The Drugs Epidemic in Muslim Communities - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

The Drugs Epidemic in Muslim Communities

Preservation of the Intellect: A Core Objective of the Sharī'ah

One of the major objectives of the sharī'ah and one of its main goals is the preservation of our intellect, because it is with our intellect that we are able to understand the Qur'an and the Sunnah, we are able to comprehend the speech of Allah, we are able to worship Allah and come closer to Him. And that is why in the Qur'an, numerous verses give that very command — to think, and to comprehend, and to reflect, and to seek to understand.

And so therefore anything which attacks our ability to understand, anything which diminishes our capacity for contemplation and reflection of the sharī'ah, of the Qur'an, of the Sunnah — it is something which has been made harām in our religion. To the extent that someone who doesn't have control of their mental faculties for a valid medical reason, there is no obligation upon him — the pen has been lifted from that person. But the issue is when we do something that goes against that very principle, that we try to cloud our minds, that we become intoxicated and unable to understand, and we do so by our own choice.

The Drug Epidemic in Our Communities

It is something which is a major issue in our time. It is something which in our communities is of an epidemic proportion. The issue of drug use — its selling, its buying, its consumption — is something which is rife within our communities. It's not uncommon for us to walk down the street now and see people in broad daylight making a drug transaction in our own communities. It's not difficult for you to go and walk down and around the streets of this masjid and around the areas where the Muslims are predominantly living, and you see young men staying in cars at all times of day and the night, and they're making drug transactions.

Only a few days ago I was driving only a couple of minutes away from the masjid — in broad daylight, a car in the middle of the road in front of me stopped for no reason, and another car came on the other side and stopped, their windows went down, and there was a drug transaction, broad daylight. It is something which has become so common, and it is something which clearly, as we know, is a danger for our families and our children.

But what is worse and what is even more worrying is that I have come across and I have heard of people who are apparently practicing Muslims — people who have a love of Islam and claim a love of Allah and the Prophet, a love of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, people who dress and look like Muslims — but they also buy and sell drugs and take drugs. That's what the issue has come to in our communities.

And maybe there is a disconnect there, because I don't think there is a single Muslim who can hear my voice, who is sitting in this masjid today, that if you were to say to them: what is the position of alcohol in our religion? What is the ruling of consuming wine or taking any other type of alcoholic beverage? What's the ruling of it in Islam? — except that they would tell you very clearly and openly that it is from the major sins, that there are numerous verses in the Qur'an and numerous hadith in the Sunnah of our Prophet that made it harām.

But there seems to be a disconnect where we think that on the one hand that is something which we need to avoid and stay away from — even though that is also a problem unfortunately for some Muslims — but on the other hand, when it comes to drugs, and especially things like cannabis and marijuana and weed, and things that we don't think are as maybe serious in terms of their issue and their problem, that is something which is okay for Muslims to take, something which is okay for you to be part and parcel of. And that's a major issue. It is a misunderstanding of the text of the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

The Meaning of Khamr in the Qur'an and Sunnah

Because the Qur'an and the Sunnah when they speak about the word خَمْر (khamr), even though it is predominantly meant to mean alcoholic beverages and wine and the likes, its wider meaning is anything which intoxicates the mind. Because the reason behind which that has been made harām — meaning alcohol — is the same that is also present in drugs. It's the same thing: it doesn't allow you to connect with Allah, it takes your mind away from the salāh and from the dhikr of Allah.

And that is why the Prophet told us in the hadith of Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, reported in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim:

Intoxicants — al-khamr — is anything which intoxicates the mind. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5575; Sahih Muslim, Book 36, Hadith 73)

Anything which intoxicates you is considered to be a form of khamr. It is an intoxicant and therefore from the major sins of Islam.

The Hadith of Jābir: Any Intoxicant Is Harām

And what goes to show that is that the Prophet would have people coming to him from various parts of Arabia and they didn't all have the same types of intoxicants that the people of Mecca and Medina were familiar with. As is mentioned in the hadith of Jābir, may Allah be pleased with him, in Sahih Muslim, where a man came from an area called Jayshan in Yemen and he came to the Prophet and he said: "O Messenger of Allah, where I come from we have a drink that is made out of maize, out of corn — is it harām?" The Prophet wasn't familiar with the drink; it wasn't something which was common in Mecca and Medina. So he said:

"Is it something which intoxicates the mind?"

The man said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." He said:

"Anything which intoxicates the mind is harām." (Sahih Muslim, Book 36, Hadith 75)

The Severe Warning: Drinking from the Fluids of the People of the Fire

And to show that it is a major sin, the Prophet said:

"It is a covenant that Allah has taken upon Himself that anyone who consumes an intoxicant on the Day of Judgment will be made to drink from ṭīnat al-khabāl." (Sahih Muslim, Book 36, Hadith 73)

They said: "O Messenger of Allah, what is طِينَةُ الْخَبَالِ?" He said:

"It is the fluids and the sweat that will emanate from the people of the Fire."

It will be taken and the people of the Fire will be made to drink it. May Allah save us from that.

The Qur'anic Prohibition of Intoxicants

Allah in the Qur'an tells us that intoxicants are harām. It doesn't just mean alcohol — it means even the smallest amount of a drug that you consume without a valid reason. And most of the time there is no valid reason. It is something which is from the major sins.

"O people of faith, indeed intoxicants and gambling and anything which is an idolatrous practice and the divination of arrows — all of them are from the handiworks of Shayṭān, so avoid them in order to attain success."

"And if you want to know the reason why" — Allah says — "because Shayṭān wants from you, through gambling and intoxicants, that he causes enmity and hatred amongst you."

How many Muslims fight other Muslims on our streets? How many gangs are fighting other gangs? How much crime comes about amongst Muslims and between Muslims — let alone the wider community? And this isn't to exclude anyone else, but because we're talking to Muslims here — how many problems in our community because of this issue of drugs? Enmity, hatred, problems, jealousy — because of this.

And if that wasn't bad enough — because that's a problem that we see openly — Allah also says it prevents you from the remembrance of Allah, it prevents you from the Ṣalāh. That is why the Prophet told us to stay away from this in a number of ahadith, and if you were to read those ahadith that speak about intoxicants and the threat of punishment that is attributed and connected to them, it is something which should cast terror within your hearts, something which would make you seriously think before engaging in a practice like this or seeing it in our streets and condoning it.

Intoxicants: The Mother of All Evil

The Prophet told us:

"Intoxicants are the mother of all evil." (Sunan al-Nasā'ī, Hadith 5666)

And in another narration:

"It is the key that opens the door to every single evil."

The Habitual User: Meeting Allah as One Who Worshipped Idols

Not only that, the Prophet told us — because some people are under the impression that if you maybe just take it every so often, casually, leisurely, it's not something which you're an addict to, it's something which you only do once in a while, that makes it okay. But the Prophet told us that both types of people are under the severe threat of the punishment of Allah. Someone who continuously takes intoxicants and drugs — the Prophet told us:

"The one who continuously takes intoxicants, if they die upon that — meaning without making tawbah, without turning to Allah and seeking repentance — they will meet Allah as one who has worshipped idols." (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 6530; Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 3375)

Do not make a distinction between the one who makes idolatry and the one who takes intoxicants regularly. And that is why in another narration the Prophet said:

"The one who continuously takes intoxicants will not enter into Jannah." (Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 3375; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 6530)

Even the Occasional User: 40 Days Without Accepted Prayer

Jannah is not for them — these are people who take it all the time. What if you only take it once? What if you're curious? What if it's something which you only want to partake in once in a while, not something which you want to do all the time? The Prophet told us in the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr, may Allah be pleased with them both, reported in Sunan al-Nasā'ī and Jāmi' al-Tirmidhī:

"A person from my ummah does not take intoxicants except that Allah will not accept their prayer for 40 days." (Sunan al-Nasā'ī, Hadith 5664; Jāmi' al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 1862)

In the narration that is in Jāmi' al-Tirmidhī, the Prophet said: a person takes intoxicants once and Allah won't accept from them their prayer for 40 days. So if that person makes tawbah, Allah will accept their tawbah. But if they drink it a second time or take intoxicants a second time, then Allah doesn't accept their prayer for 40 days. And if they make tawbah, Allah will accept their tawbah. But if they do it a third time, Allah won't accept their ṣalāh for 40 days. And if they make tawbah, then Allah will accept their tawbah. But if they do it a fourth time, then even if they make tawbah, Allah won't accept it from them.

And that doesn't mean that the door of tawbah is closed for them, but it is to show the severity of the issue — that it's unlikely that a person in that state has the capacity and the ability to make sincere tawbah from something which is now becoming a problem for them.

The Entire Supply Chain Is Cursed

There are numerous ahadith that speak to the dangers of this issue, and it's not just the one. Because I have heard people say: "This is our livelihood, this is our business, this is how we make our money, this is how we live." It is not just the issue of the person who takes those drugs that the Prophet was referring to — but the whole supply chain in the Sunnah is cursed by Allah. The Prophet told us in the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd, in the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, that the Prophet said:

"Allah cursed intoxicants and the one who consumes them, and the one who serves them, and the one who sells them, and the one who buys them, and the one who produces them, and the one for whom it is produced, and the one who carries them, and the one for whom it is carried." (Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Hadith 3674)

Everyone in that chain, everyone in that process — Allah has cursed all of them. And that is why it is an extremely serious issue — from the major sins in our religion to take part in those intoxicants. It is something which we need to be aware of, it is something which we need to educate ourselves and our families about, because it is something which has become so open and so common in our communities. And when something becomes so open and so regular, and people become accustomed to it, they lose the ability to understand that it is something which is from the major sins.

We ask Allah that He protects us and our families and our children and our communities, and that Allah helps those who are addicted to these substances and that Allah makes their affairs easy for them.

Second Part of the Khutbah

Acknowledging the Reality of Addiction

This khutbah in no way diminishes the real problem that many people have with addiction. It is a major issue and it is something which shouldn't be downplayed, nor does it diminish the efforts of all of those people who are in the wider community that are helping people with those addictions.

Many people who turn to drugs do so because it is a form of escape. They have, for whatever reason, a lack of tranquility, maybe, or happiness or stability in their lives, and they are looking for a form of escape. But we know from our religion, from the text of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, that the only way that you can find happiness and tranquility in this life is through your connection with Allah. It is through the remembrance of Allah. And no amount of materialistic substances, no amount of wealth, no amount of anything else in this dunyā can fill that void or make up for that shortfall, if the Qur'an isn't there and the remembrance of Allah is absent.

This Life Is a Test: Embracing Hardship Through Faith

And so it is something which we should reflect upon — that the sharī'ah has given us other ways of combating those issues and those problems that we face. But it is also part of Muslim life, it is part of our existence in this life, to accept that there will be challenges and hardships, and to work at a way to overcome them in a way that pleases Allah.

This concept that many Muslims unfortunately have today — that life should be easy, that life should be stress-free, that life should be all smooth and clean sailing — isn't a concept that we accept in our religion. It's alien to our religion. Because this very existence is an existence of trial and tribulation and test. And the meaning of trial and tribulation and test is that you will have hardship, that you will have days in which you don't feel joy or happiness. But if you have a strong connection with Allah, you have a connection with the ṣalāh and the Qur'an and the dhikr of Allah, no matter what else takes place, there is always another recourse for you — a way for you to come out of those problems and overcome those issues that we face.

Conclusion: A Call to Action

So the message of this khutbah today is a simple but extremely important one. This issue of drugs that has become an epidemic in our communities — it's something that we need to tackle head on, something that we need to be aware of. But what I wanted to stress today in front of everyone was that it's not just a small issue. This isn't just some minor sin, it's not just some thing that's not a big deal. But in our sharī'ah it is from the major sins, and from the issues that carry the most severe threat of punishment concerning it.

We ask Allah by His most beautiful names and His lofty attributes that Allah gives us the ability to stay away from every evil, and that Allah opens for us instead the door to every good, that Allah protects us and our families and our communities from the handiworks of Shayṭān and from his traps, and that Allah protects us and our families, that Allah showers His blessings and His mercy upon us and upon the Muslims all over the world.