5. Drinking
One of the most important objectives of Islam is the realization of human welfare and the avoidance of what is harmful. Because of this, it “permits good things and prohibits harmful things.” Islam, thus, protects the lives of people as well as their rational faculties, wealth, and reputations. The prohibition of wine and the punishment for drinking it are among the laws that clearly show Islam’s concern for these matters, because wine is destructive of all the universal needs, having the potential to destroy life, wealth, intellect, reputation, and religion.
It may seem, at first glance, that drinking is damaging only to the intellect. In truth, it is equally destructive to life, wealth, reputation, and religion. This is because the habitual drinker becomes enslaved to his base desires, unable to entertain a higher thought or a noble purpose. In this way, his emotional sentiments are extinguished and his religious sensitivities are dulled so that they might never be revived. It is destructive of life. It causes incurable, fatal illnesses, above and beyond the damage it causes by provoking all sorts of conflict.
It removes from the human being that singular human quality of reason, by which man subjugates to his benefit everything in the Earth, and by removing this faculty, it makes him more akin to the beasts. It weakens the value of social bonds, causing enmity and hatred between people, especially if we consider the words and actions that the drinker often directs at others. These problems are the cause of a lot of harm and detriment. Therefore, Islam has decisively forbidden the use of wine.
Allah says: "O you who believe! Verily wine, gambling, idols, and divination are but the abominations of Satan’s handiwork, so abandon these things that perchance you will be successful. Satan only wishes to cause enmity and hatred between you through wine and gambling and to prevent you from the remembrance of Allah and prayer. Will you not then desist?" Since wine causes all of this material and spiritual harm, Islamic Law has imposed upon the drinker a fixed punishment.
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