# Are psychedelics haram in Islam?

*Psychedelics are not haram: entheogens, not intoxicants, and the politics of the word drugs*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7skyphqzdy8/s/1/
- Date: 2020-10-17 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Psychedelics are NOT haram | Mufti Abu Layth (0:00–4:28)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SkyPhQZdY8&t=0s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7skyphqzdy8/

**Topics:** Psychedelics; Spiritual experience and psychedelics

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Psychedelics are not haram because they are not intoxicants like alcohol but entheogens that connect a person with God. Mufti Abu Layth says the political label of drugs wrongly lumps them with substances of abuse.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that psychedelics are not haram because they are not intoxicants in the way alcohol is but entheogens that connect a person with God and expand consciousness.

**Evidence, his words at 0:39:** “that they're not haram. They are not an intoxicant. Okay? They do not intoxicate the brain in the way alcohol does or anything like that.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SkyPhQZdY8&t=39s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says people have asked him for the Islamic understanding of psychedelics and states that they are not haram. He explains that they are not intoxicants and do not intoxicate the brain the way alcohol does; those who know them call them entheogens, things that connect a person with God, a window into another realm, rather than hallucinogens. He shows an image of the brain on psychoactive substances to illustrate a neural connectivity he says cannot otherwise be reached. The problem, he says, is that politicians have branched all of this under drugs, a term with connotations of abuse and crime that makes people switch off, whereas these are worlds apart. He calls it insane that in 2020 grown adults risk jail for consuming particular plants or mushrooms active with psilocybin, when a legacy of human civilisation has spoken for thousands of years about the wonder of how they connect humanity and expand consciousness.

## Sources and names cited

- haram
- entheogen
- psilocybin

## Transcript (machine tier, 0:00–4:28)

[0:00] people right I wanted to speak um about psychedelics. Now this is something that [snorts] you know people have I have spoken about it in the past couple of people have asked me that look MUI uh what is the Islamic understanding on psychedelics uh Sauron you're doing it with the super chat much love right now psychedelics are not haram okay I now I When I say that, people will feel that,

[0:39] you know, what on earth how how can you say that? Um, that they're not haram. They are not an intoxicant. Okay? They do not intoxicate the brain in the way alcohol does or anything like that. They are what people, true people who know what they are, will refer to as enthogens.

[1:05] These are not hallucinogens. They're not I mean they are hallucinogens but really they are enthogens things that connect you with God. Right? They are a window into another realm. Now there have been a lot of studies, incredible amount of studies done on these um and I'll just share with you as an example.

[1:33] This is a just to give you an idea. This is a picture of the brain uh when it is on psychoactive uh kind of uh substances. You can see look the way the brain is it comes alive and the connections it makes.

[1:56] It is incredible that that it is virtually impossible to reach that kind of neural connectivity uh in the brain. You could not I mean you just could not do that without um you know accessing these kind of windows. And I feel that there's a you see there's a problem and that is that we you see in this day and age we're so influenced I'm just trying to bring up here um

[2:33] is this it right now right so we've been so influenced by what we're told by the current politicians So people will say look because they branched this all under this is all branched under drugs. So people will say drugs. Now drugs is a very negative thing.

[2:59] You know, it has a very horrible connotation to it because it's to do with abuse and it's to do with crime and it's to do with so people switch off when they hear the term drugs. And that's because obviously drugs is a horrible term. But these just because the politicians have put it with them does not mean that's what they are in that sense. These are worlds apart. It really is incredibly insane that in the 20th century in 2020 we are saying grown adults cannot consume particular plants or particular

[3:37] you know natural products like let's say mushrooms um that are you know active with psilocybin. They can't consume that without, you know, potentially risking jail or a criminal violation. This doesn't make any sense, right? Just because, you know, certain politicians don't feel it's the case.

[4:03] But there is a legacy of human civilization that for thousands of years has really spoken about this about the the the kind of wonder that this does. It opens how it connects humanity and and I want to give you a parallel that you see because these things what they do is they expand your consciousness.

[4:27] Like imagine you're on dialup the old dialup for the internet. These things will put you on broadband fiber optic kind of [laughter] receptivity of consciousness and I think this is an a suitable example. This is the electromagnetic spectrum people. Now this is light as as it comes you know the electromagnetic uh wave what it brings with it.

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 7SkyPhQZdY8/s/1. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7skyphqzdy8/s/1/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.