hashish and drink it, that too would be forbidden. Our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent with words concise in expression yet comprehensive in meaning. Whenever he made a comprehensive statement, it applied generally to everything encompassed by its wording and meaning, whether or not those particular things existed in his time or place.

Thus, when he said:

“Every intoxicant is forbidden,”

this included the wine made from dates and other ingredients in Medina, as well as the wine made from wheat, barley, honey, and other ingredients in Yemen. It also included intoxicating drinks that appeared after his time, such as those made from mares’ milk by the Turks and others like them. No scholar distinguished between intoxicants made from mares’ milk and those made from wheat and barley, even though one existed in his time and was known to him, while the other was unknown to him, since no one in Arabia made wine from mares’ milk.

As for this “hashish,” the earliest reports that have reached us place its appearance among Muslims in the late sixth and early seventh centuries AH, when Tatar rule emerged. Its appearance coincided with the rise of the sword of “Genghis Khan.” When people openly committed the sins that Allah and His Messenger had forbidden them, Allah gave their enemy power over them. This accursed hashish was among the gravest evils. In some respects it is worse than intoxicating drink, while intoxicating drink is worse than it in another respect. Besides intoxicating those who eat it until they become stupefied, it causes effeminacy and indifference to sexual misconduct within one’s household. It corrupts the bodily constitution, making a grown man like a saftaja, causes excessive eating, and brings on insanity. Many people have become insane through eating it.