AL-KHAMR

Immediate Submission of the Companions to the Commandment declaring Wine Unlawful

            Anas bin Malik(Allah be pleased with him) reported : I was the cup-bearer of some people in the house of Abu Talha(Allah be pleased with him) on the day when liquor was forbidden.  I was serving a specially prepared strong liquor of fermented date-palm to a group of leading men like Abu Dujana, Abu ‘Ubaida ibn Jarah, Mu’adh bin Jabal(Allah be pleased with them).  As the alcoholic drink started to show its effects on the guests as announcement was heard : “surely Al-Khamr has been declared unlawful.”  Anas (Allah be pleased with him) said : “We threw away the remaining liquor in our cups and broke the pots in which other drinks were being fermented.”  Some of the men performed ablution to purify  themselves from a drink they had been guiltlessly taking only a few moments before.  Others washed their whole bodies in an act of purification.  They perfumed themselves and walked to the Mosque of Medina to see the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

            Hadrat Anas (Allah be pleased with him) reported :”I was serving people with wine in the house of Abu Talha-and in those days wine was fadikh(date-wine)-that the Holy Prophet(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ordered an announcer to announce: “Lo, verily, wine has been declared unlawful”.  On this Abu Talha said :“Come out and split it down.”  “So I went out and poured it down.” (Bukhari)                                                                                        

            Hadarat Abu Buraida reported his father saying : As we were sitting around our wine, while we were on a  tillah  and were three or four(Companions) and we had jars ( of wine) and we used to drink wine lawfully, I stood up till the Holy Prophet(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came when the (ordinance of) unlawfulness of wine had been revealed.  So I came to my Companions and recited that Commandments to them.  They poured down wine from their jars and exclaimed :

                  “We have abstained, we have abstained.”

            Hadrat ibn ‘Abus (Allah be please with him) reported that as the Commandment regarding unlawfulness of wine was revealed the Companions went to one another and declared : “Wine has been prohibited and is tantamount to polystheism.(Tibrani)

            As the Verses 5: 90,91 were revealed, these were recited to Hadrat ‘Uma (Allah be pleased with him) upto the words “Then will ye(not) shun ?” Upon this he said : “We have abstained ; we have abstained.”

          From these events you can well imagine the great impact of the Holy Qur’an on the hearts of the believers in the early age of Islam.  Allah, the Exalted says :

 “Verily, the believers are those whose hearts feel fear when Allah is mentioned and when the revelations are recited unto them, they increase their faith, and who trust their Lord.”   (8:2)

Again Allah Almighty says :

             “And had We caused this Qur’an to descend upon a mountain thou (O Prophet) would have seen it humbled, rent asunder by fear of Allah.  Such similitudes coin We for mankind that haply they may reflect.” (59:21)  

   

 

Wine is no Cure for Diseases but an Ailment

The jurists are at variance among themselves regarding cure by wine, filt and poison.  Some jurists have declared it lawful while others have held such a cure as unlawful.

            The most correct view in this context is that such a cure is permissible under pressing circumstances for in Bukhari and Muslim we find a tradition  that some people of ‘Arina reached Medina but the climate of the town did not suit them and their complexion of face turned pale and they suffered flatulence.  Upon this the Holy Prophet(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) advised them to go to the camels of charity and drink their urine and milk.  They went their and drank urine and milk by which they were cured.

            The tradition deals with the compelling circumstances which rendered unlawful food and drink as permissible on the authority of the Qur’anic verse:

              “And He hath expounded unto you what he hath declared unlawful for you save that which you are compelled unto”.   (6:119)

            But cure by wine is discretional as it is drunk to make stomach strong for which there is no authority in the Islamic Shari’ah.  Cure by wine is, therefore, unlawful because Hadrat Umm Salama (Allah be pleased with her) has reported:

               “My daughter complained to me of sickness.  So I prepared nabith for her in an earthen pot.  As it was boiling, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to me and asked :  “What is this, Umm Slama ?” I told him that I cured my daughter by that (nabith).  Upon this Allah’s Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)  said : “Allah has not laid the cure of (the disease of) my ummath in things that He has declared unlawful.”

            Dailama al-Humairi(Allah be pleased with him) reported : I asked the Holy Prophet (peace and blesings of Allah be upon him) about some problem and said : “we live in a cold place and we do hard work there and we prepare wine from wheat, which gives us strength in our works and in the chill of our cities.  Upon this the Holy Prophet(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said :  Does it intoxicate ? “Yes”, said I.   The Holy Prophet(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said : Give it up.  I said, ”People cannot give it up.”  Upon the Holy Prophet(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) remarked :If they do not give it up, then fight with them. (Abu Dawud)                                                                    

            Abu Darda ‘(Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Holy Prophet(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said :”Verily, Allah sent down ailment and cure (thereof).  So he made a cure for every ailment.  So seek cure but seek not cure by unlawful things.” (Abu Dawud)                            

            Wa’il al-Hadrami (Allah be pleased with him) reported that Tariq b. Suwaid al-Ju’fi(Allah be pleased with him) asked Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about wine and he forbade (its use) and he expressed  hatred that it should be prepared.  Al-Ju’fi said, “I prepare it as a medicine whereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said :  It is no medicine, but an ailment.  (Muslim and Abu Dawud)