Is cannabis halal at the start of Eid?

Millions flock to Mecca, where the heat is around 110 degrees at the peak of the day. The Hajj is an event of the faithful and a dream for many, despite the temperatures and crowds. The crowd avoids alcohol at all costs. The Qur’an specifically forbids drinking, and one reliable hadith even forbids indirect association with alcohol. The true believers cannot associate with someone who drinks, even if it is a family member or a close associate at work.

But what about cannabis and its healing powers?

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It is believed that the Koran forbids alcohol because it is harmful to health, can lead to addiction and is disruptive to society. Some countries, like Saudi Arabia, ban alcohol entirely. There, drinking can be punished with flogging, fines, imprisonment and, for foreigners, deportation

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A tobacco fatwa (an Islamic proclamation of law) prohibits tobacco use by Muslims. Arab Muslims tend to ban smoking. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia ranks 23rd in the world for smoking population. Over 16% of all Egyptians smoke (led by men with 33%). And in South Asia, smoking tends to be legal but discouraged.

The Koran does not prohibit cannabis directly. There is controversy among Muslim scholars about cannabis as some saw it as analogous to khamr (intoxicant/alcoholic beverage) and therefore considered it to be haraam (forbidden). However, other scientists consider cannabis to be halal (permissible). In 2020, Lebanon will become the first, and so far only, country in the Middle East to legal cannabis, with medical marijuana at it.

In a widely accepted report (Hadith-e-Hil) it is said: “You are permitted everything.” [halal lak] until you learn it’s forbidden.” Thus, among most Muslim scholars, cannabis is not outright forbidden.

Photo by Flickr user Anton Raath

In 2018, the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), an advisory body composed of Islamic jurists and medical advisors, stated that while the use of intoxicating substances is prohibited by Islamic law, medicinal cannabis is permitted for Muslims under the following conditions: Non-psychoactive cannabis preparations are permitted for the treatment of diseases for which the therapeutic effects of cannabis are safe, and psychoactive preparations are permitted in exceptional cases of urgent need.

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A wise traveler would neither consume nor transport nor consume in austere countries.

Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice. The sacred custom coincides with the final rites of the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia. Eid al-Adha commemorates the Qur’anic story about Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God.