Police in Istanbul, Turkey recently made an interesting raid.

“They smashed their way into the home of the man newspapers have nicknamed “the junkie teacher” - Esrarc Hoca - a self-styled imam who interspersed his lessons on Islamic philosophy with some strong tokes on a lit joint and encouraged the young followers sitting around his living room to do likewise. He extolled the virtues of cannabis and said no one could make him stop - smoking was his duty to God.”

A joint-smoking imam might sound like a Danish cartoon character to some, but is his behavior really inconsistent with the teachings of Islam?

The reporter who took us inside Temple 420 is back with some insight into the land of hash and hookahs in his post Muslims and marijuana:

Generally in orthodox Islam, conservative scholars deem cannabis an intoxicant and therefore, according to the Hadith, it is classified as haram (as is coffee). The Hadith is the book of sayings of the Prophet Mohammed, which states: “If much intoxicates, then even a little is haram.” There are dissenting voices, however, who say that the word used in the Koran itself is khamr - which means “fermented grape” - and that this classification doesn’t cover use of marijuana. Liberal Muslims believe that opposition to cannabis on religious grounds in Islamic countries has in essence been based on narrow-minded dogma that seeks to regulate all private pleasure in the name of religion.

Certainly some Islamic countries are closely associated with dope smoking and cultivation (Afghanistan, Lebanon, Indonesia, Egypt and Morocco, for example) but its use is often for recreational purposes and largely takes place among the lower classes. In Turkey, while cannabis use is not tolerated by the police or state, there is a smoking culture and a well-known saying, helal ottur, gunah yoktur (”it’s a holy weed that carries no sin”).

The thought of a devout Muslim toking up may be at-odds with the modern perspective on the teachings of Islam, but that perspective has evolved over time.

Just as Americans have forgotten the importance of hemp to the Founding Fathers, so too have modern Muslims discounted the value of hemp in their cultural history.

In 1894, Joseph Campbell published this account of cannabis use among Islamic ascetics.

A Word from the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission

“To forbid or even seriously to restrict the use of so gracious an herb as hemp would cause widespread suffering and annoyance and to large bands of worshipped ascetics, deep-seated anger. It would rob the people of a solace in discomfort, of a cure in sickness, of a guardian whose gracious protection saves them from the attacks of evil influences, and whose mightly power makes the devotee of the Victorious, overcoming the demons of hunger and thirst, of panic, fear, of the glamour of Maya or matter, and of madness, able in rest to brood on the Eternal, till the Eternal,possessing him body and soul, frees him from the haunting of self and receives him into the Ocean of Being. These beliefs the Musalman devotee shares to the full. Like his Hindu brother, the Musalman fakir reveres bhang as the lengthener of life, the freer from the bonds of self. Bhang brings union with the Divine spirit. “We drank bhang and the mystery I am he grew plain. So grand a result, so tiny a sin.”

“In his devotion to bhang, with reverence, not with the worship, which is due to Allah alone, the North Indian Mussulman joins hynming to the praise of bhang. To the follower of the later religion of Islam the holy spirit in bhang is not the spirit of the Almighty, it is the spirit of the great prophet Khizr, or Elijah. That bhang should be sacred to Khizr is natural; Khizr is the patron saint of water. Still more, Khizr means green, the revered color of the cooling water of bhang. So the Urdu poet sings, “When I quaff fresh bhang I liken its color to the fresh light down of thy youthful beard.” The prophet Khizr, the green prophet, cries, “May the drink be pleasing to thee.” Nasir, the great North Indian Urdu poet, is loud in praises o his beloved Sabzi, ‘the Green One.’

Compared with bhang spirits are naught. Leave all things thou fool, drink bhang.

From its quickening the imagination, Mussulman poets honor bhang with the title Waraq al-Khayal, ‘Fancy’s Leaf.’ And the Makhazan or great Arab-Greek drug book records many other fond names for the drug. Bhang is the Joy-Giver, the Sky-Flier, the Heavenly-Guide, the Poor Man’s Heaven, the Soother of Grief.”

J.M. Campbell
Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report, 1893-1894

Sources:
Asia Times
The God Blog