The Marijuana Mess

The Marijuana Mess

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him and seek His assistance. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil within ourselves and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. Yet whomever He allows to go astray, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no God worthy of worship except Allah alone. He has no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger.

O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except in the state of Islam.

O you who believe, fear Allah and speak the truth. He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive your sins. And whomsoever obeys Allah and His messenger, he has indeed achieved a great achievement.

Amma ba'd: Indeed, the best of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. And the worst of affairs are newly invented matters, and every newly invented matter is a bid'ah, and every bid'ah is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Scope of the Problem

Brothers and sisters in Islam, the topic of our khutbah today is marijuana. It's about marijuana and how it is haram. And this topic was chosen for two specific reasons.

Number one, our community has no clue how rampant it is amongst our youth. We don't have a clue. It is statistically 52% of people in America have tried marijuana once. Over half the American population has tried marijuana. So, would we assume that perhaps over half our youth have tried it? Or because they're Muslims, maybe only 2% of them have tried it or only 3% of them have tried it? We always do this — an optimistic, unrealistic look at things. Well, because they're Muslim, inshallah, they will not try it.

I have heard of MSAs where the MSA officers will have meetings — these meetings are about progressing and moving the religion of Allah forward, about jumu'ah khutbah and events — and then all of them go and smoke together, men and women. Active and practicing young men and women all over Houston in groups will go and smoke. And it's to the point where some of them have told me that you're considered strange if you don't smoke marijuana. They pray, they're active in the masjid, they put on full hijab, and they smoke regularly.

Some of them have come into my office right here in the back of this building and sat down and told me about their experiences and how everybody's doing it and how you're strange if you don't do it. When we were growing up, smoking meant cigarettes. Ask your children now what smoking means. It does not refer to cigarettes at all. And they casually ask, "Do you smoke?" So-and-so smokes, this person doesn't smoke. And they don't mean cigarettes — they mean this, they mean drugs, they mean marijuana.

And the biggest proof that we have a huge problem in our community is that every parent in the room thinks I'm talking about the children of the parent next to them. That's the biggest problem. Everyone thinks I'm talking about the guy next to you's children, not yours. But these hijabis and these active youth who are doing it all over Houston — they're just someone else's children all the time.

The other reason this topic was chosen is that we want to show that it's haram in this khutbah. Youth are using this substance assuming, or perhaps making themselves believe, that it's halal, that it's okay. And we chose this day for this khutbah — instead of talking about the holiday season or something else — because schools are closed and many youth will be in the masjid.

The Shari'ah's Protection of the Mind

One of the purposes of the shari'ah is that it came to protect the mind. And why wouldn't it come to protect the mind? Because it's how you receive and process one of the most important things in life — guidance and revelation from Allah — among many other things. But without your mind you would not be able to take heed or to take action when Allah calls you to it.

That's why in Surah al-Ra'd, Allah says:

Those who take heed, those who remember — these are the ones who are أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ — ya'ni, أصحاب العقول — people of sound minds. Only people of good understanding and good minds will pay heed to what Allah is saying.

In Surah al-Fajr, likewise, Allah says:

حِجْر here refers to those who have good minds — again, without the mind you would not be able to recognize the signs of Allah as true signs or understand what those signs mean.

That's why in Surah Al 'Imran, Allah says:

In it are signs for those who have sound minds. And in Surah al-Ra'd:

Indeed, these things are signs for those who contemplate or reflect. And the verse after it:

In it are signs for those who understand. So without the mind you couldn't understand and recognize the signs of Allah. Without the mind you could not understand the lessons and the parables Allah is putting forth:

Indeed, in their stories were lessons — but for those of sound minds, for those who have good minds and can think. And even the taqwa of Allah was linked to having a good mind:

And fear Allah, O those of you who have sound minds.

So it is no surprise then that the shari'ah came to protect the mind from anything that will harm or alter it. And for that reason, alcohol and drugs have been prohibited in Islam — because of their effect on the mind, first and foremost.

But even before the advent of Islam, people used to care about their mind and about their sanity. Of the famous examples amongst many, Abu Bakr and Uthman ibn Affan — they used to not consume alcohol even before Islam, even before it was prohibited by Allah. Because they saw what it did to men and to people and they saw what it did to people's dignity. And even today here in America we know non-Muslims who on their own don't consume alcohol because of what it does when it alters their mind and how their behavior changes.

What Marijuana Does to the Mind

Now, moving on to marijuana — it has something in it known as THC. This is the psychoactive part of the plant. The brain has cannabinoid receptors and they're concentrated in areas of the brain that deal with thinking, memory, pleasure, coordination, and time perception. And according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, THC attaches to those receptors in the brain and activates them, and affects the person's memory, pleasure, movement, thinking, concentration, coordination, and sensory and time perception.

Now, all these things we just explained indicate that it alters the mind. It alters perception, it alters thinking, it alters behavior. This substance — THC — over the years has been purposely cultivated and bred to have a higher level of THC. In the 1990s it was 4% THC. Now, in 2014, it was 12% — more than double, actually it tripled.

So there is no doubt that it intoxicates — and what do we mean by intoxicates? It means in the sense that it impairs and alters intellect and judgment. And it's very hard to make a case that your mind is completely normal under the influence of this drug, which many people try to argue — that there's nothing really happening here.

That state that is known as "stoned" — is this a normal state of mind? If you're about to have very delicate spinal surgery and your doctor tells you, "Let me just get stoned and we start the operation," how will you feel? Or if the pilot announces on the plane just before takeoff that he is good and stoned — would you argue then that this is a normal state of mind and you feel very comfortable? Or the judge says, "I'm going to deliberate — just let me go to my chambers, get stoned, and come back." We know that that is not a natural state. It's not a natural state. And it's very hard to try to make that case.

And that's why the scholars said: al-khamr is whatever intoxicates or envelops the mind — that is al-khamr. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said in Sunan Abi Dawud:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Book 27, Hadith 3679)

Every intoxicant is a khamr. And every khamr is haram — forbidden. So it intoxicates in the sense that it alters your mind, your intellect, your thought process, your behavior. It's an intoxicant. Every intoxicant is a khamr. And every khamr is haram.

Following the Flow vs. Following the Truth

But why would a believer think something like this is halal? Did you think this 10 years ago? 10 years ago, did we even have this debate in the Muslim community — is marijuana halal or not? But now suddenly, a number of people make it legal to sell and suddenly it's supposed to be okay. Is this how a believing man or woman is? We just, like weeds, go with the flow — we go with the current. If people make it legal, then we immediately assume that it's halal. If it's illegal, then it must be haram.

And we know how the tides are changing now. Many things that are frowned upon and viewed as immoral and illegal are going to change and are changing as we speak. And these things are going to become "halal" as well — in the eyes of some. This is not how the believing man or woman is — just going with the flow, changing our religion with whatever changes in society.

If you were to do a search, you will find plenty of TED talks supporting marijuana — plenty of videos supporting it, many arguments about benefits from taxes and medical benefits and so on and so forth. So the tide is strong. But the believer resists these tides. We're not going to just go with the flow. Whatever changes, we do not change our religion with it.

Common Arguments — and Why They Fail

Some of the most common arguments Muslim youth use to argue that marijuana is okay and that it's halal:

Argument 1: "It doesn't harm your health"

They say it doesn't harm your health — not like cigarettes, known for lung cancer and heart disease and all that. And even though marijuana has not been thoroughly researched to date, research is showing some harmful effects. But there's a specific reason we avoided making harmful effects the focus of this khutbah. Because we're not saying you should stay away from it because of its harmful effects. It's not about that. You're staying away from it because it's haram. Because it's an intoxicant. Because it's a drug. That's why.

That's like giving a khutbah about zina and telling people to stay away from it because it causes venereal diseases and STDs. That's not why you stay away from zina. You stay away from zina because it's zina first. You stay away from marijuana because it's a drug and it's marijuana first — not because of harmful effects or medical effects.

And the argument about health has nothing to do with anything. In the minds of these Muslims, they think it's only haram if it harms your health. Studies over the decades have shown that a glass of wine a day is good for the liver. So here we have a substance that is known to be haram, and now it has something good for your health — does that make it halal? And we have halal substances that are bad for the health: salt, sugar, cholesterol. These are halal substances and they're bad for your health. That doesn't make them haram. So this argument about health has nothing to do with anything.

Argument 2: "It's a plant and it's natural"

Hippie talk. It's a green plant from nature and God put these things for us. Okay. The opium poppy — this plant has given us heroin and opium, and it's a plant. The coca plant gave us cocaine — it's a plant and it's natural. Psychedelic mushrooms are a plant and they're natural. Does that make them halal?

And if you just want to go with things that are natural and from the earth — well, pigs. Pigs are from this earth; they didn't come from outer space. Add that to your menu, if your argument is natural versus not natural. And that's why this argument has nothing to do with anything either.

Argument 3: "It doesn't cause harm to others like alcohol does"

They argue that people who smoke marijuana don't go out and get into fights, get aggressive, come home and assault their wives, and so on and so forth. But this argument also has nothing to do with what we're talking about. Because if that were an argument, it would mean that if someone were chained up in their home — they couldn't hit anyone, they couldn't harm anyone, they couldn't drive a car and kill someone — then it would be halal for them to get drunk and consume alcohol, because they're chained up and not going to hurt anyone. It's not about hurting others. That's not why it's haram.

So marijuana is haram because it's a drug that alters the mind — not because it's harmful or not, or natural or not. It's a drug that alters the mind. And in the second khutbah, we'll look at some comments from the early scholars on its effects on the mind and how that makes it an intoxicant.

Ask Allah for His forgiveness — indeed those who ask for His forgiveness shall prosper.

Second Khutbah: What the Scholars Said

It was in the 16th century after the hijrah that Muslim scholars encountered hashish — and hashish is something that is made from the resin of the cannabis plant. One of the scholars known as al-Zarkashi said the high from hashish is similar enough to the intoxication you get from alcohol in terms of its mind-altering effect, and therefore it is a muskir — something that is an intoxicant — and is prohibited the same way alcohol is.

One of the things is that youth think it's as if Muslim scholars never commented on or encountered hashish, marijuana, or any of the other cannabis plant family derivatives. They assumed this was not known to people before. And this is a 6th-century scholar talking about how it alters the mind, and therefore it is an intoxicant, and therefore it is haram in the same way.

Then he quotes al-Hafidh Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, who died in the year 806 after the hijrah. He says the main reason alcohol was prohibited in Islam is due to its intoxicating effect. All the other bad things that come with alcohol — the temporary insanity, attacking one's family, wasting wealth, car accidents — these are all bonus points that come with alcohol. But it was made haram because it's an intoxicant that alters the mind. That was the main reason, and these other consequences were just additional points.

So it's the same thing then for marijuana. It has nothing to do with whether or not you're going to harm people or become aggressive. It's an intoxicant — it alters the mind.

Ibn Taymiyyah, who died 684 after the hijrah, held the same opinion. Ibn al-Qayyim, who died 751 after the hijrah, held the same opinion. Ibn Hajar, who died 852 after the hijrah, held the exact same opinion as well. In fact, every single Muslim scholar said that getting high off of hashish is haram. Every single Muslim scholar.

The Medical Argument — and Recreational Reality

We did not mention the medical benefits on purpose, because most users' use of marijuana is recreational — not medical. And then young people try to quote to you the medicinal benefits of marijuana. You care that much about glaucoma — is that why? That's not why. They're concerned with recreational use of the drug, and then they bring up the medical benefits just as added points. And this is exactly what's happening now in the debate on legalizing marijuana — the medical uses are always brought up in every video you watch, in every debate. But what percent of marijuana usage constitutes medical reasons? A very small percent. The majority of it is for recreational use.

And even those places that sell marijuana will tell you the amount of THC in it — the concentration of THC — because that's what people are after. The effect known as getting high or getting stoned — that's what people are after. It's about recreational use, not medical use. There are some medical benefits, and scholars have even put some parameters on when you can use medical marijuana — but we're not getting into that because what percentage of the use from our youth is due to seeking medical benefits? Little to none — and most likely just none.

No Room for Rogue Fatwas

So every scholar said that it's haram to get high. And you will see Muslims surface here and there trying to quote — and some of them even misquote — al-Zarkashi specifically, saying that he said it was okay. He has an entire book on it and he never said it's okay. He just defined intoxication in a different way than other scholars, but he still said it's prohibited.

But you will see people — imams, notable or not — who will surface in the years to come and say that it's halal. We don't chase after these rogue fatwas that make something halal. There was a Maliki scholar who thought dog meat was halal. It's a wrong opinion. But do you want to follow that opinion even though it's wrong? And that's why they say that if someone follows all the strange and weird opinions and practices them, they will find themselves living on something that's not Islam. If you keep following all the strange opinions — there's a scholar somewhere who said this is permissible, there's a scholar somewhere who said that's okay — gather all these things together, put them in a book, and that book will not be about Islam.

So it doesn't matter who in the future is going to come and say that it's okay. It's an intoxicant. It alters the mind in some way or another. It affects your intellect, your thoughts, your behavior. And that is enough to make it haram. And that is what the scholars have always been upon. And it doesn't matter what any new person wants to say or argue.

Du'a and Closing

With that, we ask Allah to make us of those who hear the truth as clear truth and follow the best of it. And to make us of those who recognize falsehood as clear falsehood and abstain from it. We ask Allah to protect and safeguard our youth and our children in these lands from drugs and from alcohol and all kinds of things that are haram. We ask Allah to protect our men and our women from things that are haram. We ask Allah to rectify the conditions of Islam and the Muslims all around the world. And we ask Allah to rectify the conditions of the Muslims in Kashmir and the Muslims in Palestine and in Syria and in Iraq and in all parts of the world.