How ‘hashish’ crept into the Arab world

All around the world people have been smoking marijuana for thousands of years, during that time hemp was used to produce ropes clothes and shoes and it is still used in the present day. Today cannabis smokers have not got the faintest idea where marijuana came from, let alone the chemical substance that is in cannabis. However if you were to ask the average person where marijuana came from, they will answer from the earth or the Caribbean. And they would be right since it grows from the earth and the Rastafarians a contemporary religious sect in Jamaica that uses cannabis as a sacred thing to communicate to God (Jah). But that is not the case nevertheless, It might be believed that the first cannabis originated in the Middle East known as hashish, which means ‘grass’ however hashish was mainly originated and used in northern India, Iran and China. In Indian traditions Buddhist state that Buddha lived on one hemp seed a day. Which enabled him to reach Enlightenment. The Chinese call cannabis the ‘delight giver’ or the ‘liberator of sin.’ During that period hashish was not known to Arabs It was not adopted into their customs until the 2nd century after the death of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) which spread like wild fire in the Muslim world especially in Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, it even crossed to Turkey, Iraq and so forth. Before hashish Arabs were into their alcohol just prior to the coming of Islam. In the 11th century only Sufi Persian monks who secluded them selves away from society and got acquainted with hashish and used it as a spiritual transition to reach high above or some might say mystical consciousness. The Sufis of today in Egypt still inhale the hashish like never before with their poetry. Whenever hashish or assassin is mentioned you can’t help to smile as the word assassin derives from hashish which takes you back to the story of The first Sufi who stumbled on hashes was by the name of Hassan ibn-al-Sabbah who lived up in the mountain in Alamut with his disciples known as Hashashins to their enemies. Hashashins, who they ravaged and killed and plotted war against other authorities, under the influence of hashish. Hassan who seduced his disciples to kill for him and promised them they will enter paradise. As Hassan was known to have a vast garden by this he would drug his disciples and leave them waking up in the garden with delights which only a king could have and a poor beggar would dream of. However, Hassan died in the year of 1124.CE, where he told his disciples to shower cannabis seed on his grave. Remarkable indeed for the history books. 

When Arabs started using hashish scholars from the Muslim world gathered and gave a ruling and prohibited that hashish, cannabis is a form of intoxication. Famous scholars from the past till the present day took rulings from the Quran and the saying of the prophet .He Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was once asked about certain drinks made from honey, corn, or barley by the process of fermenting them until they became alcoholic. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) concisely replied, "Every intoxicant is Khamr, and every Khamr is haram."
So by this scholars of today and the past gave ruling to abstain from any type of drugs as Ibn Taymiyyah who said ‘this solid grass (hashish) is haram, whether or not it produces intoxication. ‘Sinful people smoke it because they find it produces rapture and delight, an effect similar to drunkenness’.  Today Morocco is one of the pioneers in exportation producing or cultivating marijuana into Europe, United Nation and CIA suggest that 30,000 pounds of hashish is produced annually. As well as Afghanistan a Muslim country, it is also known for its vast amount of opium, heroin and hashish exportation into Europe. Just as hashish, cigarettes smokers are prevalent in the Muslim world; it is looked at as permissible well in fact it is not. Some might argue that it’s not intoxicant it just gives or leaves a bad odour in the mouth and it does not afflict with Islam. In addition more Muslim scholars issued a fatwa (ruling) in deeming cigarettes as haram (unlawful) due to its harm that it causes to the body. As the sharia law sees life and health comes first and anything that causes you in being harmed mentally and physically is (unlawful). Statistics shows that 6million Saudis are cigarette smokers, 600,000 women and teenage girls are counted in. In recent statistic it is documented in the world drug report that Saudis are accounted for ‘28% of all global amphetamine seizures in 2006’
 
A survey was taken by 213 students from Shiraz university in Iran, were surveyed about their outlook towards drugs, heroin, alcohol, opium and cigarettes a total of 52% of student smoked cigarettes just prior to their exam while 12% tried cannabis. Cigarettes and hashish has been integrated as part of the Arab culture.  Governments in the Arab world have become lax and permissive in vast amount of Muslims consumption and production of hashish. Most Low class citizen in the Muslim world tend to smoke hashish for escapism due to the troubled reality that surrounds them. In addition one cannot escape the rapture of drugs, as it has become the integral part of society from the far side of Eastern hemisphere to the far side of the western hemisphere. As both are reviewing how to melt down drugs in enforcing legalisations to eliminate drugs.