BENEFIT 405: Drug dealing
2 April 2025 • 1.21K views
This is a question from a brother in America: Is the sale of drugs, hashish, and other substances that impair the mind prohibited? Please provide evidence.
Sheikh Najeeb Ash-Shar’abi ḥafidhahullāh answered:
Hashish, drugs, and all substances that impair the mind are categorically prohibited by explicit textual evidence and scholarly consensus.
As for textual evidence, Allāh Almighty states:
{يا أيها الذين آمنوا إنما الخمر والميسر والأنصاب والأزلام رجس من عمل الشيطان فاجتنبوه لعلكم تفلحون}
"O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allāh], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Shayṭān, so avoid it that you may be successful." [Al-Mā'idah: 90]
Intoxicants encompass all substances that impair the mind, including hashish and drugs. This is supported by the saying of the Prophet ﷺ:
«كل مسكر حرام»
"Every intoxicant is prohibited." [Agreed upon, from the narration of Abū Mūsā, may Allāh be pleased with him]
He ﷺ also said:
«والخمر ما خامر العقل»
"Intoxicants are those that cloud the mind." [Agreed upon, from the narration of Ibn ’Umar, may Allāh be pleased with them]
And he further stated:
«كل مسكر خمر، وكل مسكر حرام»
"Every intoxicant is Khamr, and every intoxicant is prohibited." [Narrated by Muslim, no. 2003, from the narration of Ibn Umar, may Allāh be pleased with them]
Since hashish and drugs cloud and impair the mind, they fall under the aforementioned textual prohibitions.
Al-Hafidh Ibn Ḥajar (may Allāh have mercy on him) stated in Fatḥ Al-Bāri (vol. 10, p. 45):
واستُدل بمطلق قوله: ((كل مسكر حرام)) على تحريم ما يسكر، ولو لم يكن شرابًا، فيدخل في ذلك الحشيشة وغيرها، وقد جزم النووي وغيره بأنها مسكرة.
"The generality of the Prophet's statement, 'Every intoxicant is prohibited,' serves as evidence for the prohibition of any substance that intoxicates, even if it is not a liquid. This includes hashish and other similar substances. Imam An-Nawawi and others have explicitly affirmed that hashish is intoxicating."
He further stated:
تحدث بالمشاهدة ما يحدث الخمر من الطرب والنشوة، والمداومة عليها والانهماك فيها.
"Experientially, it produces the same effects as alcohol, such as euphoria and ecstasy, especially when consumed regularly and excessively."
Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allāh have mercy on him) mentioned in Majmu' Al-Fatawa (vol. 34, p. 211):
وكل ما يغيب العقل فإنه حرام، وإن لم تحصل به نشوة ولا طرب، فإن تغييب العقل حرام بإجماع المسلمين.
"Any substance that causes mental impairment is prohibited, even if it does not produce euphoria or exhilaration, for the impairment of the mind is forbidden by the consensus of the Muslim scholars."
Regarding hashish, he said:
وأما المحققون من الفقهاء فعلموا أنها مسكرة، وإنما يتناولها الفجار؛ لما فيها من النشوة والطرب، فهي تجامع الشراب المسكر في ذلك، والخمر توجب الحركة والخصومة، وهذه توجب الفتور واللذة، وفيها مع ذلك من فساد المزاج والعقل، وفتح باب الشهوة، وما توجبه من الدياثة؛ مما يجعلها من شر الشراب المسكر، وإنما حدثت في الناس بحدوث التتار.
"The elite Jurists concluded that it is indeed intoxicating. Only the immoral consume it due to the euphoria and pleasure it induces, making it akin to alcoholic beverages. While alcohol leads to agitation and disputes, hashish results in lethargy and pleasure. Moreover, it corrupts temperament and intellect, incites excessive desires, and promotes shamelessness, making it among the worst forms of intoxicants. Its spread among people coincided with the emergence of the Mongols."
He further emphasised (vol. 28, p. 340):
وبكل حال فهي داخلة فيما حرمه الله ورسوله من الخمر والمسكر لفظًا أو معنى.
"In every respect, hashish falls under what Allāh and His Messenger have prohibited in terms of intoxicants, whether in wording or meaning."
Some scholars have explicitly stated that hashish and narcotics are even worse than alcohol.