One Glass Too Many....The Islamic View on The Prohibition of Alcohol
[click here for print version]
Everybody would
admit that there are problems with alcohol. Drink driving for example. Or
violent crimes in which alcohol abuse plays a part. Yet most agree that
the moderate consumption of alcohol as is customary in our society does
not do much harm. Let's take a hard look at the facts:
Alcohol is a bigger problem
than we tend to admit, and it starts at an early age. According to
government publications on the state of public health (1993) 20% of 9- to
15-year olds have had their first alcoholic drink by the age of 8, and 89%
by the age of 15. 12% (more than one tenth!) of 11- to 15-year olds are
regular drinkers. And according to "Social Trends" (HMSO 1994), almost a
third of the males living in Britain consume alcohol above sensible limits
(consumption above sensible limits is lower in women with 11% of the
total). Besides clear convictions for drunkenness or drink driving, courts
are kept busy with numerous offenses committed under the influence of
alcohol, from domestic violence (including child battering) to serious
vandalism or grievous bodily harm. The government's health and safety
executive jointly with the health departments and departments of
employment had to publish policies on the "problem drinker at work", and
the National Health Service spends large amounts of scarce resources on
illnesses caused or exacerbated by alcohol. Every Christmas there is a
nation-wide campaign against drink-driving. Governmental representatives
lament the state of the nation's health and drinking habits, but they
don't do much more: There is a great deal of tax revenue in the sale of
alcoholic beverages.
Islam takes a different view.
It values the moral and spiritual health of a nation as much as its
physical well-being. It considers anything that interferes with the normal
working of the mind, numbs our senses, thereby reducing our level of shame
or responsibility, or clouds our perception as harmful (this includes
alcohol as well as other drugs altering the mind). And recognising that
different people react quite differently to the same stimulant, it does
not leave the judgment, as to how much is acceptable to them. Too many
people thought they had control over their drinking habit, yet ended up
having "one glass too many". Islam categorically states that if a
substance can destroy the clarity of the mind in large quantities, it is
harmful even in minute quantities. Islam, therefore, advocates a total
prohibition of narcotic drugs, including alcohol. It forbids the use, not
just the abuse of these
substances.
Many would by now point to the
prohibition period in America and how it utterly failed by driving the
habit underground. As God is aware of human nature, Islam acknowledges how
entrenched such habits can be in people and that they cannot be changes
overnight. The gradual prohibition of alcohol has to go hand in hand with
an educational campaign to build a moral awareness and spiritual identity
in our society. When Islam was first established over fourteen centuries
ago in Arabia, continuing the Judeo-Christian tradition of prophets from
Abraham over Moses, Jesus to Muhammad - peace be upon them all -, the harm
that alcohol caused was well recognised, but it was not immediately
eradicated. In a first revelation, the Qur'an, the Holy Book for Muslims,
acknowledged the benefits of alcohol (for example its medical
applications), but pointed out that its harms out-weighed those benefits
by far. Next, it forbade believers from praying whilst under the influence
of alcohol, thus making it clear that spirituality and drunkenness don't
mix. Finally, many years later, was altogether prohibited as the handiwork
of the devil. By then the early Muslims who had lived through the
spiritual and moral teachings of the prophet Muhammad - peace be upon him
- had realised the harms of the drug as well as the benefits of the
Islamic system of values as the foundation of a strong and caring society.
They happily spilled whatever alcoholic beverage was left in their
possession, and the streets of Medinah were reported as having been awash
with the stuff.
Modern society has come a long way since those days. We pride ourselves of great technical achievements. Yet we have also fallen back into the evils of drunkenness and the harm it does to so many people, because we have lost our moral conscience and sense of direction. We forgot that there is more to human civilisation than material advancement. Drained of true humanity, many seek escape and consolation in drink and drugs. However, this situation is not irreversible. Whilst the hypocritical approach of the American prohibition, where law enforcement agencies collided with gangster syndicates, was bound to fail, Islam shows the way how a pure and content society can be build which need not be ashamed of its darker side and need not numb its senses in guilt and desperation. Next time, before you tend to drown your worries in another glass, to be followed by another, and yet another, put it down and find out about the Islamic alternative.
