Would It Be Permissible to Buy the Stock of a Medical Marijuana Company?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas
Question: Assalam aleykum
Would it be permissible to buy the stock of a medical marijuana company? A company owned and operated by non-Muslims.
Answer: assalamu alaykum
A major, if not the major, consideration in determining the permissibility or impermissibility of buying stock in such a company returns to the ruling of using marijuana as medicine.
Although scholars have stated that using marijuana in non-medical contexts is not permitted, many of them have also stated that it would be permitted to consume it when there is a genuine medical need where marijuana is proven to be effective and safe. [Note: There are a number of details and differences surrounding the details of such medical consumption, which are beyond the scope of the current answer]
Further, certain medical companies deal in marijuana products that are non-psychoactive even at high doses. These would be clearly permissible to sell and purchase.
As such, given the permissible usage of marijuana in medicinal contexts, it would technically be permitted to invest in a medical marijuana company. Here, an individual should do his due diligence to ensure that such a company is in fact strictly and exclusively for medical purposes in a responsible manner. Even in this context, it may be best to avoid investing in such a company given some of the doubts surrounding the issue.
[al-Nawawi, al-Rawda (1:381); al-Zarkashi, Zahr al-`Arish (pp. 9); Ibn Abidin, Hashiya (6:67, 10:46-52)]
For further details regarding investments see:
Conditions for Investment in Shares
Investing in Stocks and Working as a Stock Broker
[Ustadh] Salman Younas
Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir.
Photo: Laurie Avocado
