In recent years, a contentious debate has emerged regarding how society should address drugs such as marijuana. Should they be legalized and accepted? What are the harms or benefits associated with these drugs? Interestingly, similar questions were raised in medieval Egypt.
It had nicknames names like “shrub of emotion”, “shrub of understanding”, “peace of mind”, “branches of bliss” and “thought morsel” However, in the medieval Arabic world, cannabis was commonly known as “The Herb”. It was used to produce the hallucinogenic drug hashish, which could be found in wide use in places such as late medieval Egypt.
Few historians have examined illicit drug use in the Middle Ages, but one of the most important works is Franz Rosenthal’s book The Herb: Hashish versus Medieval Muslim Society. Published in 1971, the book focuses on Egypt from the 13th and 15th centuries, where it examines how the drug was viewed by medieval society, both positively and negatively.
For centuries, it has been recognized that cannabis possesses the potential to induce hallucinogenic effects, a fact documented in ancient sources across Eurasia. Various accounts suggest its introduction to the Arab world, with some chroniclers attributing it to the Nizari Ismailis, an Islamic sect known as the Hashishin, while others claim it was spread by Sufi mystics. Regardless of its origins, cannabis cultivation thrived in Egypt by the 13th century, with the plant openly sold in markets. The processing of cannabis into hashish involved several methods: the leaves could be baked into a paste, formed into pills, or dried, toasted, and combined with sugar and sesame to create a consumable food that could be chewed.
Pro-Hashish views
Similar to contemporary marijuana users, medieval Egyptians who consumed hashish remarked on its effects, noting feelings of euphoria, increased appetite, and mild lethargy. Some individuals even reported enhanced enjoyment of music while under the influence of the drug. Al-Ukbari, a seemingly pro-Hashish writer from the 13th century, described its effects like this:
Only intelligent and well-to-do people use hashish. When taking it, a person should consume only the lightest of foods and the noblest of sweets. He should sit in the most pleasant of places and bring around the most distinguished of friends. In the end, he will go on and be concerned with thinking about sweet and food and assume all this is reality whereas in fact, he is asleep.
One can find many positive references to hashish among the poets and writers of that day. For example, this account noted:
By its subtlety, it clothes the dull person with frivolous wit so that he becomes smart and a good companion, in contrast to wine which is nasty in its effects and causes fear of being unexpectedly caught by authorities.
Anti-hashish views
At the same time, one could find many others who condemned its use, like this poem:
Say to those who eat hashish in ignorance:
You live the worst life imaginable when you eat it.
The worth of a man is a jewel. Why then,
You fools, do you sell it for a bit of grass.
While medieval physicians knew about the health benefits of cannabis – it was used as a diuretic for instance – they often also warned people about the bad effects of hashish. A 14th-century Egyptian, az-Zarkashi, gives a complete list of all the problems the drug caused:
It destroys the mind, cuts short the reproductive capacity, produces elephantiasis, passes on leprosy, attracts disease, produces tremulousness, makes the mouth smell foul, dries up the semen, causes the hair of the eyebrows to fall out, burns the blood, causes cavities in the teeth, brings forth the hidden disease, harms the intestines, makes the limbs inactive, causes a shortage of breath, generates strong illusions, diminishes the powers of the soul, reduces modesty, makes the complexion yellow, blackens the teeth, riddles the liver with holes, inflames the stomach, and leaves in its wake a bad odor in the mouth as well as a film and diminished vision in the eye and increased pensiveness in the imagination. It belongs to blameworthy characteristics of hashish that it generates in those who eat it laziness and sluggishness. It turns a lion into a beetle and makes a proud man humble and a healthy man sick. If he eats, he cannot get enough. If he is spoken to, he does not listen. It makes the well-spoken person dumb, and the sound person stupid. It takes away every manly virtue and puts an end to youthful prowess. Furthermore, it destroys the mind, stunts all natural talent, and blunts the sharpness of the mental endowment.
During this period, Muslim scholars engaged in extensive debate regarding the legality of hashish, with sharply differing viewpoints. Some argued that its intoxicating effects akin to wine rendered it impermissible, while others contended that since neither the Qur’an nor the early sayings of Prophet Muhammad explicitly prohibited its use, it should not be deemed unlawful. The discourse extended to diverse scenarios, including whether a man could request a divorce from his wife while under the influence (affirmative) and whether administering it to animals was permissible (negative, unless done with the intention of enhancing their appetite for fattening purposes).
Drug Use and the law in medieval Egypt
The views of Mamluk sultans and local officials in Egypt regarding the permissibility of hashish fluctuated over time. While some adopted strict stances, with certain sultans advocating for severe penalties such as the death penalty or dental extraction for possession, others displayed leniency. For instance, during a plague outbreak in 1419, a local market inspector merely restricted the open sale of hashish, suggesting tacit approval if consumed within private premises.
Those advocating for restrictions on hashish faced an uphill battle. By the 15th century, the drug became increasingly available and widely consumed, often at public baths or private gatherings. Consequently, a subset of society, often associated with the lower classes, emerged as addicts, congregating at specific locations to satisfy their cravings.
The historian al-Maqrizi, noting how widely hashish was being used in the early part of the 15th century, complained that this was ruining society:
Character and morals became overwhelmingly vile, the veil of bashfulness and shame was lifted, people used foul language, boasted of faults, lost all nobility and virtue, and adopted every possible ugly character quality and vice. Were it not for their human shape, nobody would think them human. Were it not for their sense perception, nobody would adjudge them living beings.
However, the words of another medieval poet shed light on what the ordinary person may have thought about the drug:
I said to the man occupied with hashish:
Woe unto you! Do you not fear this grain?
People are dying of a plague that has appeared.
He replied: Let me live eating this lump.
Robert C. Clarke and Mark D. Merlin, Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany (University of California Press, 2013)
Franz Rosenthal, The Herb: Hashish verus Medieval Muslim Society (Brill, 1971)
Top Image: The Cannabis plant illustrated in a medieval manuscript – Wikimedia Commons
