Uncertain Origin of Domesticated Khat
Neither khat’s place of origin nor the manner in which it was diffused has been determined, although most experts accept the view that C. edulis was probably first domesticated in the Ethiopian highlands. Based upon his field studies in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia in 1927, botanist and plant geneticist N. I. Vavilov (1951: 37-8) designated Ethiopia as the center of origin of cultivated khat. According to anthropologist George P Murdock, khat and coffee are two of some eleven important agricultural plants originally domesticated by the Agau, Cushitic speakers of the central highlands of Ethiopia and “one of the most culturally creative people on the entire continent”(1959:182-3).
Revri was among the minority of khat specialists who challenged the belief of an Ethiopian genesis of the plant. In his view, Yemen is probably the primary center of origin of khat and Ethiopia the secondary center. On the basis of cytogenetic evidence, Revri concluded that C. edulis appears to have evolved from C. spinosa, found wild in the Serat Mountains of Yemen. He suggested that C. edulis, known to the Arabs as a medicinal plant, may have been taken to Ethiopia in the sixth century A. D. and that it was returned to Yemen as a social stimulant in the fourteenth century (Revri 1983:4).
Historical Highlights
According to Armin Schopen (1978: 45) and others, the earliest reference to khat is found in Kitab al-Saidana fi al-Tibb, a work on pharmacy and materia medica written in A. D. 1065 by the scholar Abu al-Biruni (Abu r-Raihan Muhammad al-Biruni) in collaboration with a physician. The work described khat as “a commodity from Turkestan. It is sour to taste and slenderly made in the manner of batan-alu. But qat is reddish with a slight blackish tinge. It is believed that batan alu is red, coolant, relieves biliousness, and is a refrigerant for the stomach and the liver.”
Batan-alu is presumably an extract of khat prepared like preserves of fruits and vegetables (Schopen 1978: 45; Krikorian 1984: 136).The fact that al-Biruni, who lived in Ghazni, Afghanistan, identified “Turkestan” (the name loosely applied to the large area of central Asia between Mongolia on the east and the Caspian Sea on the west) as the origin of batan-alu is interesting because this and other references to either wild or cultivated C. edulis in the region are uncorroborated. It is plausible that khat used in the preparation of batan alu were dried leaves grown in Ethiopia and brought to central Asia as one of the myriad trade articles carried along the great caravan routes of the Old World.
The earliest work in which khat was identified as a plant is a book of medicinal remedies written in A. D. 1222 by Nagib ad-Din as-Samarkandi. The author, who resided in the ancient city of Samarkand, a major center of trade in Turkestan during the Middle Ages, recommended khat for its healing properties.
The earliest reliable reference to the general practice of khat consumption is in a chronicle of the wars between the Muslim and Christian states of Ethiopia during the early fourteenth century. The chronicler, a Christian, mentioned that khat was popular and widely consumed among the Muslim population (but shunned by Christians). He also wrote that a Muslim sovereign, Sabr ad-Din, boasted of what he would do when he conquered the Christian realm of King Amda Syon:“ I will take up my residence at Mar’adi, the capital of his kingdom, and I will plant chat there,’ because the Muslims love this plant” (Trimingham 1952: 228).
According to John G. Kennedy (1987: 60-78), the popular use of khat in Yemen probably began in the southern part of the western highlands near Ta’izz during the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Customary use of the plant spread slowly northward, and by the end of the eighteenth century, khat was regularly sold in San’a. During the nineteenth century, use of the drug was widespread in the country, and Yemenis began to export khat overland to Aden (the annual trade grew from 1,000 camel loads in 1887 to 2,000 in 1900). Greenway (1947: 99) mentioned that the use of the leaves of C. edulis was well known to Ethiopians, Somalis, and Arabs at the time of World War I and that the knowledge of such use was spread to other African tribes through their encounters with the khat-chewing custom during war service in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The earliest concise account of khat in European literature was that of the Swedish physician and botanist Peter Forsskal (1736-63), who was a member of a Danish expedition led by the German geographer Karsten Niebuhr that visited Yemen in 1763. Khat, given the name Catha edulis, was among the plants collected in Yemen. Niebuhr, the only survivor of the five members of the expedition, published Forsskal’s botanical papers in 1775, and in memory of his friend extended the name Catha edulis to “Catha edulis Forsskal” (Revri 1983: 3).
Religious Role of Khat
In most of the legends and early historical accounts of khat, a common theme has been its capacity to enhance wakefulness and, therefore, the ability of the user to carry out religious observance and worship (Trimingham 1952: 228).A frequently heard comment in praise of khat by Muslim users is that it enables them to pray without becoming drowsy even throughout the nights of Ramadan (Brooke 1960: 53). In Ethiopia and in Yemen, stories are told of divine guidance in the discovery of khat and the high regard in which the drug was held by Muslim saints.
A well-known legend tells of Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Zarbay (Zerbin), one of 44 Muslim saints who came from the Hadhramaut (eastern Yemen) to Ethiopia in about A. D. 1430 on a proselytizing mission. He traveled to Harer, converted many to Islam, and is said to have introduced khat to Yemen upon his return (Burton 1910:66-7).
Khat has long been known in predominantly Christian northern Ethiopia, although it was consumed there almost exclusively by the Muslim minority. Frederick Simoons (1960: 115-16) found that nearly all adult Muslims in the town of Gondar chewed khat, but that among the Wayto of Lake Tana only Muslim holy men did so. In Begemder and Semyen, Christians who are supposedly possessed by Muslim evil spirits use it to appease those spirits and to encourage them to leave (Simoons 1960:115-16).
In the course of some 400 years (thirteenth to seventeenth centuries) of protracted struggle for territory between Christian and Muslim states in Ethiopia, the Christians came to identify the eating of khat as a distinguishing characteristic of the Muslims and disdained its use. However, in Yemen where Moslems and Jews have regularly used the drug, khat did not become an object of religious identification.
Yemeni Jews have used khat since at least the seventeenth century. Sholem bin Joseph al-Shibezi (1619-86) is the author of a poetic play in which a dialogue between coffee and khat is presented (Krikorian 1984: 151-2, citing J. Kafih 1963: 224-5). The play is still performed in Arabic by Yemeni Jews in Israel (Weir 1985:75).
Within Islam, khat is at the center of controversy. Richard Burton observed during his visit to Harer, Ethiopia, in 1855 that khat produced “a manner of dreamy enjoyment and the Ulema [authorities in Muslim law and religion] as in Arabia, held the drug to be ‘Akl el Salikim,’ or the Food of the Pious.” Burton also wrote that the literati thought khat had “singular properties of enlivening the imagination, clearing the ideas, cheering the heart, diminishing sleep, and taking the place of food” (1910: 232).
Such an expression of esteem for khat, however, represents a minority view in the Islamic world, and for centuries, its consumption has been the subject of debate by doctors of Islamic law. Khat is not mentioned in the Koran, and the persistent question is:
Does the use of khat contravene the Koran’s general injunction against the use of intoxicants? Although not of one mind on the question, Muslim religious leaders in most of the Islamic countries have taken the position that it does.
The following resolution was adopted by the World Islamic Conference for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drugs that met at Medina, Saudi Arabia, in May, 1983:
After reviewing reports submitted to the Conference on the health, psychological, ethical, behavioral, social and economic damages resulting from khat, the Conference judges khat to be a drug prohibited by religion and accordingly the Conference recommends to Islamic states to apply punishment of the basis of Islamic Shariah [canon law] against any person who plants this tree and markets or consumes khat (Al-Hammad 1983: 228).
Earlier, in 1971, the government of Saudi. Arabia had banned the importation or use of khat in the kingdom and prescribed severe penalties for violations.
In the Muslim countries where khat is legal, there is an ambivalent attitude toward its use, and opposition to the drug is not necessarily based on religion. Many intellectuals in these countries deprecate the use of khat on the grounds that it is a deterrent to economic and social progress (Weir 1985:66).
Although, traditionally, khat has appealed more to Muslims than non-Muslims, its use in the Islamic world is and has been minute. As A. D. Krikorian (1984: 163) has pointed out, the Turks in Ottoman-occupied Yemen never adopted the practice, nor did the 60,000 Egyptian soldiers stationed in Yemen from 1962 to 1967. In fact, less than half of one percent of the world’s Muslims use the drug.
World History
