, and people who vomited a piece of unlawful food that they had swallowed in ignorance wept for days. As related by ‘Abdullah ibn Mubarak, a great traditionist and ascetic, a man traveled from Merv (Afghanistan) to Makka in order to return to its owner an item that he had put in his pocket by mistake. There were many who gave life-long service to those to whom they thought they owed something, such as Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad. Biographies of saints, such as Hilyat al-Awliya’ (The Necklace of Saints) by Abu Nu‘aym al-Isfahani, and al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (The Greatest Compendium) by Imam al-Sharani, are full of the accounts of such heroes of abstinence.
what is the purpose of bringing this up.
One of the Attributes of having waraa is that the servant does not overly involve himself with the "permissible" matters. In other words, just because the servant of the Lord knows that something is indeed halaal, he obtains from it. This aspect of spirituality comes from m'arifa' which means being cognizant of the ultimate reality.
Casting these above fact to the topic of marijuana, there are some conclusive facts that come about
For arguments sake, let us assume that weed is actually halaal. The problem is that
1. There is a certain culture that emanates from weed and the behavioral etiquettes in this culture are not necessarily from those in which Islam views as "proper". This is a general norm, and while it may not pertain specifically to an individual, it is indeed something inherent if practiced on a societal level.
and in Islam, judgments are based on the general rules, and not the exception.
2. People who have integrity with Allah do not indulge in matters that even "seem" as a matter that the spiritually bankrupt practice, much less that are clearly haraam.
An example of this is going to markets and stores. The act itself, its base ruling is one of being disliked (makruh) however its ruling is made permissible due to necessity. However, in spite of this permissibility, the people who have integrity with Allah find in their nature that markets are places were the dictates of Allah are exploited or completely defied.
Now this brings me to point 4
4. The messenger of Allah narrated in a hadeeth that a universal principle that all the prophets taught their people was
"If you have no shame, then do as you like"
This is one of the most powerful and comprehensive statements ever made on the human tongue. It entails two meanings and even sub meanings under it, but for the sake of brevity, i will highlight the main two
a. it first means that if you find no shame in something, then go ahead and do it
b. the second meaning is that the people with no shame, will do exactly what they want.
smoking weed is among the actions of those who "have no shame" for the most part, or very little shame.
Not only that, even if that is not the case, people who have waraa of Allah, they will naturally have a tendency to shame towards smoking this plant.
5. from my own personal experience, after smoking with hundreds and hundreds of people, none of them developed the attributes of "accuracy" that you have highlighted for yourself. From my experience, we became lazy, too hungry, developed stinky breath, developed misplaced priorities, and ultimately spent money on this over more necessary matters because in our view, smoking was necessary. Of course we would not get violent or departed from reason as actual intoxicants do, nevertheless there is a different set of circumstances that one can bring that demoralizes its uses. Again, this is on a general level and may not always be applied 100 percent specifically to an individual, rather Islam generates its rulings on the general norm and not the exceptions.
Likewise the plant is associated with partying, and other matters that are clearly haraam.
Now, let us go back to the narration of Ahmad bin Hanbal
The reply of Ahmad bin Hanbal was this
Something doubtful even to such a minute degree must not find a way into the house of Bishr al-Khafi.
What he has declared for her implicitly was that it was haraam for her to utilize the light of the soldiers in order to spin her wool.
The ruling in Islam on this topic was that of permissibility. So the question remains why did Ahmad prohibit this for her. The answer was because her station is not the station of merely "Islam" and being Muslim, rather her station was that of "ihsaan" (which means to worship Allah in the realm of perfection), thus what is halaal for average people is not necessarily the same ruling for someone of a higher status in the cognizance of Allah Subhaanahu.
Another example of waraa in action is by a sahaabi who was injured during battle and whom it was necessary to amputate his leg. They were going to pour alcohol over it but he refused. They said it was legal for him to do so under such condition. At that juncture he continued his stance and offered a reasoning in which I wish I could remember. Nevertheless, the point here is that even under permissible scenarios, the one who has a certain level of consciousness of Allah will not opt to do those things that bring shame even if there is a type of reasoning for it.
In conclusion, I would say that one should seek knowledge with sincerity. Likewise that the matter be looked at from various angles and with other evidences based on the fact that weed may not particularly fall under an intoxicant, and overall, no matter of the outcome, there are associated norms associated with its usage and as well as the effects it may cause in the psychological aspects of a person's waraa and that a human's waraa should not be wasted in the pursuit of pleasure or to fulfill "some" benefit and Allah knows best
Asalamu alaikum warahmatullah