Smoking Marijuana and the Importance of Keeping Good Company

Answered by Sidi Faraz A. Khan

Question: If i don’t myself smoke the weed but sit or socialize around people that smoke weed, do i get the same punishment as them and if so does that mean that for 4o days Allah does not accept my salah, ramadhan or any other act of worship that i do?  Is it permissible to give dawah to my friends while they are under the influence of the drug or while they are smoking it?

Answer: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

I pray this finds you in the best of health and faith. I apologize for the delay in answering your question.

Smoking Marijuana

Smoking marijuana is unlawful in Islam due to its mind-altering effects, the foremost of which is its distracting one from the remembrance of Allah and the prayer. [Nahlawi, Hadhr wal-Ibaha]

With respect to details on the issue of one’s prayer not being accepted for 40 days due to consuming intoxicants or the like, please see the following answer: https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/ans-blog/2010/09/01/drinking-alcohol-are-my-prayers-not-valid-for-40-days/

If one does not directly consume the intoxicant [or in the case of your question, smoke marijuana], then the reports regarding prayers not being accepted would not seem to apply to him since those reports deal with those who actually consume the intoxicant.

However, one should still not be around such people as sitting with them while they do the unlawful would be sinful. Moreover, it would be incumbent upon him to forbid that evil – if your friend is around them while they are smoking weed, he would have to tell them to stop or else leave their company. If they don’t listen to his advice, he should not sit with them again when they partake of the unlawful.

Keeping Good Company

Your friend should not think that by “giving da’wah” the harm of bad company can be alleviated, but rather find company that will elevate his own spiritual state. This is one of the most central and crucial foundational principles in one’s relationship with Allah Most High – it cannot be taken lightly whatsoever, and it cannot be emphasized enough.

Allah Most High commands us to seek the best of company as He says, “O you who believe! Fear Allah and be with the sincere and truthful.” [9:119]

Our Beloved Messenger [peace and blessings be upon him] reinforced this Divine injunction when he advised his community, “A person is on the religion of his close friend, so let him carefully examine who he befriends.” [Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud]

He [peace and blessings be upon him] also said, “Do not keep company except with a [true] believer, and let not anyone eat your food except one who is godfearing.” [Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud]

As the common English idiom goes, “Birds of a feather flock together,” and this is especially true when it comes to spiritual matters. Your friend should spend time with believers that are strong-willed and of good character, people who remind him of Allah Most High. Our Prophet [peace and blessings upon him] described such people when he said, “Indeed some people are keys to the remembrance of Allah; when they are seen, Allah is remembered.” [Tabarani, Kabir]

Many times we cannot even perceive how we benefit from the people of Allah’s remembrance, yet there is no doubt a profound and potent effect of keeping their company. The same applies to the harm of sitting with bad company – it is often slow, gradual, and hence unnoticed. Our Beloved Messenger [peace and blessings be upon him] alluded to this with a beautiful metaphor when he said, “The example of a good companion and a bad companion is like a carrier of musk and one who blows the bellows of a blacksmith. The carrier of musk either gives it to you, or you buy some from him, or at the very least you smell its sweet fragrance. The one who blows the bellows of a blacksmith either burns your clothes, or you get from him a foul stench.” [Bukhari, Muslim]

May Allah Most High provide us with friends who carry the sweetest musk of this world – the remembrance of Allah Most High.

And Allah alone gives success.

wassalam
Faraz A. Khan

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani