How is addiction understood in Islam?

In this video, Dr Ali explains how addiction is understood in Islam, using verses from the Quran and classical Islamic sources and the writing of the Muslim Sufi mystic Jalaluddin al-Rumi (popularly known as Rumi, see Ali 2017).

Addiction tethers the human spirit and body to earthly concerns, preventing the spirit from returning to God. From this perspective, addiction can be seen as sinful, or as a punishment, because it challenges the core of Muslim identity by negatively affecting a person’s relationship with God.

Modern Muslim scholars have developed an alternative conceptualisation of addiction, based around whether the person who is living with addiction has autonomy. Whilst certain acts, such as recreational drug use or gambling are sinful, once a person becomes addicted and is unable to exercise self-control, they should be treated with compassion because they have lost their autonomy. Therefore, they require support from both specialist services and the Muslim community.

In this video at 01:45 Dr Ali says: “God breathed his spirit into Adam”. The quotation from the Qur’an referred to reads:

So when I have fashioned him and had a spirit of My Own ˹creation˺ breathed into him, fall down in prostration to him.” (Qur’an 15:29)

Indeed, We created man from sounding clay moulded from black mud. (Qur’an 15:26)

Over to you

How does the Islamic conceptualisation of addiction, as explained by Dr Ali in this video, relate to your own understanding? Are there any contradictions or similarities?

Share your response below and, if possible, include your professional background so that other learners can appreciate how there may be different approaches from practitioners of various backgrounds.