Answer
Answer:
As-Salamu ‘Alaikum dear brother,
Thank you for writing to us with your question. May Allah (swt) bless you for compassion and concern for your friend. As you stated at the end of your question, your friend is not a practicing Muslim. While I am not an Islam scholar, it would be my opinion that this is the root of his problem.
Another issue which now arises is if he is marrying a practicing Muslim girl, does she and her family know he is a non-practicing Muslim? If not, this would cause problems way beyond his cannabis smoking, which is bad enough. However, if he is not practicing at all, and his future wife and family believe he is, he would be marrying her on the premise of a lie.
Aboutislam scholar states regarding this, “in order for the committed Muslims, men and women, to be on the safe side when it comes to choosing a person to marry, they should look for spouses who will suit them in their way of life, commitment and behavior. It is further recommendable that a committed person looks for a spouse who will resemble him/her in the way of thinking and attitudes towards life. This will save them from conflict in opinion which may put their marital life at risk. This, in fact, is an acceptable criterion that goes in line with the pure human nature, day-to-day life, and the teachings of Qur’an.”
As you can see, there is sound reason for practicing Muslims to marry practicing spouses. I would suggest dear brother that your first step would be to discuss with your friend his commitment to practicing Islam. If he intends to practice Islam, he should in sha ‘Allah be open to discussion and welcome the help you may offer to him, getting back on the right path. If he doesn’t, he should be advised to let his fiancée know he is not practicing so there will be no dire consequences if they do marry.
Getting back to your original question regarding his smoking cannabis, Al-‘Allaamah Ibn Hajar al-Haythami said in al-Fataawa al-Fiqhiyyah (4/233), speaking of hasheeh (which we can reference to cannabis as well) “The evidence for its being forbidden is the report narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad and by Abu Dawood in his Sunan with a saheeh isnaad from Umm Salamah (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade all kinds of intoxicants and relaxants.” So, as we know, smoking cannabis is haram. However, this leads us back to the root of the problem -your friend is not a practicing Muslim, therefore, haram means nothing to him at this point. In sha’ Allah, should he decide to begin practicing and seek repentance and forgiveness from Allah (SWT), then perhaps he would stop smoking cannabis.
In regards to your thinking he is not addicted; he may very well be addicted. There are many signs of addiction which include: needing more of the substance to get the same effect (building tolerance); spending most of the time getting high, going through symptoms of withdraw when stopping; smoking cannabis despite known consequences; getting high to relax and one cannot relax without it.
Based on what you have said about his smoking (it’s affecting his relationships with his family; he smokes several times a day; you have talked to him about quitting with no success; he states he thinks about quitting but hasn’t), it appears that he does, indeed, have an addiction; however, a substance abuse counselor would need to make that evaluation.
I would suggest that you first inquire about his intentions to practice Islam, and if he intends to, I would assist him with that by encouraging him to go to the masjid with him and provide him with Islamic social activities which will up-build him.
You stated that you have mutual friends whom he gets the cannabis from. They may have to go if you are serious about helping him both Islamically as well as with his possible addiction. If he does plan to begin practicing Islam, he may need professional help stopping his cannabis addiction. Again, if he is serious about Islam, his life and his future with his fiancée, he should not resist your attempts to help. If he does not plan to be a practicing Muslim, he should be advised to tell his future wife. If he refuses and you are close to his family, perhaps they can help as I am sure they would not want to endure the backlash of a falsity.
May Allah (swt) bless you for your concern brother, and please let us know how things turn out.
Salam,
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