What is the ruling on qat?

Question:
We would like to know the ruling of the Shari'ah regarding qat, which has very great economic, social, and health harms, yet it is not mentioned. Sometimes, in some qat gatherings, problems between people are resolved, rulings are issued, and sometimes there is preaching, guidance, and remembrance of Allah. Please inform us?

Answer:
The scholars have studied the matter of qat and recognized the harms in it, that it may alter a person's mind at times, and that it may make him confused. It may lead to the waste of works, money, and time for no benefit; it wastes money and wastes time. Perhaps they listen to it to the extent of abandoning the prayers at their times when they sit to chew it. A group of knowledgeable scholars have stated that it has great harm and that it must be abandoned due to the physical, financial, temporal, and religious harm that results from it. A conference was held in al-Madinah two or three years ago, and they studied narcotics, among which was qat, so the attendees agreed on its prohibition, that it is wrong, and that it must be abandoned. However, some of our brothers among the scholars of Yemen, may Allah guide them, are still hesitating about it and are still debating it. So we ask Allah to guide them so that they abandon it and so that they do not harm their country and their brothers. Yes.