Anthropology

Iranian religious authority considers psychedelic medicines Halāl

In mid-March 2014, Sayyed Mohammad Sadeq Hussaini Rohani, who is a Grand Ayatollah (meaning the highest authority on Shi’ite Islam—basically, the equivalent of the Pope), announced that entheogenic drugs are permissible (ḥalāl) for Muslims under traditional Islamic law. That means, that so long as psychedelics are taken under the observation of a trained specialist, it’s not sinful or forbidden (haram).

Shia Muslims made up approximately 10 to 13 percent of Muslims globally in 2009, totaling between 154 and 200 million people, mostly living in four countries: India, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan. This potentially impacts a lot of people and could have far-reaching consequences concerning the acceptance of using substances like ayahuasca, for example, in therapeutic settings. The details of this decision were first unpacked in a 2014 interview between Reality Sandwich and N. Wahid Azal, an esoteric Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic. Azal spent over a year and a half corresponding with a scholarly friend, who began a dialogue concerning psychedelic medicine with the “orthodox Shi’i ecclesiastical establishment,” as Azal puts it. He provided a massive trove of carefully translated scientific and academic citations, including many from MAPS, but also numerous religious and spiritual texts.

Original Article (Psychedelic Times):
Iranian religious authority considers psychedelic medicines Halāl
Artwork Fair Use: Mardetanha

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