What Islam says about - Drugs and Alcohol

Drugs and Alcohol
By Maulana I. Suleman
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu.
My dear respected brothers, elders and young friends:
The Pre-Islamic societyof Arabia was a societythat was saturated in
alcohol. The supply of, the consumption of, the manufacturing of, the
production of alcohol, wines, and spirits was indispensable for them.
It sustained them. It was a source of living, virtually their
existence. Islam came and on a gradual process in a step-by-step
method, it cleaned them (the Sahaba) away from thehabit of the
consumption of alcohol and directed them towards the greater good. It
cured the hearts of the Sahaba and the Arabian society as far as the
future was concerned for the whole of humanity who was going to be
practicing Muslims. It guaranteed them, through the verses of the Holy
Quran, protection from all sorts of pollutants that were corruption to
the mind, the soul, the hearts and the whole of society.
The first order was revealed that it is better not to drink it and
that the disadvantages (of intoxicants) were more than the advantages
(2:219). Then a second verse was revealed saying, Do not drink alcohol
at the time of salah, (4:43) and finally it was prohibited (5:90).
The topic of today for me is drugs and alcohol. But before we touch
this issue, we have to remember one thing and that is that we are
living a life. What is the importance of life? What is the value of
life? How much should we preserve life? Allah is the One Who is the
Creator of life. Nothing can come into existence without the will of
Allah, so Allah isthe One Who has givenus life and He is the only One
Who has the right to take it. This is why our religion is against
self-destruction; it is so against suicide. Allah mentions in the Holy
Quran:
"Don't throw yourself towards destruction."
So Allah has given us a life and the whole purpose of life is the
pleasure of Allah and the pleasure of Allah will be the ultimate means
of Paradise and to achieve this ultimate goal Allah haslaid down, upon
us, certain rules and regulations by which mankind must live according
to the ways Allah wants him to. Some of the rules and regulations in
our Shariat have positive commitments which we all have to fulfill. We
have to pray five times a day, keep our fasts in the month of Ramadan,
pay zakah, perform Hajj, etc. These are positive commitments, which
everyone has to fulfill. And in our Shariat, some of the rules and
regulations are prescribed as negative precautions, which everyone has
to avoid and abstain from. And the reason Allah has told mankind not
to docertain things is because Allah wants usto be saved from
insanity. Allah wants us to be saved from degeneration. Allah wants us
to be saved from weaknesses, from temptations, and one of the issues,
which Allah wants us to be saved from is the usage of drugs and
alcohol.
When the iman (faith) of the companions of Rasulullah (sallallahu
alaiyhi wa sallam) was made, the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa
sallam) recited the final verses from the Holy Qur'an relating to the
matter of alcohol.
"Oh you who believe! Verily, without a shadow of a doubt, wine,
gambling, idol worshipping, instruments used for divining, for telling
thefuture, are all impurities and pollutants from the activities of
Shaytaan." (5:90)
They are the production of Shaytaan. They are manufactured by
Shaytaan. He has created them and whatis his purpose?
"The soul intention of Shaytaan, through alcohol and gambling, is to
cast hatred and enmity amongst you." (5:91)
He wants to see you fight with each other. He wants to see you being
in harmful competition against each other. This is his intention and
another one of his intentions is:
"and he wishes to prevent you and stop you and hinder you from the
remembranceof Allah and he wants to prevent you from performing
salah." (5:91)
The Sahabah (radiyallahu anhum) were listening very carefully. The
Qur'an was having a direct affect on their hearts. They were gripped
by what was recited to them. The Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa
sallam) recited the final words from the Qur'an:
"Will you now abstain?" (5:91)
Meaning, "Will you now refrain from this?" The Sahaba simultaneously
cried out in one tongue: "Oh,our Lord! We have abstained now! Oh,
ourLord! We have abstained now!"
Now I would like to discuss how it harms our iman, how it hurts our
Islam. One point I would like to make before I start is that drugs and
alcohol are also used for medicinalpurposes. If anyone requires any
verdict regarding this matter, then they must refer it to a mufti. The
alcohol and drug consumption that I am talking aboutis the taking of
drugs simply for the effect that the drugs and alcohol have and no
other motive or purpose.
Whenever the word"khamr" (intoxicants) comes into our minds, we tend
to think of alcohol. But in Arabic,"khamr" has a broader meaning to
it. "Khamr"is what comes over thehuman intelligence, which means
everything that intoxicates a person's mind. So the only substance
that intoxicates the mind isNOT only alcohol, but also every substance
that clouds the mind. Do drugs intoxicate the mind or not?
"Khamr," at the time ofour Beloved Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu
alaiyhi wa sallam) meant something that is flowing and liquidy. This
clearly proves the prohibition of alcohol. The prohibition of drugs
will be proven inthe following hadith.
Hafiz Ibnul Qayyum al-Jowzy wrote in his book that in the 13th
century, at the time of the Tartars, a person came to Cairo seeking
evidence regarding a substance, which was striking the people of the
Muslim world and this substance was called hashish. This person was
looking forevidence from the scholars regarding hashish whether it was
forbidden or not in Islam. The scholars were having a hard time
finding a Qur'anicinjunction regarding this because this substance was
not liquidy or flowing like alcohol. But at the time, Allah put into
theknowledge of Hafiz Zay-nuddin Al-Iraqi, who was present at the
gathering, a hadithand he said, "I have found a hadith which
specifically deals with this issue." Then he mentioned the hadith from
As-Sunnan Abu Dawood, which is one of the most authentic kitabs
preached all around the world. He said, "The Prophet (sallallahu
alaiyhi wa sallam) prohibited people from the usage of intoxicants and
narcotics. Any substance which befogs and intoxicates the mind, the
Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) has stopped us from taking it."
The quality of ishar (intoxicants) is when aperson is drunk, he is out
of his senses. He stutters when he speaks. He doesn't know what he is
saying and his nervoussystem throws up. You know the circumstances of
whena person is drunk. This is the quality of ishar.
But now, what is the quality of iftar? The quality of iftar is
mentioned by the scholars that it is a light-headedness feeling in an
individual. This is the stage that comes before the stage of being in
the state of drunkenness and this stage is very very dangerous and in
the quality of iftar, the ability to think goes away and the normal
state goes away.
So, from this hadith wecan see that drugs and narcotics come into the
category of ishar, which takes a person's consciousness away. The
hadith of Hafiz Zay-nuddin is evident today for us--that drugs are
haram and forbidden and we cannot use them.
We find other ahaadithrelating to this:
"Everything that intoxicates the mind comes into the category of khamr
and everything that comes into the category of khamr is haram."
Fromthis, we can see that drugs fall into this category because it
intoxicates the mind.
Whatever substance intoxicates a person in large amounts, it is also
haram in small amounts. Once HadhratUmar (radiyallahu anhu) was giving
a khutbah and in his khutbah, he was talking on the issue of khamr and
the definition he gave of khamr was: "Khamr is that which befogs the
mind and which coversthe human intelligence."
Allama Ibn Taymiyyah, a great scholar of Islam, stated, regarding this
issue, that a person who takes hashish (drugs) should be given the
same punishment as a person who takes alcohol--40 or 80 lashes. In
fact, he goes to the extent of saying that those people who are
involved in trafficking drugs are committing an act of kufr and he
further says that his janazah should not be performed. He should be
hanged in front of the people. Now, you tell me brothers. There are so
many people involved in the trafficking of drugs. Muslims are playing
a leading role in the consumption of drugs. Muslims are ahead in
supplying and being the pimps of drugs. These people are fooling
themselves as Muslims. This is a disgrace for our religion. Why did
Allama Ibn Taymiyyah say it so severely? Because the consequences to
this matter are high. So up to this point, my brothers, I have already
explained to you what khamr means and what the religious aspects to
this issue are in the light of the Qur'an and hadith. Now I will try
and explain to you whypeople take drugs.
There are many reasons why people take drugs. Broadly speaking, people
take drugs because of stress, worry, anxiety, problems at work,
problems at home, family problems. Thereare targets to meet, but they
can't meet them. There are commitments to fulfill, but they can't
fulfill them. When people areover-worked and they have too many
pressures, they resort to alcohol, a sip of Brandy, a sip of wine, an
injection, a pill, a capsule. Throw that in your mouth and that will
relax you.
Most teenagers take drugs because of peer pressure. Most of them are
introduced to drugs by their friends, but in reality they are their
foes and enemiesin the shape and form of friends. So many youngsters
take drugs because of peer pressure from friends.
Youngsters often say,"We take drugs because we are bored." In other
words,their lives are empty. There is a vacuum in their life. There is
nothing in life to engage them. There is nothing to challenge them and
so out of thisfeeling of boredom, they resort to drugs."Oh, then we
will be stimulated. Now we will be excited. Now we do not have that
boredom anymore."
Drugs are often taken because people do not have confidence in
themselves, because ofloneliness. It is a very strange factor of
society today that a person can live amongst a thousand people and yet
in a heavy population, he isstill lonely. He has neighbors to the
right. He has neighbors to the left. He has family and friends in that
city.He has work colleagues and yet, in that heavy population, he
feels lonely. So people resort to drugs to get rid of loneliness.They
don't have a sense of self-worth.
And youngsters often take drugs because of rebellion. They take drugs
because they want to go against their self-establishment--anything
that goes against authority is worth while doing. It's a challenge,
it's a dare, it's a risk. You are cool if you do these things. And
let's go joy riding because it's illegal in society. There's a risk in
it. Legalize joy riding and they'll say,"I'll think about it."
Legalize that which is illegal and people will have second thoughts of
doing it because youngsters tend to go against rules and regulations.
They do this because they wantother people to look at them. They lack
attention. They lack the love and care of parents. So, in order for
the community to focus their attention towards that person they have
to do things like this. Why?"Because I'm useless. I'm an ordinary
person.Nobody cares about me. Nobody has concern for me. Let me rebel
against society, then, society will be forced to look towards me." All
in all, if I'm to use one term for the reasons people take drugs, not
all the factors that I have mentioned apply here, but generally
speaking, the word here is escapism. Escapism is why people take
drugs. They are creating an artificial world around them, an unreal
world, a world that is more in the mind than in reality. This is make
belief, which are the words of Alice in Wonderland. This is their
Disneyland where nothing is wrong and everything is right, where they
have an over-whelming feelingof peace, contentment, and tranquility.
They make a manufactured world around them to make themselves feel
good, but the problem is, my dear respected brothers, that when the
effect of that alcohol or the effect of that drug wares out and the
hard realities of this world slap themin the face, then the problem
that they face,the depression that they face, the low that they face,
at that moment, it will all be far greater than the problem they
started out with.
Islam is a religion that does not believe in escapism. This is a
religion which believes in realism, about the hard issues, about the
real life. When we have problems, we confront them head on like brave
courageous men, men of spirit, men of heart. We try and come with a
solution for them. Then, all problems would be solved. Islam teaches
its followers about courage. Those who adhere to Islam are taught
patience and if they have all thisin them, then they can overcome
mountains with this inner strength. They can overcome the greatest
problems in their lives.Not only Islam teaches it, not only is it in
the Qur'an, not only is it in hadiththose people who are practicing
Muslims and I'm not talking about the Sahaba (radiyallahu anhum) or
the great pious people many eras ago, but I'm talking about normal
people. I'm talking about every Abdur-Rahman and Abdul Azeez that
exists here--people who perform their compulsory acts (fara'id) and
refrain from haram, normal Muslims who have some sort of appreciation
for religion, who find a spare moment within the 24 hours to sit down
with the Qur'an and recite a few verses, ponder upon them, try and
understand them, try and take an affect fromthe Qur'an and when they
perform their salah, they do so with a bit of concentration and
devotion. They perform their fara'id, refrain from haram and are
satisfied with that, then Allah consolidates and strengthens the
hearts of the Muslims and then he is not dependant on chemical
substances tosupport his life.
When a Muslim reads the verses of the Qur'an, the Qur'an says:
"He, who has trust in Allah, then Allah is sufficient for him."
A person may be in need, then the treasures of the seven heavens and
the seven earths will not be sufficient to fulfill his needs and a
person may be thirsty but the oceans may not quench his thirst, but
ifa person is naked and hungry and he has nothing else but tawakkul,
trust in Allah, then Allah is sufficient for him. Allahsays in the
Qur'an:
"Oh Prophet! Have trust in the Dominant One, in the Powerful one, Who
is in total control of everything, the Compassionate One, the Merciful
One."
If you are in a problem,He will solve it for you. He will not neglect you.Why?
"He is the One Who sees your worship."
He sees you in ruku and sajdah. He is Shakoor, thankful that He will
reward you. Allah sees whatever you do. He's not in the heavens and
you are on the earth. He is not in one room and you are in another
room. When Allah is behind someone, when he hasthe strength and
support of Allah, then what power is there in the world that can
afflict any harm or any danger or any risk to that individual?
Hadhrat Ibn Abbas (radiyallahu anhu) narrated a hadith:"When I was a
child, I was mounted on an animal behind the Prophet (sallallahu
alaiyhi wa sallam). TheProphet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) turned
to me and said, 'Oh, child! Protect the command of Allah, fulfill the
duties you are required from the Qur'an and hadith, then He will
protect and preserve you. Protect the commands of Allah, you will find
him in front of you. When you ask, when you are in need of something,
ask from Allah. And when you need help, then don't run to your bank
manager and don't runtowards your factory, don't turn towards your
colleagues, but when you are in need of help, then ask from Allah.
That is your first source that you turn to.He is the source of our
goodness. And know inyour heart that if the whole of humanity were to
collect and try to benefit you in anyway, then they cannot give you
any sort of benefit, but thatwhich Allah has already decreed and
written for you. And if the whole of humanity wants to harm you in
anyway and they get their plans and conspiracies together, then they
cannot harm you in anyway, but that which Allah has already prescribed
andordained for you.'" Andthe beautiful words of this hadith are
concluded by saying:"The pens have been lifted and the scrolls are
dry."
The reasons I mentioned before for taking drugs was boredom and
loneliness. When a person says, "I'm bored," that is a greatest insult
you can face yourself. A person who is creative and constructive
sitting alone in a room with no instruments, no devices, no video
tapes, no cassette recorders, no books, the room can be completely
empty withnot one companion, but he is in that room alone in his mind
and with his heart he has a greater company than someone who is in a
football stadium with 80,000 fans. That lonely person is in a greater
company because he is in the majesty of his Lord. He is in the glory
of his Lord. This is stimulation, which is not abusive to your body.
So Islam is a fulfilling religion, a satisfying religion. It gives us
morals. It gives us values. It protects us from harm.
I would like to relate toyou a story regarding Maulana Abdul Qadir
Raypuri (rahmatullahi alaiyh). He lived in this century and passed
away in the 1940s. I'm not talking about centuries ago and those eyes
are still present in this world, who have seen this great man. He was
a unique individual, whohad spiritual power. The point I am going to
make with this storyis that Muslims will definitely have problems.
Problems will come, but we haveto contain them, absorb them with this
inner strength, with this Islamic vision, with a clear mind, not a
polluted mind and then live with that and solve that. So it has been
related in the final years of Hadhrat'slife that he was severely ill.
On one occasion it was Isha prayer and Hadhrat had a problem with
istinja, with using the toilet and it was an on-going problem. So he
told some people present with him,"Help me perform wudu quickly, then
we'll pray Isha. I have an urgency to use to toilet." So they helped
him perform wudu quickly and they prayed Isha. After that, he told
them, "Take meto one side." They tookhim and moved away. He sat there
at length, my brothers. The agony of urination wasthere. When the
urgency to urinate wasthere, he could not urinate. Anyone who has this
problem here will understand the difficulty. He sat there at length
and finally hecalled out to his attendants and said,"Take me to one
side. I cannot urinate. I'm having problems." So they lifted him and
took him to one side. As soon as they placed him down, he called out,
"Quickly take me back! I need to urinate." They raised him and sat him
to oneside. At length, he was not able to urinate. He quickly called
out,"Pick me up. I am falling." They ran and picked him up and put him
to one side. This carried on two, three, four, five times. There was
that pain there; the urgency and burning agony, my brothers. This was
a man who was sick. His limbs ached and he was bedridden. When they
lifted him up on one occasion, one of this attendants, who was
relating this incident, said that just as we picked him up, he cried
out, "Oh my Malik (Master)!" The attendant said, "As soon as Hadhrat
said these words, a thoughtentered my heart that Ihave not seen
Hadhrat making even one complaint about anything. He was always
pleased and contented and satisfied with whatever life threw at him.
So the thought entered my heart that what? Is this a complaint after
so many years? I've seen him face so many problems, so many
difficulties and yet, never has he complained and now? As soon as this
thoughtentered my mind, I realized that Hadhrat was not finished with
his sentence yet and then he completed it,"My Master" Imagine, here he
is in this state of agony and suffering and what does he do? He turns
to his Lord and says, "My Malik, the favors and blessings upon me are
so incredible, they are extra ordinary!" These were men. These were
people of hearts. They faced life with courageand they overcame
everything. Their bodies would shake with the love and fear of Allah
and when these people cry, there is no pain in their cries. There's
such a bliss, such a joy, which has to be envied. We cannot compete
with these people. In the lapof luxury, in the chambers of a palace,
on soft cushions, on silk and leather, you are not experiencing the
peace and tranquility that these people were feeling lying on the
grass withthe heavens as their blankets. When they would
say,"Subhannallah!" the peace that they attained in their heartscannot
be competed with us.
Once a letter was being read out loud to Hadhrat Sheikh Zakariyyah
(rahmatullahi alaiyh) and this letter was written by Maulana Abul
Hasan Ali Nadwi and in that letter Sheikh Abul Hasan wasdescribing his
trip to Madina, the sacred city of our Beloved ProphetMuhammad
(sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) and he was describing the emotions that
were playing with his heart as he arrived at the sacred city. He had
poetry and couplets there about the fragrance soil of Madina, etc.
This letter was being read out to Hadhrat Sheikh and a large
congregation was around him. The people who were present there said
that Hadhrat was in an extra ordinary state that day when the letter
was being read to him. "We did not see him in such a state before, "
and then he turned to one of the Kadims and said,"Read them couplets
tome in a tune." At that time, someone stood up and started readingthe
couplets to him. Hadhrat was at an old age and to give him relief,
people were massaging his arms. As those couplets werebeing read to
him, those attendants who were massaging him, said that every inch of
the flesh of Hadhrat Sheikh started shakingand they said, "We can feel
an electric current running through his body." And what was this
electric current? It was the current of love, mohabbat, and affection,
which cannot be experienced in anything. So these were men of courage.
They had stimulation and interest in their lives and they had
satisfactory and fulfilling lives.
Some people may havethis in their head that:"Why is he talking about
drugs and alcohol? We are Muslims after all. We think we are pure
people. Isn't this irrelevant? This does not apply to us. We don't
touch that stuff." My dear respected brothers and sisters, if this is
our belief, if this is our knowledge, thenwe are very naïve people. We
are a very negligent people. Muslims, as far as drugs and alcohol
consumption is concerned, then from Alif to Yaa, A to Z, they are in
the picture from the production to the supply to the consumption of
drugs. They are there. Today we are arguing over petty incidents in
the masjid. Let us open oureyes to the wider world. Open our eyes to
what activities and what crises are engulfing the whole of the Ummah
today. If we do not take care of the next generation, then our next
generation is going down the drains. And then we will be going towards
a very very dark future. We have to remember what Allah wants from us.
Allah has put upon us some external duties and some internal duties.
The external duty is that we pass the message of Islam to other
communities. The internal duty is that we educate ourselves, first of
all, regarding drugs and other issues. Our community is going down the
drains because we are uneducated. We have time to learn other
knowledge, but we do not have time to learn our Islamic knowledge. We
have time to watch the satanic box (TV), we have time to visit pubs
and clubs, we have time to watch videos, but we have no time todiscuss
issues regarding Islam. Make sure you take care of your children
because the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) saidthat every
single one of you is responsible for his flock, meaning his children.
Everyone will be asked about hisor her children. Whoever doesn't
teachhis children the knowledge of Islam, the knowledge that can
differentiate between good and bad, the knowledge that will help him
realize what is truth (haqq) and what is false (baatil), he will
beasked about it on the Day of Qiyaamah. America is the biggest taker
of drugs. There you can find thousandsand thousands of organizations
dealing with drugs, alcohol and related matters. The only way to
combat drugs and alcohol is through the Qur'an and Sunnah. This is our
only solution. There is no other.
I started off with life and now I'll finish withlife. "Live in this
world as though you are a stranger, a wayfarer," the Prophet
(sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) advised. You are not going to live here
forever. You are going to earn money, but whom are you earning it for?
Are you earning it for your own pleasure or looking at your children
or looking towards their education? Remember one thing. You have to
face your Lord one day and you will be asked these questions one day,
the Day of Qiyaamah.
Four questions will definitely be asked about one's life. How did you
spend it? How did you waste it? Where you earned your wealth and
wheredid you spend your wealth? And how did you act upon the knowledge
you had? Once you find out that a certain thing is forbidden in Islam
and you keep on doing it and you do not repent then the Prophet
(sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) said, "I have norelationship with that
person."
I would like to conclude by saying that those people amongst us who
are orwho maybe and I'm not saying anyone is but anyone who maybe
involved in alcohol or some drug abuse, to a greater content or to a
lesser degree, whatever portion or amount, it isharmfully wrong. Can I
address those people and say that what is this petty existence that
you have chosen for yourselves? There are no blessings for you in that
type of life. There are greater tasksfor you in life. You havebeen
selected as an Ummati for a greater purpose. You, as Mu'mins
(believers), are beloved in the eyesof Allah. Your value is
immeasurable. You, as human beings, are the center of the universe.
How long have you become? What gutter have you dived into? Why are you
destroying yourself and why are you abusing your body? Why are you
contaminating and polluting the body, which is the sacred communion
between Adam and Hawwa? Why are you harming and abusing a body about
which our Beloved Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) said,
"Verily, your body has a right over you." It's not your private
possession. This is not something you created. It does not belong to
you. Respect yourself and others will respect you.In short, let us all
get a life.
May Allah take the disease of drugs and alcohol away from our
community. May Allah give us the ability to understand and realizethe
dangers and harmsof drugs and alcohol. May Allah unite us all under
the one banner: La ilaha illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah (sallallahu
alaiyhi wa sallam).
Wa akhirudda' wana anil humdulillahi rabbil alameen.