Verses and Translation

يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ إِنَّمَا ٱلۡخَمۡرُ وَٱلۡمَيۡسِرُ وَٱلۡأَنصَابُ وَٱلۡأَزۡلَـٰمُ رِجۡسٌ۬ مِّنۡ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيۡطَـٰنِ فَٱجۡتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ (٩٠)

“O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.”

Commentary

Please refer to end notes 12 and 14 of this surah for the meaning of ansab (ungodly shrines), azlam (methods of divination) and maisar (gambling). Though azlam, divination, is in its very nature a form of gambling, there is a slight difference between it and maisar. Azlam applies to those forms of divination and casting of 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.

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 the details of the Commandment about wine.

Before making wine absolutely unlawful in this verse, two other commandments concerning its prohibition had already been given twice previously. Before this last commandment was given, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) 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 verse 90 was sent down he declared. “Now those who possess wine, can neither drink it nor sell it; they should, therefore, throw it away.” Accordingly it was spilt in the streets of Madinah to run wastefully. Some people, however, asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), “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 Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) emphatically rejected this also and said, “No, it is not a medicine but a disease.” Yet another asked, “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 to keep warm in the cold.” He asked, “Is what you drink intoxicant?” The man replied, “Yes.” The Holy Prophet replied, “Then 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 with them.”

According to a tradition related by Ibn Umar, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) 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 carried it and the one for whom it is carried.”

According to another tradition the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prohibited the Muslims from eating the food which is served along with wine. In the initial stage of the prohibition, he forbade even the use of those utensils which were employed for extracting 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 made from grapes and it was also applied to the liquors made from wheat, barley, dried grapes, dates and honey. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) applied the prohibition to all the intoxicants and there are traditions that clearly support this. For instance, “Every intoxicant is khamr and is unlawful.” “Every drink that intoxicates is unlawful.” “I prohibit every intoxicant.” In one of his Friday sermons, the 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 dose of something is intoxicant, then its smallest dose also is unlawful, and if a cup of anything is intoxicant, then a drop of it also is unlawful. [Maududi]

 

Foundational Attributes

character, dignity, self-discipline