154.

١٥٤. عَنْ جَابِرٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ أَنَّ رَجُلًا قَدِمَ مِنْ جَيْشَانَ وَجَيْشَانُ مِنَ الْيَمَنِ فَسَأَلَ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَنْ شَرَابٍ يَشْرَبُونَهُ بِأَرْضِهِمْ مِنَ الذُّرَةِ يُقَالُ لَهُ الْمِزْرُ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:

«أَوَ مُسْكِرٌ هُوَ؟» قَالَ:

«نَعَمْ» قَالَ رَسُولُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:

«كُلُّ مُسْكِرٍ حَرَامٌ إِنَّ عَلَى اللّٰهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ عَهْدًا لِمَنْ يَشْرَبُ الْمُسْكِرَ أَنْ يَسْقِيَهُ مِنْ طِينَةِ الْخَبَالِ» قَالُوا:

«يَا رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ وَمَا طِينَةُ الْخَبَالِ؟» قَالَ:

«عَرَقُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ أَوْ عُصَارَةُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ».

154. Jabir (r.a.) narrated:

A person came from Jaishan, a town in Yemen, and he asked Allah’s Apostle (pbuh) about a beverage which was drunk in their land and which was prepared from millet and was called Mizr.

Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) asked:

“Is it intoxicating?”

The man said:

“Yes.”

Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) said:

“Every intoxicant is forbidden. Verily Allah the Exalted and Majestic made a covenant to those who drank intoxicants to make their drink “Tinat al-Khabal.”

They said:

“O Allah’s Messenger, what is tinat al-khabal?”

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“It is the sweat of the denizens of Hell or the pus of the denizens of Hell.” (Muslim, Kitab Al-Ashribah, 72; Abu Dawud, Kitab Al-Ashribah, 5)

 

Explanations:

Almighty Allah loves His servants and wants them to enter Paradise. For this reason, He is jealous of His servants from sins and prohibited whether it is open or secret. For the same reason, all kinds of intoxicating drinks which are causes of many other sins are strictly prohibited whether they are consumed a little or a lot.

Intoxicants are harmful drinks that are completely contrary to the human nature. As a matter of fact, in the Night Journey, when two cups of drinks with one containing wine and the other containing milk was offered to  the Prophet, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) looked at both of them, and he took the one containing milk. (As a matter of fact, the wine that was offered to him was not the wine that we know of but it was a drink from Paradise. At the time, drinking wine had not been prohibited, yet.)

Upon this, Gabriel (pbuh) said:

“Praise Allah Who guided you to the true nature; had you taken the one containing wine, Your Umma (followers) would have gone astray.”^[1] (Muslim, Iman, 272; Kitab Al-Ashriba, 92. Also see Bukhari, Tafsir, 17/3; Kitab Al-Ashriba, 1, 12; Nasai, Kitab Al-Ashriba, 41)

As can be understood from the story, the important thing is to be conscious and serious. It is not pleasant to be unconscious and relaxed by the taste of wine. The end of being unconscious usually results in falling into deviation. Therefore, for those who internalize drinking by considering it normal, it is inevitable to fall into deviation.

For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) had never come close to drinking before Islam, too. One day, when it was asked to him:

“O the Messenger of Allah!  Have you drink wine before Islam?” He said:

“No! Even when I did not know what the Book and faith is, I knew that the things that people in the period of Jahiliyya (ignorance) did were disbelief.” (Diyarbekri, I, 254-255; Ali al-Muttaqi, no: 35439)

In the Era of Ignorance, smart people such as Abdulmuttalib, Abu Talib, Abu Bakr, and Uthman who realized that drinking did not fit with the human nature had not touched intoxicating drinks.^[2] There were even those who prohibited them to their families and children.

Since people were addicted to alcoholic beverages at that time, Allah the Almighty did not prohibit this wicked habit suddenly but did it step by step. In fact, if it had been suddenly forbidden, most of the people would have disagreed with that. As a matter of fact, Aisha (r.anha), the mother of Muslims said:

“…The Verses regarding legal and illegal things were revealed only after the people embraced Islam. If the first thing to be revealed had been:

“Do not drink alcoholic drinks” people would have said:

“We will never leave alcoholic drinks!”

Again, if there had been revealed:

“Do not commit adultery!” they would have said:

“We will never give up adultery…” (Bukhari, Fadail al-Qur’an, 6)

By taking the human nature into account, the prohibition of drinking was commanded gradually as follows:

First the noble verse “And from the fruit of the date-palm and the vine, you get out wholesome drink and food: behold, in this also is a sign for those who are wise”^[3] got revealed in Mecca.

In this noble verse, by saying that people make intoxicating drinks from the fruit of date and vine apart from healthy drinks and foods, it is implied that the intoxicating drinks are not considered nice and good and indicated that it will be prohibited in the future.

After the migration from Mecca to Medina, as an answer to the questions asked by the people of Medina, Allah the Almighty revealed:

“They ask you concerning wine and gambling. Say: “In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit.” (Al-Baqarah; 2:219)

After the revelation of this noble verse, majority of the Muslims quit drinking.

Then some time passed. One day, one of the Companions of the Messenger misread a noble verse in a way that changed its meaning while performing the Evening Prayer. Upon this, the following noble verse got revealed:

“O you who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until you can understand all that you say”^[4]

After this, the number of Muslims who drink wine considerably decreased. When it is time to pray, a person appointed by the Prophet (pbuh) used to announce:

“Those who are drunk should not come close to prayer!” Muslims understood that drinking will be forbidden soon and got ready for it.

A while after that, almost all of the Muslims abandoned drinking. Some of them, on the other hand, were still in embarrassing situations due to their drinking.

Umar (r.a.) used to pray as:

“O my Lord! Reveal a clear command about drinking to us!” Finally, after a fight that took place between drunken people, the wickedness of drinking became more evident. By then, prohibition of drinking became something that everyone can easily appreciate. Upon this, Allah the Almighty revealed these noble verses of the Qur’an:

“O you who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of Satan’s handwork: eschew such (abomination), that you may prosper. Satan’s plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will you not then abstain?” (Al-Maidah; 5:90-91)

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) called Umar (r.a.) and recited these noble verses. When the Prophet recited the part “Will you not then abstain?” Umar said:

“We have abstained! We have abstained O our Lord!”  Other Muslims joined Umar and said:

“We have abstained from drinking and gambling O our Lord!”

When these noble verses of Qur’an revealed, the Prophet appointed someone to announce:

“Know that from now on drinking alcoholic beverages have been prohibited!”

The alcoholic drinks whose barrels were broken and emptied were seen flowing through the streets of Medina!..

Anas (r.a.) narrated:

I used to offer alcoholic drinks to the people at the residence of Abu Talha. Then the order of prohibiting alcoholic drinks was revealed, and the Prophet ordered somebody to announce that: Abu Talha said to me:

“Go out and see what this voice (this announcement) is.”

I went out and (on coming back) said:

“This is somebody announcing that “Alcoholic beverages have been prohibited!” Abu Talha said to me:

“Go and spill it.”

Then it (alcoholic drinks) was seen flowing through the streets of Medina. (Bukhari, Tafsir, 5/11)

After that, Muslims who used to drink alcoholic beverages destroyed the wine they had. They never drank it again. They have considered drinking as an act of deviation from the religion. For example, Abu Musa (r.a.) used to say:

“In my opinion, there is no difference whether I drink alcohol or abandon Allah and worship this column (both of them are among the major sins.)” (Nasai, Kitab Al-Ashriba, 42/5661)

Therefore, one must stay away from all kinds of intoxicating drinks. As a matter of fact, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) informed us in the first hadith that every intoxicating drink is like wine, and it is forbidden (haram). In other words, the difference in their names is not important. It does not make sense for some people to say that “the forbidden drink is wine and since the name of what we consume is not wine, it is not forbidden.”  The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) miraculously pointed out to this fact and said:

“Some of my followers will drink wine by changing its name.” (Nasai, Kitab Al-Ashriba, 41/5656. Also see. Bukhari, Adahi, 3; Ibn Majah, Fitan, 22)

Thus, those who try to find a juristic opinion that permits drinking with some excuses only deceive themselves.

On the other hand, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) informed us that those who are addicted to alcoholic drinks and die before they repent will not get the chance to drink from the divine wine of the Paradise. In another hadith, he said that those addicted to alcohol will not even enter into the Paradise. (Nasai, Zakat, 69/2560)

Having a positive attitude towards drinking wine in this world by thinking that there will also be wine in the Paradise is not a right way of thinking. There is no similarity between the wine of this world and Paradise other than their names. While the wine of this world leads people to all kinds of wrong deeds by intoxicating them, the wine of the Paradise will not have the quality of intoxicating people and leading them to disgracefulness.

Prohibition of drinking is not based on its level of consumption either. In our second hadith, it is told that a little of something is also forbidden if much of it is intoxicating. For this reason, one must not be deceived by those who say “it is okay to drink a little as long as it won’t make you get drunk.” The criterion is very clear that if much of something is intoxicating, a little bit of it is also prohibited (haram). Our religion aims to prevent sins by tightly closing the doors which lead to wrong deeds. It does not take theoretic solutions that do not fit with the practical life. It commands discouraging rules wisely and punishes harshly those who do not obey. This is not due to being inconsiderate of humans but on the contrary our religion covers the whole humanity with everlasting mercy and affection.

According to the Islamic law, the punishment of drinking alcohol is to inflict 40 to 80 lashes. The goal of this punishment is to discourage drinking and making those who drink embarrassed and quit drinking. (Abu Dawud, Kitab al-Hudud, 35/4478)

One day, a man who had drunk alcohol was brought to the Messenger of Allah. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) told people to inflict the prescribed punishment on him. A while passed and a man among the people said:

“May Allah dishonor and curse you!”

Upon this, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“Do not curse him, do not help Satan by saying things against him!” (Bukhari, Kitab Al-Hudud, 4; Abu Dawud, Kitab Al-Hudud, 35, 36)

After his punishment was inflicted, in order for him to pull himself together, the Noble Companions of the Prophet set him free after giving him a talk:

“Were you not ashamed from Allah? Don’t you fear from Allah? Were you not ashamed from the Prophet?” The Prophet who was like an ocean of mercy said to his companions:

“Pray for him as “O my Lord, forgive him, O my Lord, show mercy and grace on him…” (Abu Dawud, Kitab Al-Hudud, 35/4478)

Here, we can observe the mercy of the Messenger of Allah towards his followers. Is it not also out of his mercy that he commands us not to commit prohibited (haram) acts?

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) expresses the wisdom in prohibition of drinking in our third hadith as:

“Never drink alcohol because it is the key of all evils.”

The Prophet (pbuh) said as part of his long speech at Tabuk:

“Drinking brings all kinds of sins together.” (Waqidi, III, 1016)

Drinking is a cause of mischief both for the individual and the society. Drinking affects mental abilities negatively. As a matter of fact, all the beneficial deeds for this world and hereafter take place with intelligence. Without intelligence, humans dive into unimaginable sins.

When one looks into the committed sins, he can see that they are always performed in moments of negligence. If even negligence is so effective in getting into sinful acts, it is not difficult to imagine what kind of major sins being drunk can cause to.

Things that cause material and spiritual intoxication such as drinking, gambling, and games of chances are the most influential weapons of Satan, the constant enemy of humans. Unless man stays away from them, his salvation is not possible. Satan employs drinking and gambling to start hatred, hostility, and enmity among people and set them against each other. By withholding them from the remembrance of Allah, prayer, and worshiping, Satan turns them into poor people of the hereafter. In short, Satan ruins their lives both in this world and in the hereafter. Thus, the way to save oneself from misery in both of the worlds passes through abandoning the sins forbidden by Allah theAlmighty. (Al-Maidah; 5:90-91)

According to the recent report of the World Health Organization covering thirty countries including Turkey, alcohol is the underlying cause for 85% of homicides (60-70% of them are homicides within the family), 50% of rapes, 50% of violent acts, 70% of domestic violence, 60% of unemployment, and 40-50% of mental disorders.

The children of those who consume alcohol are also harmed and endangered because of this. 90% of the children of the alcoholics are born with brain damages. The risk for an alcoholic mother to have a disabled child is a high ratio of 35%. This risk is due to the fact that the unborn child gets affected by the alcohol that his mother consumes. That is because alcohol prevents the growth of the unborn child and the development after birth; it causes retardation, short stature, and behavioral disorders.

Since children of alcoholic people live in a family where always arguments take place, the risk of seeing depression and behavioral disorders in them is high. Thus, most of these kids become unsuccessful in their schools and social lives.^[5]

Traffic accidents, suicides, abetting, breaking families apart, failures in business life and professions, and various economic losses are among the harms that drinking usually causes. Drinking which causes a decrease in human intelligence seduces people’s thoughts and wastes their wealth. Apart from these, it breaks families apart, corrupts generations, disarrays social dignity and status. That is because it is the mother of all wrong doings and evils.

 Uthman (r.a.) expressed with an example that drinking is the mother of all evils as follows:

“Stay away from drinking because it is the mother of all evils. Before your time, there was a pious man who had devoted himself to worshipping. A bad natured woman got obsessed with him. She had sent her servant to him and made her say:

“We are calling for you to testify.”

The devoted man (in order not run away from testifying) went with the servant. When they have arrived, the servant locked all the doors that the man has entered. At the end, the man came to next to a beautiful woman. There was a child and a bottle of wine next to the woman. The woman told him:

“I swear to God I did not call you to testify. I called you to be with me or to drink from this wine or kill this child.” The desperate man thinking that he had picked the least harmful one said:

“Give me a cup from the wine.”

The woman gave him a cup of wine. The man said:

“Give me some more!”

When the man drunk from the wine, he soon fornicated with the woman and (being scared from everyone will know what he had done) killed the child. For this reason, please stay away from drinking!  I swear to Allah, having faith and addiction to drinking can’t be present together. Soon one drives off the other one.” (Nasai, Kitab Al-Ashriba, 44/5664)

In other words, being addicted to drinking harms one’s faith unless he repents. When he repents, he achieves perfection in faith and such faith keeps him from the illness of drinking. That is because drinking is inappropriate for a true believer. Being carried away with this wicked job of Satan is shameful for those who believe in Allah. It does not make sense to both believe in Allah and disobey His commands. This is expressed in a noble hadith as:

“An adulterer, at the time he is committing adultery is not a believer; and a person, at the time of drinking an alcoholic drink is not a believer; and a thief, at the time of stealing, is not a believer…” (Bukhari, Mazalim, 30; Tirmidhi, Iman, 11/2625; Nasai, Kitab Al-Ashriba, 42/5657)

Another noble hadith expresses other harms of drinking reads as follows:

“Alcohol is the mother of all evil and shameful things, the biggest of the major sins. Whoever drinks it may even commit adultery with his mother, maternal aunt, or paternal aunt.” (Haythami, V, 67)

For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) used harsh expressions in order to keep his followers away from drinking and prohibited everything related to it. In our fourth hadith, we are informed that Allah cursed wine, the person who drinks it, who sells it, who buys it, who makes it, who orders it to be made, who transports it, and who gets it. In other reports, we are told that the place where the wine is made, those who donate it or gift it, and those who receive its value and profit are also cursed.^[6]

Thus, in order to seek protection from the evils of drinking, it is necessary to close all the doors and stay away from anything that is related to it. This is the most important duty for the happiness of both individuals and societies.

Drinking also endangers the worships of those who are cursed because of drinking. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) warned those and said:

“Allah does not accept the prayers for seven days of someone who drinks alcohol. If he dies during this period, he dies as unbeliever. If the alcohol he drinks makes him intoxicated and detains him from performing obligatory acts, Allah does not accept his prayers for forty days and if he dies during this period, he dies as unbeliever.” (Nasai, Kitab Al-Ashriba, 44/5667; Darimi, Kitab Al-Ashriba, 3; Ibn Majah, Kitab Al-Ashriba, 4)

Worships have two sides. The first one is that the worshipper pays the debt of nature by worshipping and the second one he gains divine rewards. In the hadith above, it is meant that those who drink alcohol would not gain divine rewards from their prayers or other worships.

Thus, a believer who believes in Allah and the Day of Judgment should strictly stay away from drinking. One should not sit the tables of those who drink alcohol and should not organize weddings or other celebrations that does not fit with Islam by serving alcohol and should not attend such organizations. One should tell the reason why he is not sitting the drinking tables or meetings without worrying to offend their owners; so that those who disobey the rules of Allah may understand their faults. Otherwise he would be the object of Allah’s curse and anger for just not to offend a sinner and this is the biggest foolishness.

The result of disobeying Allah’s commands is getting into various troubles and losses in this world and incurring a miserable punishment in the Hereafter. In our sixth hadith, a harsh punishment that will be given to those who drink alcohol is described. Those who see themselves fit to drink impure beverages will be punished by drinking the most impure drinks in the Hereafter. That is because punishment is given in accordance with the type of the crime. The punishment of those who drink alcohol will be making them drink the things that are even hard to look at such as the sweat, blood, and pus of the burned skins of denizens of Hell.