The Prohibition of Alcohol in Islam Sheikh Ebrahim Noor
The Prohibition of Alcohol in Islam Sheikh Ebrahim Noor
The Prohibition of Alcohol in Islam Sheikh Ebrahim Noor
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Introduction
I begin in the name of Allāh Lord of the Worlds, and sending
Salutations on our beloved Rasūlullāh .
As we all know in this world, wine, and alcohol in the general sense
for Muslims is prohibited, which means it is Ḥarām. Unfortunately,
there are sections of our community that still consume alcohol and
many also take drugs. Many also sell alcohol and deal with drugs.
Nowadays, you can also get ‘legal highs’ which give the same sense
of intoxication but can be purchased legally.
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Alcohol and Drug abuse have become something which has
unfortunately become accepted in many cases, overlooked and
normal in our community when in fact it is a Major Sin.
How many parents see their own children become involved in drugs
and alcohol? Have the children even ever thought what pain they
are putting their parents through let alone going against the
commands of Allāh? Imagine how a parent feels when their
child is caught selling drugs and is sentenced to incarceration.
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I pray that Allāh accepts this small piece of work and after
reading this booklet helps us to understand the reasoning behind the
prohibition and why we should keep away from this Major Sin.
Ebrahim Noor
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The Days of Ignorance
In the times of Jāhiliyyah, the times of ignorance, drinking wine
was normal. It was a common practise as well as other customs
such as gambling and using divining arrows. When Rasūlullāh
came to Madīnah, it was the same over there.
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The Initial Revelation
Allāh sometimes sends down revelation due to an event
or someone asking Rasūlullāh a question. This is called
the Shāne Nuzūl, or cause of revelation.
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Allāh says in Surah Al-Baqarah:
ۡ َ ۡ َ ۡ َۡ َ َ َ َُ َۡ
َكَعنََٱۡلمرََ َوٱلمي ر
س َ ۞ يسـلون
ُب ۡ َ َ ُُۡ
ََ ك َّ ُ َٰ َ َ َ َ ۡ َ ُۡ
لَفيهماََإثمََكبيََومنف َعَللناسََِإَوثمهماََأ
َق
ۡ َّ
1
منَنفعه َمَا
“They ask you about wine and gambling. Say in both there is a
great sin and some benefit for people. And their sin is greater
than their benefit”
Now this verse mentions some benefit for people, some good, this
could mean the taste of the wine and a feel good factor if a person
drinks it. These factors are short lived, temporary and are far
outweighed by the amount of bad things they can lead to.
The meaning in this verse of the word ‘ithm’ is sin and everything
that may become a preliminary to sin, which means anything that
can lead to the sin. For example, if a person consumes alcohol, it
causes their senses to become dull and weakens their ability to
reason. A human beings’ reasoning is what acts like a brake
1
Qur’ān 2:219
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against committing evil deeds. Once this brake is not working, it
opens the door to commit all types of deeds.
The actual word in Arabic for wine is ‘Khamr’, and Khamr means
to cover. So in the same way a woman’s headscarf is called a
Khimār because is covers her hair, wine covers a person’s senses,
so is called Khamr.
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Intoxication in General
Are these rulings just for alcohol or are other intoxicants also
included?
2
Sunan TirmidhI 1784
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Alcohol & Cancer
Now let’s look at the physical effects on a person who consumes
alcohol; we know it damages certain body parts, the stomach, the
liver, and the kidneys. It can cause alcohol poisoning. Here is a
list of cancers which can be caused by alcohol consumption:
3
www.drinkaware.co.uk
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Drinking & Driving
I have already mentioned that it stops a person from being able to
reason. If a person was able to reason, then why would they not
allow a person to drive after consuming alcohol?
So you can see that a person consuming alcohol can also endanger
somebody else as well.
4
www.drinkdrivingfacts.com
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Social effects of Intoxication
So what about the Social effects?
If a person gets drunk, they let their guard down, they may reveal
something which they have been entrusted with, imagine a
person who holds an important position in government or in
industry gets drunk and lets some important information slip
through.
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The Warning for the one who drinks Alcohol
Now let’s look at our religion of Islām, what did Rasūlullāh
say about the person who drinks wine.
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Sunan TirmidhI 1785
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ꜤAbdullāh ibn ꜤUmar narrates that Rasūlullāḥ said, the
person who drinks wine (Alcohol), Allāh will not accept
his Ṣalāh for 40 days. If he repents then Allāh will accept
his repentance. If he then returns to drink then Allāh
will not accept his Ṣalāt for 40 days, if he repents then Allāh
will accept his repentance. . If he then returns to drink
then Allāh will not accept his Ṣalāt for 40 days, if he
repents then Allāḥ will accept his repentance.
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The Initial Advice
So now we have seen the effects let’s go back to the first verse that
was revealed with regards to wine.
ۡ َ ۡ َ ۡ َۡ َ َ َ َُ َۡ
َ ۞ يسـلون
َ كَعنََٱۡلمرََ َوٱلمي
سر
ۡ َ َ ُُۡ
ََ ك َ ۡ ُۡ
ُب لَفيه َماََإثمََكبيََ َو َم َنَٰف َُعَللنَّاسََِإَوثمهماََأ
َق
ۡ َّ
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منَنفعه َمَا
Now when some of the Ṣaḥābah heard about this, they took
the advice and stopped drinking from that moment in time. Now
there were some others who thought that the verse has identified
wine as a cause for sin and it is not Ḥarām, so if we make sure we
6
Qur’ān 2:219
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do not commit these evil deeds, what harm could there be if we
continued to drink?
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Allāh now revealed the verse in Sūrah An-Nisā’:
َۡنتُمَ َ َ َ َّ ْ ُ ۡ َ َ ْ ُ َ َ َ َّ َ ُّ َ ََٰٓ
َ َيأيهاَٱَّلينَءامنواََلَتق َربواَٱلصل َٰوةَوأ
7 َ ُ ُ َ َ ْ ُ َ ۡ َ َٰ َّ َ َٰ َ َٰ َ ُ
َ سكرىَحَّتَتعلمواَماَتقول
ون
“Oh you who believe, don’t go near Salāh when you are
intoxicated until you know what you are saying”.
So now drinking had been prohibited when it was time for Ṣalāh.
So when it was not time for Ṣalāh some of the Ṣaḥābah
continued to drink at those times.
7
Qur’ān 4:43
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it does have an effect, so now people cannot pray when they have
been drinking.
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The Third Revelation
Another incident then followed, a Ṣaḥābah invited some
others to his house and after dinner they started to drink. It was
Arab custom at the time that people used to recite poetry, so they
started reciting poetry mentioning their accomplishments and
excellences when one of the Ṣaḥābah recited a poem which
satirized the Anṣār, the Ṣaḥābah from Madinah. Satirize
means to say bad things, ridicule.
اللهمَبنيَنلاَيفَاۡلمرَبياناَشافيا
‘Oh Allāh, give us a clear and conclusive guidance in the matter
of wine’
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Now when Rasūlullāh made this dua, Allāh
sent down the definitive ruling in Sūrah Al-Mā’idah:
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Qur’ān 5:90
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The Gradual Prohibition
We can see from Allāh infinite wisdom that this process
of prohibition was done gradually. The first verse that was
revealed just pointed to the fact that consuming alcohol can lead
a person to sin and is sin-prone. And some Ṣaḥābah left it
there right away.
Then the next stage was to tell people not to read Ṣalāt if they
drank, so Allāh was advising people to leave this habit.
There is very good advice in this, that any habit which can cause
a person to become forgetful of their Ṣalāh needs to be reviewed.
So firstly advice was given to refrain, many people took this advice
and stopped or at least reduced their consumption to a level there
it would not lead them to sin, and then the ruling came where
people were not allowed to drink during the hours of Salāh, so this
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reduced the consumption even more. Now when the time came
for them to completely stop it was made much easier.
Many Ṣaḥābah took the wine they had and poured it in the
street straight away. Whoever had wine in a vessel in their hands,
threw it right away. Anas was serving some of his friends
at the time. When they heard the proclaimer, everybody there
said ‘now pour all this wine down on the ground and break all the
cups and goblets and ewers and pitchers’.
The people had been ordered to take whatever wine they had to a
certain place, but there was not much left there apart from the
wine which was in the market for commercial sales. The wine was
put there without any hesitation. Rasūlullāh went
there himself and slit many of the leather wine-bags with his own
hands and the rest were done by the Ṣaḥābah
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An Example of Obedience
The Ṣaḥābah were the best example of obedience. One
Ṣaḥābah was a businessman and he used to import wine in
from Syria. He took his whole capital and bought a whole stock of
wine to sell.
So the question could arise from here, could he not have gone
somewhere else and sold the wine to some people who could drink
it, some people who were not Muslims?
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Can we sell Alcohol?
We know as Muslims, we are not allowed to consume alcohol, but
what is the ruling for selling it?
9
Sunan Tirmidhi 1216
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4. The one who carries it
5. The one who he is carrying it to
6. The one who gives it to someone to drink
7. The one who sells it
8. The one who consumes its price
9. The one who buys it
10. The one who it was bought for.
So you can from the above all of these people have been cursed by
Rasūlullāh so we should refrain from doing any of
these. If we sell it in our shops or restaurants, then we should seek
repentance from Allāḥ and stop selling it right away. If
we fear that we will lose business because of it, then know that
Allāh is the best of providers, our sustenance is in his
hands, if we have a clear and good intention, Inshā’Allāh we will
get more barakah, more blessing in our earning by abstaining
from these actions.
May Allāh protect us from the all the evils of all sins.
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Conclusion
So you can see from what we have discussed, how the prohibition
of alcohol came about in Islām and the gradual steps taken by
Allāh to implement this ruling. We can see the personal
dangers, the social dangers and the economic dangers as well.
There is risk to a person own health and also another person’s
when they are under the influence of alcohol, drugs or any form
of intoxicants.
May Allāh give us all the ability to stay away from all
prohibited substances and keep us all safe from the effects & evils
of all types of intoxication.
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