Paradise in Our Homes - II

Episode 8

Drugs 1

In the name of Allah[1], the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.  Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad (SAWS)[2]

This episode is a very important one, it focuses on an issue which poses a massive threat to all our families, and it is indeed killing our youth and turning their lives into bitterness, misery and regrets.  

This episode is about ten million of the Arab youth, ten million victims of addiction! And we are obviously failing in protecting our youth from falling into this deadly trap.  There must be a disturbance in our society. However, I do not intend to talk today about the society and how we need an organization and a system to encourage our youth to be productive, to have a goal and to reinforce faith to help the youth return to the right track.  All these are, indeed, issues of grave importance. 

Nevertheless, we are not addressing the ten million addicts, in fact we are addressing those who haven’t yet surrendered to the temptations of addiction.  Today I wish to address the healthy youth and their families, to raise the awareness among them and to make them fully realize the pains of being a drug addict.  

Allah has created the universe in a certain harmonious way; everything is in balance and in reasonable measure.  He created man such that his mood is normally stable and moderate, he feels content and satisfied yet within certain limits.  There are cells in the brain which are responsible for ecstasy and pleasure.  The maximum pleasure we can usually reach is about 60%, 100% is not attainable by natural means and if we do reach it by other means it becomes addictive and this is exactly how drugs work!

One’s mood can swing between broadly three states: moderate contentment such as that after a nice outing or gathering, ecstasy such as that experienced on one’s wedding day for instance and finally sadness which one may experience after the death of a close one and so forth.   Our mood varies depending on different circumstances but essentially Allah created us to generally feel stable and moderately content.  The Prophet (SAWS) advises us to exercise self-control and usually maintain a reasonable mood and to avoid the extremes.

The Prophet (SAWS) was heard to have said that the ways of a believer are strange, for there is good in every affair of his and this is not the case with anyone else except in the case of a believer for if he has an occasion to feel delight he thanks [Allah], thus there is good for him in it, and if he gets into trouble and shows resignation and submission to Allah (and endures it patiently), there is also good for him in it.[3]  The Prophet (SAWS) encourages us to always remember death, which helps when one’s pleasure and ecstasy exceeds the reasonable limits, in an attempt to return to the stable mood.  Also when one is in a bad mood, he should remember death, and this also elevates his mood.

However, Satan hates to see Allah’s Creation enjoying the peace of a stable mood; he exerts himself to prove that man does not deserve the degree Allah has put him in.   “….. indeed I will definitely sit (i.e., in ambush) for them (on) Your straight Path. Thereafter indeed I will definitely come up to them from before them (Literally: between their hands) and from behind them, and from their right (hands), and from their left (hands); and You will not find most of them thankful.” (TMQ[4], 7:16-17).  Satan yearns to divert mankind away from the right and to the road of their destruction; he wants to deceive mankind into the traps of immoralities.

The appeal of drugs arises from how they can elevate one’s mood in an abnormal and unreal way to a degree of ecstasy which is nothing but an illusion that ends one in pain and remorse. Usually the story starts that way: a young man in a party with his corrupted friends who persuade him to give the drug a try.  Where is the father?!  Where are the parents? They are distant, actually not here for their son, to embrace him and always give him the advice and guidance.  This was the day when he took the first drug dose; only a small dose that elevated his mood from the stable state to a higher state of ecstasy.  He is still not an addict, yet he has discovered that he can change his mood instantaneously without exerting any effort, just by taking this drug dose – how tempting!

He enjoyed a false sense of happiness after taking the shot or the pill, and when he woke up next morning he feels normal, as if nothing has happened and wondered why people claim that drugs destroy one’s health.  And that’s when he starts lying to himself that this is his first and last dose or that even if he takes the drug again he is in control.  This is nothing more than a false sense of control and an illusion.  Chances are 99% he will take the drug again and again.  I understand that the sense of curiosity in youth is strong indeed, and that we all want to experiment with new things, but not drugs! You will gain nothing but catastrophic consequences and endless regrets.

Anyways back to our story, after trying the drug for the first time he wonders if he can reach even a state of greater ecstasy if he increases the dose and so he does and starts to realize that different doses can adjust his mood differently. He still feels in control though – it is all an illusion. This is usually the second stage.

This is the stage when it is easier to give up the drugs; he can still give up now at this stage, because he is still maintaining his senses and some control. Yet after a while he reaches the end of the second stage and the beginning of stage three when he wakes up in the morning with a headache. And this is when the pain begins. Now he does not want the drug for ecstasy, but rather to ease the pain. This is the stage of addiction.

As time goes by, he realizes that he cannot return to his normal state of mind and health.  At this dangerous stage (third stage) it becomes more difficult for the family to rescue their son. This is quite the severe stage when the young man realizes he is losing his strength and is falling apart.  He has ruined the normal balance Allah has created him in and now cannot retain once more no matter what he tries to do.

Alcohol is similar to drugs.  It is just another temptation to divert our youth and abuse their strong sense of curiosity to experiment with different things.  Allah says what can be translated as “O you who have believed, surely wine and games of chance, and altars (for idols) and divining (i.e., divination by arrows or in any other way) are only an abomination of Ash-Shaytan’s (The all-vicious, the Devil) doing, so avoid it, that possibly you would prosper. Surely Ash-Shaytan’s (The all-vicious, the Devil) would only (like) to excite enmity and abhorrence among you by means of wine and games of chance, (Literally: in wine and games of chance) and to bar you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer. Will you then be refraining?” (TMQ, 5:90-91)

At this point the young man is literally a handicapped, emotionally and mentally. Can you feel the triumph of Satan, as he is telling Allah “….and indeed I will definitely command them (and) so indeed they will definitely change the creation of Allah” (TMQ, 4:119).

At this point the family discovers usually that their son is an addict, and he starts to undergo serious psychological problems such as hallucinations and illusions and his  sense of guilt is one of them. His parents are too shocked and fail to understand that he is actually sick. Now the young man needs the drug to help him with his psychological problems and not even the pain anymore. Do you notice how he gradually falls into the trap? It was once for ecstasy and now it is for his psychological pain!

This is the true story of a young man in his early 20’s, a strong well-built and well-bred man who has gone through the experience of addiction, he has recovered now though. He let the addiction take him to the last painful stages where he needs the drug to alleviate his pain and he used to resort to the drug dealers in certain desert roads. One day he went and he had no money to buy the drug and he begged for it but the drug dealer wouldn’t give it and he tried to get it by his force and muscles but he got hit by one of the dealers. Any person with dignity in such case would have left the place after being severely humiliated. Yet, he returned begging for the drug! Three girls saw him so desperate, and sympathized with him, they collected the money needed and gave it to the dealer to give him the drug.

At this moment he felt so humiliated and devastated. He stopped a taxi, who has been buying drugs as well. While in the taxi, the police stopped them.  He begged the policeman to arrest him and put him in jail, so that he won’t be able to take the drugs again.  He had reached a level of desperation beyond measure. The policeman pitied him and refused to arrest him in and made him promise to quit the drugs.

Yasser narrates his story by himself:

Allah has chosen me to deliver a message to the addicts and their families; the addict does not need a punishment but a helping hand to help him out of his addiction. We should not add to his misery and pain.  

Allah says what can be translated as “And is he who was deceased, then We gave him life and made for him a light to walk by among mankind, as one whose likeness is in the darkness (es), (and) he is not coming out of them? Thus whatever the disbelievers were doing was adorned (i.e., made attractive) for them.” (TMQ, 6:122). This verse clearly explains my situation. I was a dead man, when the next drug dose becomes the most valuable thing in one’s life, when one becomes helpless, without dreams and without ambition, and without a purpose in life then he is indeed a dead man with no family or values or anything to adhere to.  My family played a major role in me taking drugs and a more important role in helping me rehabilitate. My father died when I was so young, I needed the father’s heart which knows when to be firm and strict and when to be supportive and tender.  I started to take drugs at a very young age. I lived in a whirlpool of lies, always convincing myself that I am in control, that there is no way I will become an addict, that I am a decent and well-bred man but in reality I started giving up my morals gradually. When my family knew that I was an addict, their passive reaction hurt me the most, they treated me like a symbol of failure and I had become an outcast by my family and the society.

I had fallen in an abyss of addiction, people kept giving me advice but no one actually lent me a helping hand to grab me out of my misery.  Everyday I used to tell myself that tomorrow I won’t take drugs again, and yet I couldn’t.  At last I asked for my mother’s help and she did not hesitate to help me.  She helped me start my rehabilitation. One day, the doctor responsible told me that she respects me and my determination to fight the addiction, and these words had a magical effect on me! It was a very long time ago that I had heard a word of encouragement and when I heard it, it truly did help me.

Now I am helping other addicts to recover.  I have experienced the pains of addicts and I have even studied how to deal carefully with drug addicts in a professional and well-rounded way so that I may help them recover like I did.

Final word of advice to all our youth: Never try the drugs.  Armor yourself with faith, it is indeed the protector of youth and what keeps us from straying away from the right path.

And to all the addicts: there is always hope.

[1] The word Allah is the Arabic term for God. Although the use of the word "Allah" is most often associated with Islam, it is not used exclusively by Muslims; Arab Christians and Arabic-speaking Jews also use it to refer to the One God. The Arabic word expresses the unique characteristics of the One God more precisely than the English term. Whereas the word "Allah" has no plural form in Arabic, the English form does. Allah is the God worshipped by all Prophets, from Adam to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad

[2] SAWS= Salla Allah alayhe Wa Salam [All Prayers and Peace of Allah be upon him]

[3] Sahih Muslim, Book 41, Number 7138

[4] TMQ=Translation of the Meaning of the Qur'an.  This translation is for the realized meaning, so far, of the stated (Surah:Ayah) of the Qur'an.  Reading the translated meaning of the Qur'an can never replace reading it in Arabic, the language in which it was revealed.

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