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regarded as falling under this prohibition.



'Abdu'l-Baha has written:





As to opium, it is foul and accursed. God protect us from the

punishment He inflicteth on the user. According to the explicit

Text of the Most Holy Book, it is forbidden, and its use is

utterly condemned. Reason showeth that smoking opium is a kind of

insanity, and experience attesteth that the user is completely cut

off from the human kingdom. May God protect all against the

perpetration of an act so hideous as this, an act which layeth in

ruins the very foundation of what it is to be human, and which

causeth the user to be dispossessed for ever and ever. For opium

fasteneth on the soul so that the user's conscience dieth, his

mind is blotted away, his perceptions are eroded. It turneth the

living into the dead. It quencheth the natural heat. No greater

harm can be conceived than that which opium inflicteth. Fortunate

are they who never even speak the name of it; then think how

wretched is the user.



O ye lovers of God! In this, the cycle of Almighty God, violence

and force, constraint and oppression, are one and all condemned.

It is, however, mandatory that the use of opium be prevented by

any means whatsoever, that perchance the human race may be

delivered from this most powerful of plagues. And otherwise, woe

and misery to whoso falleth short of his duty to his Lord.





In one of His Tablets 'Abdu'l-Baha has stated concerning opium: the user,

the buyer and the seller are all deprived of the bounty and grace of God.



In yet another Tablet, 'Abdu'l-Baha has written:





Regarding hashish you have pointed out that some Persians have

become habituated to its use. Gracious God! This is the worst of

all intoxicants, and its prohibition is explicitly revealed. Its

use causeth the disintegration of thought and the complete torpor

of the soul. How could anyone seek the fruit of the infernal tree,

and by partaking of it, be led to exemplify the qualities of a

monster? How could one use this forbidden drug, and thus deprive

himself of the blessings of the All-Merciful? Alcohol consumeth

the mind and causeth man to commit acts of absurdity, but this

opium, this foul fruit of the infernal tree, and this wicked

hashish extinguish the mind, freeze the spirit, petrify the soul,

waste the body and leave man frustrated and lost.





It should be noted that the above prohibition against taking certain

classes of drugs does not forbid their use when prescribed by qualified

physicians as part of a medical treatment.