# How do Modern Muslims generally view Marijuana and AltCannabinoids? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464 "2023-05-02T13:36:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/1 "2023-05-02T13:36:34Z")
From Wiki: " **The Quran does not directly forbid cannabis**. There is a controversy among Muslim scholars about cannabis as some deemed it, by analogy (qiyas), to be similar to khamr (intoxicants/alcoholic drink) and therefore believed it to be haraam (forbidden). However, some scholars consider cannabis to be halal (permissible)." It then goes on to describe what various religious thinkers hundreds of years ago thought. Great. What about in the modern world and for believers likely to move to Midwestern America? Minnesota is about to legalize weed and I am curious as to what effect it will have on the Twin Cities’ substantial Muslim population (many Somali, but some from other various parts of the Middle East, Central Asia or North Africa.) To keep this in ‘Factual Questions’ I am looking for a general nebulous answer from a genuine Muslim or at least someone with an acquaintance of that faith. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/2 "2023-05-02T13:40:26Z")
It may depend if they are using it as an intoxicant or for a genuine medical need. It’s probably more analogous to opiates. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/3 "2023-05-02T13:52:51Z")
You might be right. And hey, whatever they tell themselves. I have no doubt a grandmother in Utah is right now taking the Devil’s Cabbage only for her Glaucoma, not to get loose like those degenerate Hippies. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/4 "2023-05-02T15:37:15Z")
Most Muslims I’ve known view cannabis, and drugs in general, as at least _makruh_ (disapproved), or reasoning by analogy as you suggested, as _haram_ (forbidden). I’ve never heard anyone saying it was _mubah_ (permitted) although I’m sure there are some. Actually, tobacco is also considered in the same way, although it’s more tolerated. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/5 "2023-05-03T22:19:12Z")
On the other hand, they accept the commonest mind-altering drug in the world: Caffiene ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/6 "2023-05-03T22:28:54Z")
yeah but isn’t hashish and kif common in the middle east ?.. i remember certain places being referenced as tourist spots in the ME back in tre 70s/80s because you could smoke all you want as it was legal or pretty close to being legal there Of course, it could have been like an “only the tourist or foreigners” thing like drinking in Dubai and other places is ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/7 "2023-05-03T22:39:59Z")
I’m Jewish and I eat bacon. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/8 "2023-05-03T22:52:09Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I’m Jewish and I eat bacon 😱 I’m telling God (Source: I’m Jewish, secular, but do not eat pork) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/9 "2023-05-04T02:26:02Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I’m Jewish and I eat bacon. I had no idea bacon was a Schedule 1 substance. And you’re not Muslim. Do you know a Muslim that could help with my question? ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/10 "2023-05-04T02:40:07Z")
> [@Moonrise](#): > > Most Muslims I’ve known view cannabis, and drugs in general, as at least _makruh_ (disapproved), or reasoning by analogy as you suggested, as _haram_ (forbidden). I’ve never heard anyone saying it was _mubah_ (permitted) although I’m sure there are some. > > Actually, tobacco is also considered in the same way, although it’s more tolerated. Having spent 22 years living and working in two of the most geopolitically significant majority Muslim countries in the world, Egypt and Indonesia, I pretty much agree with this. However, I would add that a lot of the Indonesian mentality seemed to be wrapped up in a terrified awareness of the draconian drug laws, rather than any feelings of devoutness. Also, Indonesians smoke like crazy, so I would say they are pretty tobacco-tolerate. They are supposed to not smoke as part of their Ramadan fasting, however. (Finally, I’d like to go on record as saying that @hajario’s post about eating bacon seemed entirely relevant to the thread, despite Sitnam’s response. I believe his point was, in response to @nightshadea’s speculation that the hashish consumption in the ME might be limited to foreigners because of religious attitudes toward the locals, that just because people adhere to a particular religion doesn’t mean they follow all the religious prescriptions perfectly. A Muslim might tell you they think Islam forbids marijuana; that alone doesn’t tell you for certain whether they ever indulge. Same as someone Jewish could eat bacon.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/11 "2023-05-04T03:02:34Z")
A friend of a friend (according to the friend) is a Muslim who doesn’t drink because of his religion, but does smoke cannabis. They lived in Israel, which does not have draconian drug laws. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/12 "2023-05-04T03:39:25Z")
I had a buddy years ago who was deployed overseas during the Iraq War, I think mainly in Kuwait. He told me hashish was readily available even though alcohol was not. It’s a second hand anecdote fuzzed by a couple decades, but it’s all I got. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/13 "2023-05-04T04:00:12Z")
Yeah, that’s consistent with my story. Old, second hand, and hashish was fine. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-modern-muslims-generally-view-marijuana-and-altcannabinoids/983464/14 "2023-05-05T09:06:24Z")
Not Muslim, but grew up amongst Muslims and have Muslim family. All I know treat it as _haram_, even the ones who do drink alcohol and smoke tobacco.