They ask you about drinking and gambling…

"They ask you about drinking and gambling. Say "There is great harm in both, though there is some benefit also for people. But the harm of the sin thereof is far greater than their benefit." "^EN002:235 02:219

EN002:235. This was the first instruction about alcoholic and intoxicating drinks and games of chance for stakes. At first a mere disapproval of these things was pronounced to serve as a preliminary to their final prohibition. The next step in this direction was that the Muslims were prohibited from offering prayers when they were drunk. Finally, drinking, gambling and the like were all made absolutely unlawful.

"O Believers! Do not offer Prayer while you are intoxicated^EN004:65, for Prayer should be offered only when you know what you are saying^EN004:66 Likewise, do not offer prayer, if you are unclean^EN004:67 until you take your bath, except when passing on the way:^EN4:68 and if you are sick or on a journey or if any one of you has relieved himself or you have touched women^EN4:69 and you can find no water, then cleanse yourself with pure dust by rubbing it on your face and hands,^EN4:70 no doubt Allah is Lenient and Forgiving." 04:43

EN004:65: This is the second Commandment about drinking. The first Commandment (02:219) was that drinking is an evil thing and Allah does not approve of it. Accordingly some of the Muslims began to refrain from it from that time. The majority of the, however, did not give it up and offered Prayer in a state of intoxication and made blunders in their recitations. Probably, this second Commandment came in the beginning of 4 A.H. and prohibited the offering of Prayer while one was drunk. As a result of this, they changed the timings of their drinking so as not to clash with the timings of Prayer. Some time after this, the Commandment about total prohibition was sent down (05:90, 05:91).

Incidentally, the word sukr (state of intoxication) used in the Arabic text implies that this Commandment prohibits not only drinking but every kind of intoxicant. Moreover, though every intoxicating thing is itself unlawful, the offence of intoxication is doubled and becomes more heinous, when prayer is offered in such a state.

EN004:66: - For the same reason, the Holy Prophet has instructed that when one feels sleepy, doses again and again during Prayer, he should give up his Prayer and go to sleep.

Some people argue from this verse that the Prayer of one, who does not know the meaning of its Arabic Text, is no Prayer at all. Apart form the fact that it is unnecessarily hardship, the Arabic words of the Qur'an do not support this version. The Qur'an does not say, 'unless you understand its meaning" or 'unless you understand what you are saying' but it says 'unless you know what you are saying'. That is, one should be in his senses to know what he is uttering with his tongue lest he should recite, say, a poem, instead of the text of the Prayer.

"You are forbidden carrion^EN005:9 and blood, the flesh of swine and of the animal which has been slaughtered in any other name than that of Allah,^EN005:10 and of the strangled animal, and of the beaten to death or killed by a fall or gored to death or mangled by a beast of prey - save of that you duly slaughtered while it was still alive^EN005:11 and of that which is slaughtered at (ungodly) shrines.^{EN005:12, EN005:13} It is also unlawful for you to try to find your fortune by means of divining devices,^EN005:14 for all these things are sinful acts. Today the disbelievers have despaired of (vanquishing) your religion; therefore do not fear them but fear Me.^EN005:15 Today I have perfected your religion for you and completed my blessing on you and approved Islam as the way of life for you. (See Al-Maidah Footnote 16). (Therefore observe the limits prescribed by the law); if, however, one, dying of hunger, eats of any of these forbidden things, provided that he is not inclined towards sin, he will find Allah Forgiving and Compassionate.^EN005:17. 05:03

EN005:12: The Arabic word nusub applies to all those places which have been specifically dedicated to any saint or god, etc., for making offerings to them or for any other kind of ungodly worship whether there is or is not any sort of stone or wooden idol therein.

EN005:13:In this connection, it should be clearly understood that the limits prescribed by the law for making eatables lawful or unlawful are not laid down from the point of view of physical health but form the moral and spiritual point of view. As regards the matter concerning physical health, these have been left to man's own judgment and discretion. It is his own business to find out what things are useful or harmful for his physical health and nourishment and the law does not take responsibility for his guidance in this respect. Had it done so, poison would have been the first thing to be made unlawful, but there is absolutely no mention of this or other deadly things in the Qur'an or the Traditions. The law is only concerned about what is morally or spiritually harmful or beneficial and also about the right or wrong means for obtaining lawful things. It is obvious that man has no means of finding out these things by himself and is consequently liable to commit errors in this matter without the guidance of the Law. For whatever has been prohibited, has been forbidden because it is harmful from the point of view cleanliness or morality or belief. On the other hand, whatever has been made lawful, has been made so because it is free from all these evils.

One might ask why Allah has not explained the philosophy underlying the prohibition of certain things for the clear understanding of the people. This is because it is not possible for mankind to comprehend this. For instance, it is not possible for us to make a research into the nature of moral evils that are produced by eating carrion, blood or the flesh of swine nor is it easy to find out how they are produced and to what extent, because we have no means of measuring or weighing morality. It is, therefore, obvious that, even if their evil effects had been explained, the position of the sceptic would have remained the same as before for the lack of means of testing their veracity.

This is why Allah has declared the observance of the limits prescribed for the lawful and the unlawful as a matter of belief. One, who believes in the Qur'an as the Book of God and in the Holy Prophet as His Messenger and in Allah as All-Knowing and All-Wise, will observe the prescribed limits whether one understands their philosophy or not. On the other hand, if one does not believe in this basic creed, one will avoid only those things which are harmful according to the human knowledge and will go on suffering from the consequences of those things which man has not learnt to be harmful.

EN005:14 - This verse (05:03) comprises three categories of prohibitions:

(1)     It prohibits the pagan ways of taking omens from a god or a goddess and the like, about one's fortune or getting indications as to the future or deciding disputes. For instance, the pagan Quraish of Makkah had specified the idol of Hubal at the Ka'abah for this purpose and kept near it seven divining arrows. They would, after presenting the offering to the priest and performing certain ceremonies, pull out an arrow and regard the words engraved on it as the verdict of Hubal.

(2)     The second category consists of the superstitious ways and irrational methods of taking decisions about the daily problems of life for anything regarded as portending good or evil regardless of reason or knowledge, or of finding out future events blindly by the ominous significance of particular things, circumstances, occurrences or proceedings or the like. In short, it included all the so-called arts of predictions and prophetic significance.

(3)     The third category includes all kinds of gambling in which the distribution of things etc., is based on mere chance and not on merit, right, service or other rational consideration. For instance, all the schemes of lottery which entitle a certain holder of a ticket to a prize merely on chance, and at the expense of a large number of other holders of such tickets, or the ward of the prizes for cross-word puzzles in which a certain answer out of a large number of correct ones corresponds, by mere chance, to the answer that has been ear-marked as correct for the purpose - all these things are unlawful.

However, one simple form of casting lots is lawful in Islam, when there are two equally lawful things or rights and there is no rational method of deciding between them. Supposing two persons have equal rights, in every respect, to something and the judge finds no rational justification to give preference to either of the disputants, neither of whom is willing to forfeit his right. In such case, if they mutually agree, the matter may be decided by casting lots. Or if one has to choose one of the two lawful things and is in difficulty in regard to the choice, one is allowed to cast lots for it. The Holy Prophet adopted this method on such occasions as required a choice to be made between two persons with equal rights, whenever he thought that if he himself decided in favor one, the other might be grieved.

"O Believers, wine, gambling, (ungodly) shrines and divining devices are all abominable works of Satan:^EN005:108 therefore, refrain from these so that you may attain true successes.^EN005:109 05:90

EN005:108 - Please refer to Footnote 12 and 14 of this Surah for the meaning of ansab (ungodly shrines), azlam (method of divination) and maisar (gambling). Though azlam, divination, is its very nature a form of gambling, three is slight difference between it and maisar. Azlam applies to those forms of divination and casting lots, which are tinged with shirk and superstition and maisar applies to all those forms by which wealth is acquired or divided by devices of chance.

Indeed Satan intends to sow enmity and hatred among you by means of wine and gambling, and to prevent you from the remembrance of Allah and from Prayer. Will you not, therefore abstain from these things? 05:91

EN005:109 - In this verse four things have been made absolutely unlawful. They are wine, gambling, ungodly shrines (which are dedicated to the worship of others than Allah and in which sacrifices are made and offerings given in the name of others than Allah) and divining devices. The nature of the last three has already been explained. Here are details of the Commandment about wine.

Before making wine absolutely unlawful, two other Commandments had already been given (02:219, 05:43). Before the last Commandment was given, the Holy Prophet addressed the people in order to prepare them for its absolute prohibition. He warned and said, "Allah does not like at all that people should drink wine. Probably absolute prohibition will soon be prescribed: therefore, those who possess wine are advised to sell it." Some time after this, when 5:90 was sent down he declared, "Now those who possess wine, can neither drink it nor sell it. They should, therefore throw it away." Some people, however, asked the Holy Prophet, "May we give it as a present to the Jews?" He replied, "The One who has made it unlawful has also forbidden to give it as a present." Others asked, "May we convert it into vinegar?" he replied, "No, you must spill it." Another asked again and again, "Is one permitted to use wine as medicine." The Holy Prophet emphatically rejected this also and said, "No, it is not a medicine but a disease." Yet another asked, "Sir, we live in a place, which is very cold, and we have to do tiresome labor. So we drink wine to refresh ourselves from fatigue and keep warm in the cold." He said, "Is what you drink intoxicant?" The man said, "Yes." Then the Holy Prophet replied, "Refrain from it." At this the man said, "The people of our part of the country will not submit to this." He replied, "If they do not submit to this, then go to war against them."

According to a Tradition related by Ibn 'Umar, the Holy Prophet declared, "Allah has cursed wine and the one who drinks it and the one who serves it and the one who sells it and the one who buys it and the one who extracts it and the one who has it extracted and the one who carries it and the one for whom it is carried."

According to another Tradition, the Holy Prophet prohibited the Muslims from eating that food which is served along with wine. In the initial stage of the prohibition, he forbad even the use of those utensils which were employed for extraction wine or for drinking it. Afterwards when the prohibition had become thoroughly effective, the use of such utensils was permitted.

Though originally the Arabic word khamr meant only wine, it was also applied to the liquors made from wheat, barley, dried grapes, dates, and honey but the Holy Prophet applied the prohibition to all the intoxicants, and there are Traditions that clearly support this. For instance, "Every intoxicant is wine and is unlawful." "Every drink that intoxicates is unlawful." "I prohibit every intoxicant." In one of his Friday sermons, Caliph 'Umar defined khamr as everything that dulls the faculty of thinking.

In this connection, the Holy Prophet laid down the general principle: if a large does of something is intoxicant, then even its smallest dose is unlawful, and if a cup of anything is intoxicant, then even a drop of it is also unlawful.

During the time of the Holy Prophet, there was no fixed punishment for a drunkard. The culprit, who was arrested and brought for trial, was beaten with shoes, kicked, given blows, and thrashed with sticks and ropes. Forty stripes were the maximum punishment given for this crime. The same was the punishment during the early days of Caliph "Umar. But when he saw that the crime was on the increase, he in consultation with the other companions, laid down eight strips for this.

Imam Malik and Imam Abu Hanifah and according to a tradition, Imam Shafi'i, were of the same opinion. But Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal and, according to another tradition, Imam Shafi'I also, were of the opinion that forty stripes should be inflicted for the crime of drinking. Caliph 'Ali also considered forty stripes to be the punishment for it.

According to the Shari'ah, it is the duty of the Islamic State to enforce prohibition. That is why during the time of Caliph 'Umar, the shop of a man, named Ruvaishid, who belonged to the clan of Bani-Thaqif, was burnt by his order, because wine was secretly extracted and sold there.