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Muslims navigate the tension between psychedelics for mental health and Koran teachings

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Many Muslims avoid alcohol because the Quran forbids intoxicating substances, so it might seem that psychedelics would be prohibited as well. The reality is a bit more complicated. In recent years, researchers have studied psychedelics' ability to treat mental health conditions, and two states have legalized psychedelics such as psilocybin mushrooms. Now, some Muslims are trying to figure out if there's a place for these substances within Islamic life. Deena Prichep takes us inside the debate.

DEENA PRICHEP, BYLINE: Several years ago, Sughra Ahmed stepped into a room and laid down on a couch. There was soft lighting, and classical music played in the background. And then she took a dose of psilocybin, and it blew her mind.

SUGHRA AHMED: I felt like so many veils had been lifted, and I was able to come and meet myself in ways that I would have found impossible without that support.

PRICHEP: At the time, Ahmed was the associate dean for religious life at Stanford University and was recruited for a clinical trial of religious leaders through Johns Hopkins and New York universities.

AHMED: In the Quran, God talks about the fact that God is closer to you than your jugular vein.

PRICHEP: Ahmed says, because of trauma, because of the everyday trappings of life, it can be hard to really open yourself up to that divine presence. But with psychedelics, she did.

AHMED: Understanding the enormity of what it means to be created and therefore living with purpose and living with meaning.

KAMAL ABU-SHAMSIEH: When it comes to psychedelics, Muslims look at the first filter, which is, is it allowed in Islam, or is it prohibited? Well, we need to widen the discussion.

PRICHEP: Kamal Abu-Shamsieh directs the chaplaincy program at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union and teaches a class on chaplaincy and psychedelics. He says, to see things simply as permitted or not - halal or haram - is to miss the larger point.

ABU-SHAMSIEH: We don't discuss heart transplants by going to the Islamic center, saying, can I do this? We look at the medical records. We look at the suitability of this for this person - and the same thing with psychedelics.

PRICHEP: But, of course, psychedelics are not a heart transplant. These are substances with a documented spiritual component. Mystical experiences are widely reported and are often sought out. But Abu-Shamsieh says that can also be an ethical consideration.

ABU-SHAMSIEH: Having a mystical experience that will give you purpose in life and meaning in life and connect you with yourself, connect you with others, connect you with nature, connect you with the divine, with God, is one of the main purposes of Islam.

YASIR QADHI: Connection with God can be achieved without the use of drugs. And, may I add, perhaps you will have a more noble and a more perfect connection with God in such a manner. And perhaps what you think is a connection of God when you're high is not actually a connection with God.

PRICHEP: Yasir Qadhi is chair of the Fiqh Council of North America, which issues religious rulings, or fatwas.

QADHI: Technically, psychedelics don't fall under the exact same category as alcohol.

PRICHEP: The Fiqh Council has not yet issued a fatwa on psychedelics, and Qadhi suspects it would likely be similar to the ruling on marijuana - prohibited as an intoxicant but allowed as medicine under some circumstances. But while Qadhi is skeptical of psychedelics' medical benefits, many see promise and a real need. Fayzan Rab is a medical student and researcher at Emory University's Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality.

FAYZAN RAB: U.S Muslims have twice the rate of attempting suicide as the next religious minority group, including atheists and agnostics.

PRICHEP: That's according to an article in a leading medical journal. Rab is currently gathering data from Muslims who have used psychedelics for a new study.

RAB: Perhaps what's been most profound to me is that, instead of maybe it taking them away from being Muslim, people actually defined a new relationship to Islam.

PRICHEP: But it can be hard for Muslims to find support in that new relationship. Many in the world of psychedelics - scientists running clinical trials, facilitators who support legal usage - don't know that much about Muslim practice. Sughra Ahmed says she was the only Muslim in her study, and she wonders, what if, instead of the classical-heavy playlist, she had been allowed to listen to one of her favorite Sufi tracks?

AHMED: I'm curious about what it is that I had to leave behind because I felt the people in the room and the clinical trial sort of setup just wasn't geared around. So, for example, protocols designed by Muslims, for Muslims - I'm curious. What would that look like? What would that include?

PRICHEP: In addition to bringing awareness of Islam to the world of psychedelics, Ahmed wants to bring awareness of psychedelics to the world of Islam. She talks openly and gathers monthly with other Muslims who've also used psychedelics to help unfold and integrate these experiences with people who speak the same spiritual language.

AHMED: I mean, I will never be the same person again. I just know in my heart of hearts that I was forever changed - and for the better.

PRICHEP: Islam is the second-largest faith community in the world, and psychedelic research and the push for legalization are moving forward. Whether Muslims will see this as an outlawed substance, medical healing or mystical revelation remains an open question. The discussion is just getting started. For NPR News, I'm Deena Prichep. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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Deena Prichep