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Between Stars and Scholars: Cannabis in the Middle East

🌿 Between Stars and Scholars: Cannabis in the Middle East

If China gave cannabis its first rope, and India gave it sacred smoke, the Middle East gave it science. Here, cannabis entered the worlds of astronomy, philosophy, and medicine — places where knowledge itself was sacred.


Cannabis in the Middle East


Persia: The Seeds of Hashish

In ancient Persia, hemp was cultivated for fiber and seeds, but it also became known for its psychoactive properties. By the early Islamic era, hashish — concentrated cannabis resin — appeared in texts and poetry. The Sufis, Islamic mystics, sometimes used it in their search for divine union, seeing it as a way to break free from worldly distractions.

“Cannabis is the key to joy, opening the locks of the spirit.” — Sufi saying

The Golden Age of Islamic Medicine

During the Islamic Golden Age (8th–13th centuries), scholars preserved and expanded medical knowledge from Greece, India, and beyond. Cannabis made its way into medical texts for treating inflammation, pain, and epilepsy. Physicians like Avicenna (Ibn Sina) mentioned cannabis in his Canon of Medicine, a work that shaped medical thinking for centuries.

In these writings, cannabis wasn’t demonized — it was studied, catalogued, and prescribed with precision. Knowledge was power, and plants were seen as allies in the quest for healing.

The Hashish Controversy

Not everyone approved. By the 13th century, hashish spread widely across the Middle East. Some rulers condemned it, linking it to idleness and rebellion. The word “assassin” is even (controversially) tied to hashishin, a secretive group allegedly using hashish before missions — though modern historians debate this.

This dual identity — medicine on one side, outlaw recreation on the other — set the stage for the plant’s complicated reputation across centuries.

Reflection: Knowledge, Faith, and Fear

  • What happens when a sacred plant becomes tied to rebellion and fear?
  • How did a medicine catalogued by Avicenna turn into a symbol of sin in later eras?
  • And can the Middle East, birthplace of so much science and spirituality, embrace cannabis again today?

In the Middle East, cannabis walked a thin line — between scholar and outlaw, saint and sinner. Its history here reminds us that fear and faith often shape law more than truth does.


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