Hi Nada, did you ever find help for your son?

Assalaamu’alaykum,

My husband whom I love has an addition to drinking and smoking. I agree with the statements you made concerning the will of an individual. All we can do for them is pray, there are time I just want to give up, but I think about when I was out there 26 years ago ALLAH did not give up on me , as well as I did not give up on myself. There is a statement in the AA and NA rooms , and that statement is they just haven’t hit rock bottom yet. I pray that all who is going through this terrible disease, MAY ALLAH GIVE THEM STRENGTH, AND THE WILL TO OVER COME IT. Please keep my husband Ibrahhim in pray. Amin

Jazakullah Khair for addressing this very real problem which Muslims are in no way immune to. I am a therapist who works with addiction in one of the nation’s largest behavioral health hospitals. A few tips to keep in mind:

1.) Understand that addiction is a disease which affects not only the individual but the entire family system. When seeking treatment, look for a treatment approach which works to help the family along with the person struggling with addiction.

2.) Pointing fingers and harshly criticizing the person will not do any good and can often do more harm than good.

3.) Understand that addiction is complex and is impacted by a persons environment, ability to manage emotion, life events, and chemical and biological factors among other factors.

4.) After a certain point it is no longer a matter of will power. We call this chemical dependency. This is where a person will need a higher level of care beyond a supportive environment or talking to an imam. Some people may require medication (ex. opioid antagonists like naltraxone) along with therapy.

5.) For certain drugs and depending on the amount it is dangerous for the person to try and stop (detox) on their own. This could result in the person becoming seriously ill or even dying.

Salaam. “Weaker in faith.” Perhaps (Allah swt knows best) this may be a key. To be blunt, many Muslims, especially those in the west immersed all their lives in non-Islamic societies, are weak in faith. Maybe they were born to nominally Muslim parents but never really had any strong Muslim upbringing and support. Maybe they came to Islam in maturity and were totally sincere but were weak to begin with and did not receive any real nurturance in the faith.

In either case, being swamped in a non-Islamic environment, whether they were not well formed to begin with or already had problems when they came to Islam, they develop or continue to have struggles in circumstances in which many adulate the “strong” and look down on the “weak.” What would Prophet Muhammad (saws) have done toward such individuals who have grown up in a society so different from that of the Companions? I will not presume to say.

However, it is easy for some today to look back at the circumstances of the Companions and treat those who are suffering today as if this were fourteen centuries ago in a far, far different society. They may be quick to blame but slow to help compassionately. How many real programs are there in how many places to help Muslims suffering from substance abuse problems, however they came to have them?

I find myself wondering how many of the early Muslims might have struggled with the same. Obviously the ones who were able to quit immediately are famous. But given the Prophet’s problems with hypocrites and the Muslims who were weaker in faith, surely he would have had to counsel at least some with substance abuse too, given the centrality of alcohol in the culture of the time.