🌿 Hashish: Intoxication, Law, and the Ethic of Reason

🌿 Hashish: Intoxication, Law, and the Ethic of Reason

Epigraph (Reading Time: 4 minutes) 

“Believers! This liquor, and gambling, and stone altars and divining arrows are all filthy handiworks of Satan. So, avoid them that you may succeed.  Satan only seeks to stir up enmity and malice among you by getting you involved in liquor and gambling, and to keep you from the remembrance of God and from prayer. Then will you abstain from [these things?  Abstain from them] and obey God and His Messenger and continue to abstain [from disobedience]. But if you turn away [from this guidance of Ours], then be informed that the only responsibility of Our Messenger is clear communication” – Qur’an (5:90-92)

It is evident from common sense that the real reason for the prohibition of liquor is the inebriation which it causes. For this reason, everything that intoxicates will similarly stand prohibited, and a small quantity of it shall also be prohibited as a large quantity on the principle of forbidding things that may lead to grave evils.

The question of whether hashish (or cannabis) is allowed is often discussed today in the language of medicine, culture, or recreation. Yet the moral framework approaches it differently — not merely through legality or custom, but through the ethics of reason and intoxication.

 ⚖️ The Principle Behind the Prohibition

 The Prophet (peace be upon him) declared that “Every intoxicant is khamr, and every khamr is forbidden.” (Sahih Muslim, 2003)

 The underlying wisdom is not the drink, the leaf, or the chemical itself — it is the effect that clouds human reason. The Qur’an repeatedly reminds us that the human mind (‘aql) is a trust (amānah) from God, the very faculty through which moral and spiritual understanding arise. Anything that diminishes or disables this faculty, even temporarily, violates that trust.

 Hence, if a substance has the capacity to alter consciousness or impair judgement, whether in small or large amounts, it falls under the same rule as wine.

 🌀 “A Little Won’t Hurt” — The Modern Rationalization

 Many people argue: “I only use a small amount; it doesn’t make me lose control.”

 But this reasoning misses the ethical principle. Once a substance has the potential to intoxicate or produce euphoria, it can lead a person toward a state of indulgence. The pleasure itself — that shift of consciousness — becomes a subtle intoxication, guiding one’s will away from clarity and restraint.

 The reasoning is similar to the example:

 “I can drive safely on the wrong side of the road; no accident will happen.”

 The law is not crafted for exceptional individuals who claim self-control. It is made for the universal human tendency to guard against what the majority may fall into.

 💭 The Spiritual View

 In Islam, halāl and harām are not arbitrary boundaries; they are moral fences built around the sanctity of the human mind and soul. The prohibition of intoxicants is not meant to suppress joy, but to protect inner freedom — the very ability to think, discern, and worship consciously.

 Hashish, in its essence, shares the same potential for euphoria and disconnection from reason as wine or other intoxicants. Even if its medical use may be discussed under legitimate prescriptions, its recreational use cannot be justified within this ethical frame.

 🌙 Conclusion

 The permissibility of hashish cannot be established by the absence of visible harm or loss of control. It must be judged by the principle of potential intoxication — and by that standard, it remains impermissible.

 The moral law aims not to regulate pleasure but to preserve clarity. For once the mind — the seat of reason and faith — becomes dimmed, the human being loses what makes him truly human.

Aamir Yazdani
MPhil Islamic Thought & Civilization UMT, Pakistan
MSc Irrigation Engineering UK