Yasir Qadhi – The Evolving Fatwas on Coffee

			I love white chocolate mocha. And when I went to Mecca a month and a half ago, I made sure I had my
mocha every single day. But do you know that if I had drank a mocha in Makkah 500 years ago, I would
have actually been jailed, taken in front of a judge punished and then whipped and lashed for the
crime of drinking a mocha in Mecca.
		

			I kid you not. But before I get to the Mocha and mocha
		

			Do you know that even the word coffee it actually comes from the Arabic AHA you all know kahawa And
the English word coffee comes from the Latin word and the Arabic ca who are most likely it comes
from a province or land in Ethiopia called Kapha. And it was in this area where people first roasted
beans that we now call coffee beans or coffee plants and some Yemeni traders Yemeni where are the
Yemenis? Yeah, my name is represent Masha Allah. Yes indeed Yemenis Masha Allah, Allah He I would
have been proud to be a Yemeni, because our Prophet says and praise the people of Yemen and hikma to
Yemen in what a man who Yamani,
		

			some Yemeni traitors, they went to Ethiopia. And this is around the ninth Islamic century, the 13 or
1112, the Gregorian century, and they brought back these beans, and they call them beans from Kapha.
So haha, so coffee. And eventually they started growing these beans in Yemen. And it became so
popular, they had to export the beans to other lands. And the city of export was a very famous city.
It's still a very famous export city called El Moo ha. And the beans from Al Musa. And the
preparation for Al mukha became MOCA.
		

			And slowly but surely coffee spread to other Arab lands and eventually made its way to
		

			Europe through venison, especially Italy, and it started spreading throughout European lands. And
therefore coffee has always been associated with the Arabs and in particular with the Yemenis in
early pre modernity, 17 1819 century, and if you were to find any coffee bean canister or can that
was sold here in America, in the 19th and early 20th century, you would always find a picture of
some weird dressed Arab, sometimes a scantily dressed Arab lady, you know, the veil and belly button
open, you know, that type of type stuff they have. You know, back in the 19th century, coffee was
associated with Arabs. And to this day, the most prized beans are called Arabica beans. Because it
		

			was the Arabs it was the Muslims who made coffee basically so popular, but it wasn't always popular.
It was during the 1500s when power was spread to Ottoman lands, and the scholars there began even
debating and drinking it. Eventually it's made its way to Makkah and Medina. And it is mentioned in
our books of history that on the 23rd of Robbie oh well. 917 Hijra corresponding to around March of
1511 CE, coffee had already spread to Mecca, and a scholar was doing to offer on the caliber, and he
saw a group of young men drinking something suspicious and having a good time in the corner of the
harem, and he came up to them and they immediately shut out the lantern and they hit whatever they
		

			were drinking. So he challenged them what is this? And they finally confessed that they were
drinking Kava. So he had them arrested. And he brought them in front of a trial, a group of pounds.
I'm not making this up. But somebody were looking at me as if no, I'm not making this up, guys. This
is exactly true. Okay. And he brought them in front of a group of a ruler map. And he brought forth
the humble is the Shaffir is the Malik is the Hanafis because in those days to get a new photo, they
would bring all of the old out of the various metalhead and there was a debate in 917 Ah, there was
a debate that lasted for the better part of the day, some say even two days where they went back and
		

			forth debating whether Pa was halal or haram and they brought forth witnesses they brought forth
expert testimony from doctors and from people who had confessed to drinking it. And it appears that
eventually the old Mr. Decided that ca was an intoxicant.
		

			Ca what was a musket? And therefore they gave a fatwa that it was haram to drink and salsa, and that
anybody who was caught drinking kava should be lashed and beaten because he's drinking a musket. And
in fact, some beatings were carried out and eventually in 950 H corresponding to 1544 C
		

			ie the earth money, assault on the earth Manny Khalifa. He actually ratified this decree and he made
it the official state position that Aqua is a musket, it is haram. And then the fatwas began to
pour, literally pour that saying that bajawa was an impermissible drink. And we have so many fatawa
in that era, and I remember we're talking about 901,000 1100 hijra, so you're not going to find Ibn
Taymiyyah. Talking about bahawa you're not going to find a Ibn hedgehog, you're not going to find
it. This is like after 950 hijra, which is around 1200 1250 C. And so we have shareholders who have
assumed Bharti there's a fatwa he made that was he was asked that Chef, what do you say about this
		

			new drink called Aqua that is known to change people's temperaments. And it is associated with much
evil and it is associated with backbiting and bad company. And it is typically accompanied by lazy
men gambling away. That's what a hoe is associated with lazy men doing nothing except wasting their
time gambling and you know, you know, wasting their days with dice and whatnot. So what is your
position about now by the way, even when you read the question, you already see where the chef's
gonna go with this, right? So the chef gave a harsh fatwa saying that it is absolutely haram and
that all coffee houses, cafes, all caffeine, coffee houses should be shut down, and that anybody who
		

			was discovered drinking kava, or operating a coffee house should be jailed and lashed. And therefore
for the next few months, in Cairo, this is in Cairo. This is not in Mecca now. Right. And this is,
by the way, the pre NIJ, the Wahhabi, whatever take over. This isn't as we talk about 1000 ce This
isn't some hardcore fanatic fundamentalist movement. Somebody might say no, these are the mainstream
scholars. This was her position about Cunha. And so in Cairo, a number of people were jailed for
drinking coffee and with 10 Lash for the punishment of a musket. And at the time, the bulk of the
Maliki and Shafi scholars agreed with this fatwa because they they viewed kava as being a musket,
		

			and in fact, a very famous scholarship shamsudeen or Katan, who was from Medina. He said, Oh Hua and
hashish are the same thing.
		

			Called hula and hashish are the same. Another very famous scholar, Mohammed muda ze zany, who died
in the 10th Islamic century 16th Gregorian century he wrote a treatise and entire booklet against
fatwa and shareholder Islam. Others salute affendi and Sheikh Hasina babassu There's a very famous
author. Most people have knowledge know him, he actually wrote a very famous treatise about pa Hua
and other people also wrote books about it. rissalah camel kahawa There is a book there. Also it is
said that Gilardino sutra it is said it is alleged that the famous asuci wrote a book and its data
or software theta sphere till bajawa. And some scholars even said, Oh isn't just haram, Gaza is a
		

			bit.
		

			Now where do they get this from? Well, the fact of the matter is that when the Yemeni traders first
brought it in from Ethiopia,
		

			the first group of religious people to adopt a Hua, were the SU photographers. And they adopted the
CAHA in order to give them the energy to do their liquor sessions late into the night. So they began
drinking kava as a part of their rituals in order that they do their liquor and they do what they
needed to do. So a number of scholars therefore said that because this group is doing this with this
instrument with this with this beverage, therefore it is becoming a bitter. Now, please, I'm not
saying that this was unanimous. Agreed. I'm just saying there was a trend. There were famous
scholars and fact this was the official position, people were lashed and punished. But there were
		

			always dissenting opinions. Obviously, there are others people who said it is not haram but the
official position in Mecca in Ottoman lands in Cairo, in the early part of the 19th century, Islamic
centuries is the Kafala is a musket. And this became the well known position position. So much so
that Francis Bacon, one of the most famous intellectual thinkers of Europe of the 17th century,
Francis Bacon, who's one of the founders of basically post Renaissance thought one of the most
famous philosophers anybody who's taken a class on Western philosophy knows Francis Bacon. Frank
Francis Bacon writes in 1626, that the Turks meaning the Muslims, the Turks consider coffee as
		

			something that excites and disturbs the mind or a musket. The Turks consider coffee as something
that alters the mind. But the fatwas might have said one thing, society did something else. The
first one might have said It's haram, but two people were drinking coffee, and they continue to
drink bah bah, sometimes secretly, and mostly in public and
		

			The tide slowly but surely began to shift and the 11th Hijiri 17th Gregorian centuries, when more
and more people began drinking kava, and there are a number of stories that are found Allah knows
how true they are. But there are a number of stories found in our literature of that time, where a
scholar who consider Pahala to be halal, invited a group of scholars who consider coffee to be
haram. He invited them over to discuss some issue, and he secretly gave them a Hua in the room. And
he didn't tell them what it was because obviously, none of them had you know, tasted power. So he
gave them coffee that night, and Masha Allah to Baba Cola, the discussion that resulted about some
		

			filthy point was the most exciting discussion they had ever had. And one of them remarked, and the
hours flew by and it was middle of the night because obviously they're drinking coffee. And one of
them remarks, which was this drink you gave us it was it really stimulated us to give this deep
discussion. And so he told them, this was the cohort that you guys made haram. Now these stories are
found in our tradition, but the fact of the matter is that there was a time when coffee was indeed
considered to be haram by the majority and especially those who are a little bit more conservative.
And when I say conservative, I'm not using this as a slur as a demeaning thing. I'm just saying
		

			there are certain scholars they don't like change. There are certain scholars they like status quo.
That's what I mean by conservative but slowly but surely, a small group of scholars began writing
being more vocal saying what's wrong with coffee coffee is not haram coffee is not a musket, and a
very famous hamburger scholar by the name of Xena Dean Abdulkadir lgct Who died 1587 See, he wrote a
book room that's a software fee Halal Kava. And this is the the crux of the matter in declaring
kahawa to be permissible to software fee Halal kava, and he wrote a very famous book and there are
manuscripts found of this book still to this day around the Muslim world. And slowly but surely, the
		

			group of scholars that have considered coffee to be haram just dwindled away. And eventually this
photo is basically unknown, except in the books of history, so that when I tell it to you, you find
it strange, but 500 years ago, this was the standard position, coffee houses began to spread and
Muslim lands and these became places of socialization sometimes good socializations most of the
time, bad socialization, but there was also a lot of good there and coffee houses became the place
where the elite the intellectual, the the the social cloud, that are the movers and shakers, went to
discuss issues, and it was in coffee houses that Al Hassan Al Banna began his one and Muslimeen
		

			movement back in the 1910s and 1920s. The first place has an urban targeted was not the mosques
because he realized the people coming to the mosques don't need to be taught to come there. Rather,
we need to target a different class of people. So Hassan Al Banna began giving his most of his quote
of his gurus, he began the very first item because back then coffee houses were places where
generally speaking, you know, not the not the religious people, you know, I'm saying I need those
that are more into you know, music and smoke, they would smoke a shisha hookah over there, you know,
the people that are not associated with religion has been made it a point to go to those places. And
		

			he began preaching his message there. And that was what attracted a different crowd to come to the
early one and Muslimeen and these days of course, people don't even realize that there was a huge
controversy over coffee but the fact of the matter is the sad fact of the matter but we need to
benefit and learn is that coffee wasn't the only thing that was made haram in the course of our OMA
the fact of the matter is that a lot of things were considered to be bizarre strange haram be to up
against the tradition and later on they became standard.
		

			Very
		

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