One Glass Too Many....The Islamic View on The Prohibition of Alcohol
by
Sahib Mustaqim Bleher
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.