Eman Sakina

Alcohol is a topic that has been touched upon in the Quran in several verses. Alcohol may include any beverage that has a certain percentage of alcohol in it and is an intoxicant including wine, beer, liquor, and so on. The consumption of alcohol and intoxicants is prohibited in the Quran.

Friday Musings

The Quran talks about the ruling concerning alcohol and intoxicating drinks by using the Arabic word khamr, which means concealment. The reason intoxicating drinks have been given this name is that they put a veil or conceal the mind such that it does not function properly. At the time of the Prophet, alcoholic drinks mostly included fermented drinks made from certain fruits like grapes (wine) and dates as well as grains such as malt (beer).

Let us go over the verses of the Quran that speak about alcohol:

They ask you about wine and gambling. Tell them, there are great sins in them, [even though they bring] some profit to the people, but their sin is greater than their profit.

Intriguingly, questions about both alcohol and gambling have been combined. This demonstrates that at the time of the Prophet, these two wrongdoings were primarily committed simultaneously. Even though they might both have some financial gain, according to Allah, their wickedness is much greater than any financial gain. For instance, alcohol might offer certain health advantages. Some claim that it prevents kidney stones. However, the harm it does to the brain, gut, liver, and other organs is much more and outweighs the benefit it has for the kidneys. Likewise, gambling might be profitable if one wins and gains a lot of money. However, one can also lose everything he owns by gambling.

Allah officially asked the Prophet to convey His message concerning wine and alcoholic drinks and announce their prohibition by revealing the following verse of Surah Maidah:

O You Who Believe! Indeed, wine, gambling, idols, and divining arrows (a way of gambling) are evil and of Satan’s act; therefore, leave them aside so that you may prosper.

Indeed, Satan desires to incur enmity and hatred between you through wine and gambling, and he desires to prevent you from God’s remembrance and prayer, yet will you, then give [them] up?

So, it is Satan who tries to misguide us by drawing us toward alcohol and intoxicants, and by doing so, he wants to prevent us from remembering Allah and performing salat and causing enmity among us. Besides, alcohol is a very harmful substance that is very bad for one’s health. This is such an obvious fact that it does not need to be proven, even though many scientific studies have done so.

For example, it has been proven that many degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease are expedited and exacerbated by the consumption of alcohol. Moreover, women who are pregnant and consume alcohol may cause serious birth defects in their children.

Many of our narrations state that anyone who consumes alcoholic beverages like wine or beer would have his salat rejected for forty days unless they repent. The person's religious obligation to offer prayers does not change, so they cannot forego praying for forty days. It simply indicates that although he must continue to pray and repent of his sin for the entire forty days, Allah will not be satisfied with it.

After knowing the harmful effects of alcohol on the mind, it is obvious that alcohol can cause aggressive and violent behaviour. “Alcohol may encourage aggression or violence by disrupting normal brain function. According to the disinhibition hypothesis, for example, alcohol weakens brain mechanisms that normally restrain impulsive behaviors, including inappropriate aggression. “Furthermore, alcohol hurts one’s spirit and soul. For example, drinking alcohol darkens the soul and makes one less inclined to spirituality. Based on a narration from the Noble Prophet, his holiness said, “I swear by the God who made me a prophet, the drinker of khamr (alcoholic drink) will enter the mahshar (the scene of Judgment Day) while his face is black, pounds his head on the ground, and shouts out of thirst.”

God says that the alcohol that people drink and causes intoxication is rijs meaning it is impure. In Islam, eating or drinking anything impure is religiously unlawful. For example, one cannot drink the blood of animals, even if their meat is halal. Therefore, alcohol, which is also impure, is forbidden to drink.

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Pharmaceutical and industrial alcohol are forbidden to drink although they are not impure, but rather because they are poisonous and can cause someone to die or go blind. Even drinking one drop of them is prohibited, however, most if not all jurists say they are pure and can be used for the benefits they have such as in disinfecting surgical appliances, among other uses. Therefore, the second and third types of alcohol can be used in halal ways other than drinking them, while the first type has no halal usage at all. Moreover, selling alcoholic beverages is prohibited in Islam,