Some people say, “Like henbane, it alters the mind but does not intoxicate.” This is not so. Rather, it produces euphoria, pleasure, and exhilaration like wine, and this is what prompts people to consume it. A little leads to more, just as with intoxicating drink. Those accustomed to it find it harder to give up than wine. Its harm is therefore greater than that of wine in certain respects.

For this reason, the jurists have said that consuming it incurs the prescribed punishment, just as drinking wine does. They differed over its “ritual impurity,” with three views within the school of Ahmad and other schools. Some held that it is impure; others held that it is not. A third view holds that its moist form is impure like wine, whereas its dry form is not. The correct view is that ritual impurity applies to all its forms, just as it applies to wine in both solid and liquid form.

Anyone intoxicated by an intoxicating drink or intoxicating hashish may not approach the mosque until he becomes sober, and his prayer is not valid until he knows what he is saying. In either case, he must wash his mouth, hands, and clothes. Prayer remains an individual obligation, but unless he repents, his prayers are not accepted for forty days, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever drinks wine will have no prayer accepted from him for forty days. If he repents, Allah will accept his repentance. If he returns to drinking it, no prayer will be accepted from him for forty days. If he repents, Allah will accept his repentance. If he returns to drinking it again, it will be incumbent upon Allah to make him drink from the mire of corruption.” He was asked, “What is the mire of corruption?” He replied, “The discharge of the people of the Fire—or the sweat of the people of the Fire.”

As for someone’s claim that no verse or hadith addresses this substance, that stems from his ignorance. The Quran and hadith contain comprehensive statements that constitute general principles and universal propositions, encompassing everything that