Is khat impure? And the ruling on delaying the prayer and combining prayers for its sake

Question: Many of those addicted to chewing khat, when the time for prayer arrives, take it out of their mouth and put it in a plastic bag, then they pray. After the prayer, they put it back in their mouth. Is khat impure? What is the ruling on one who prays with it in his mouth? And is it permissible for one who has it in his mouth to delay the prayer until he is done, and to combine the missed prayers?

Answer: I do not know of any evidence indicating its impurity; because it is a known tree, and the original ruling for trees and types of plants is purity. However, its use is forbidden in the most correct of the scholars' opinions due to the many harms it contains.
It is recommended for its user not to use it at the time of prayer, and it is not permissible to delay the prayer for its sake. Rather, it is obligatory for the Muslim to perform the prayer in its time in congregation with his Muslim brothers in the mosques; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It was narrated by Ibn Majah, al-Daraqutni, and al-Hakim with a sound chain.
Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) was asked about an excuse, and he said: "Fear or illness." Using khat is not a legal excuse; rather, it is an evil. And if its user delays the prayer from its time or from the mosque with the congregation, that is more severe in sin.
It is not permissible for its user to combine the two prayers; because its use is not among the legal excuses that justify combining the two prayers. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that when he taught his companions the times of prayer and clarified to them their beginning and end, he said: And it is established in Sahih Muslim that a blind man said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have no guide to lead me to the mosque. Do I have a dispensation to pray in my house?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He said: "Yes." He said: And in a narration other than Muslim's, whose chain is sound, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: .
These authentic hadiths and what came in their meaning, all indicate the obligation of performing the prayer in congregation in the houses of Allah and the prohibition of delaying it, or combining the two prayers without a legal excuse.
My advice to the users of khat, smoking, and other intoxicants and narcotics is to beware of them with the utmost caution, and to fear Allah in that; because of the disobedience to Allah the Exalted and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in their use, and the great harms and dire consequences they contain, and their turning away from the remembrance of Allah and from the prayer.
So we ask Allah to guide the Muslims to everything in which He is pleased, and to rectify their hearts and their deeds, and to protect them from bad companions who turn them away from good; indeed, He is Generous and Noble. And success is from Allah.