ALCOHOL EDUCATION IN ISLAM  

Edited by: Engineer Afsaneh Cooper  

Islam and Alcoholic drinks1 Islam is a faith which appeals to reason and conscience. Since alcohol is injurious to reason and diminishes a man's intelligence, moral sense, logical powers and spiritual sensitiveness, any drop of it is strictly forbidden to any Muslim.

It is tragic to think of the millions of litres of spirituous liquors consumed. The sole result is that they deprive the world of a portion of that mature manliness which distinguishes the human from the animal. They can hinder mankind's attainment of that pure and acceptable destiny of perfection which was God's plan.

Islam appeared in a society in which alcohol was rife - and not only forbade the filthy habit but was able to extirpate it with the ignorance and corruption, the selfishness, violence and resultant misery which it had caused. All this blessed benefaction to mankind was started by one inspired man, one man of God who by the strength of his faith revolted against the tyranny of addiction and called men to freedom from slavery to such petty liquids, setting them on the royal road to life.

He showed that intoxication is a sin, explained its harmful nature and destructive powers, and issued his prohibition in the light of an appeal to commonsense and to conscience. In the Sura "The Table Spread" (Maida V: 9) it was revealed through him: "Intoxicants ... excite enmity and hatred amongst you and hinder you from the remembrance enmity and hatred amongst you and hinder you from the remembrance of God and from the fulfilment of His commands and statutes ; and slavery to them diverts you from the sole road of happiness and leads to excess and abomination."

A group who were busy drinking at the moment when this passage was revealed and uttered, promptly under its influence went into the streets and broke the vessels containing intoxicating liquors and spilt their contents on the ground. It was related by Uns bin Malek that: "When that verse was revealed we were holding a drinking party in the house of Abu Talahe' when the Prophet's voice reached us, calling: 'O Muslims! Take note that intoxicants are a forbidden sin and should be poured out in the streets! 'Abu Talahe' asked me to take all the intoxicants from his house and pour them out for him, which I did, taking them into the street where some of the bottles broke while others were washed and cleansed. So much was poured out on the streets of Medina that day that for a long time thereafter, whenever it rained, the colour and smell of the wine came up from the ground."

The prohibition was obeyed with rapidity throughout all lhe lands under Islamic sway; a swelling tide of character and pursuit of higher intellectual, social and industrial objectives swiftly followed.

To this very day Muslims are to be found in every corner of the world who have jealously guarded their lips and lives from the contamination of alcohol. Indeed. for many of them the mere thought of touching the stuff has never entered their minds. So profoundly endemic has the sounder habit become.

One of the defects of human laws is that the capricious changeableness of human nature affects them. For instance, when America introduced prohibition and tried to enforce it by police methods, the result was the opposite of that which was desired ; and bootlegging, contraband and illegal consumption of liquor loosened respect not merely for that law, but for all law, while social behaviour and morals slid downhill at avalanche speed. Islam was successful in enforcing prohibition because it came with the force of a divine command, a God-inspired statute, interpreted to men in the light of reason and commonsense.

It is true that in America many wellmeaning people had undertaken a far-reaching propaganda throughout the states against spirituous liquors, with books and films and speeches. for a decade. trying to explain the injuries to the spirit, to the body, to morals and to the finances of the individual and the nation which alcohol causes. The trouble was that the American efforts had their origin in the human idealism of a majority, who voted the 18th (Prohibition) Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1918. An agonising reappraisal was forced upon these idealists after 14 years of tragic experience: and in 1933 they were compelled to revoke Prohibition.

Their experience proved the ancient rule that lawgiving which goes too far beyond the moral level of the governed, provokes a human reaction which not only brings the particular law into disrepute. but the whole body of law with it ; and a foul mob of unscrupulous gangsters rises to pander to the illicit desires which no legislation can extirpate. These mobs fight each other for control of the vast profits which come from moonshining and from bootlegging, and all the contraband that smuggles the object of unregenerate human craving.

How different is Islam's dependence on basic unalterable principles divinely dictated, germane to the inner essence of human nature in its creation, talents and destiny, and therefore those by which any sound human community must live. These are expressed in a flat, matter-of-fact pronouncement which reason comprehends and commonsense accepts as true. No propaganda - no expensive advertising - just a simple statement of a divine decree by God's Prophet (on whom be peace). No man-pleasing- no pandering to human frailty- no eye-service - no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. It is not fear of punishment but love of God which keeps Muslims on the strait and narrow.

No human legislation can hope to track down every wrongdoer and transgressor, let alone exact from each his condign punishment. It is easy to dodge the eye of human law. But the eye of God is everywhere at all times. The Muslim's conscience knows this, and in reverence obeys in private as well as in public. The censor and the lawgiver is within him. The orderliness of God's creations is spread before his eyes, and he knows he should reflect a similar divine order in his private life and in the life of the society of which he is a part. The same Providence which supplies the commandment also supplies the spiritual power to put it into practice. For He is "King of doomsday and Master of both worlds"- this present and the next.

In such divinely inspired law, man finds the security which the mariner or the traveller over the trackless desert finds in the unmovable polestar. Such a law does not change with fashion or passion. It is outside and above the chops and changes of human caprice. It is the expression of a realistic assessment of man in the light of truth. It calls him to express that truth in his living and thinking - truth which is the sustenance of the soul, eternal, impassible, transcendent over winds of change and the transports of selfwill.

Voltaire wrote: "Islam takes its faith seriously, and therefore puts the ban of sacrilege on habits like gambling and alcohol; and dubs them mere carnal gaming."  Jules la Boum writes: "Pre-Muslim Arabs drank to excess, gambled, took as many women to wife as they liked, and divorced whenever they felt like it. Widows were part of the patrimony of the heir, who married or sold them as he saw most profitable. Islam changed all that." Professor Edward Montay adds: "The Qur'an forbade human sacrifice and the exposure of unwanted daughters, alcohol and many other degrading practices. The consequent advance in culture is so great as to win the Prophet the title of one of the biggest benefactors of the human race known to history."

Power to overcome2 Unfortunately, most people regard drinking as the "In" thing to do. They want to belong to society. They want to be counted as "moderns" and "progressives". They have no guts and no willpower to stand up and be counted. They cannot say a loud and resounding No to the poison.

This evil habit can start with one drink. Once you start you are hooked for life on booze. No alcoholic can overcome his problem until he is willing to face it. He himself must make his decision and Act.

First, he must create in himself the Desire to quit drinking. In the language of the Qur'an this is called Repentance. The drinker must realise that he is doing wrong. He must repent. He must turn to God for strength to master the bottle.

Experience proves that the Only way you can conquer your problem is Total Abstinence. "Regulating" the drinking is No answer. He must not deceive himself that "one little drink won't hurt".

To millions alcohol has become a false God, an ever present source of comfort and help! Whenever they feel defeated, despondent, depressed or discouraged, they turn to alcohol - Not to God, - for solace and comfort. Alcoholism has become an idol! Alcohol is a vicious idol, it traps, ensnares and enslaves. Alcoholism is just another form of Slavery.

Forces that destroy a nation2: 1.  Alcohol - The instrument of oppression  

The manufacturers of liquor have no qualms. For all they care the whole nation can drown, as long as they make their Profits! They declare openly: "We have no guilt feelings". To popularise liquor they sponsor sports: cricket, soccer, tennis, rugby etc. So they can catch them young!

South Africa's Blacks are spending a staggering R1,000 Million Rand a year on liquor. Liquor costs South Africa 500 Million Rand every year in accidents, broken homes and broken lives. Most road accidents are caused by persons under the influence of Liquor. A car driven by a drunken driver becomes a Coffin. All will agree that this hard earned money is going down the drain. Just stop to think. If the Blacks could only save half of the above amount every year, what could they Not Do with the money. Some of the things on which this money could be beneficially spent are :-

1. Help feed the approximately 50,000 Black children who die every year of hunger, kwashiorkor and other diseases.

2. Provide the bare essentials of life to thousands of deprived children.

3. Provide warm clothing in our severe winters: provide school text books, transport etc.   

4. Thousands of children could do with good nourishing food.

5. Thousands of children could do with medicines and medical attention.

Alcohol is a disease. Who benefits? If this waste of money was protecting the weak, helping the poor, healing the sick, helping widows and orphans, generating employment, diminishing misery and creating happiness - it might be defended.

So give up Alcohol and put your money on your most precious asset: Your children.

Liquor depresses and brings about the most devastating changes in the brain. It is the cause of more than 70% of divorces and broken homes.

Alcohol cause sexual impotence in men. In the United States of America more than 90% of regular drinkers are sexually impotent by the age of 40,  Booze equals castration!

Children born to women who drink are usually mentally retarded; have genital defects and holes in hearts and are smaller and lesser in weight than normal babies.

Liquor is a major factor in heart diseases, liver diseases, and diseases of the stomach and pancreas.

Dr Charles Richet of Paris Nobel prize winner of Physiology said:

"Alcohol, paralyses the senses, makes one lurch and vomit, extinguishes the feeble glimmer of reason which flickers in our poor minds. It soon overcomes the strongest man, and turns him into a raging beast who, with empurpled face and bloodshot eyes, bellows forth oaths and threats against his surroundings and insults imaginary enemies. Never in any animal species, not among pigs, nor jackals nor donkeys, is such ignominy to be found. The ugliest thing in creation is a drunkard, a repulsive being, the sight of whom makes one ashamed to belong to the same living species. 

Islam's approach to the problem of drink The first hint regarding the evil of drink was in a general command to the effect: Say, "Verily did prohibit my Lord shameful deeds those apparent of them and those concealed, and sin and rebellion without (any) right, and that ye associate with Allah, for which hath not been sent down any authority and that ye say against Allah what ye know not " (Al-Qur'an 7:33)

This general command includes all kinds of indecencies and the scholars of exegesis, particularly take the word "them" sin to refer to drink.

This general command is made more explicit in verse No. 219 of the Chapter Al-Baqarah, which makes the positions vis-a-vis all kinds of intoxicants more c!ear. It is to the effect,

"They ask you, concerning wine and lots (gambling and games of chance), say in both these is great sin, and also (some) profits for men, but their sin is greater than their profit". (Al-Qur'an 2:219).

Here we have a clear indication of the attitude of Islam, towards two of the vilest evils, which corrupt human society, with the revelation of this verse, many of the believers gave up drinking, becoming fully conscious of the underlying force of the verse.

It has been related that in the absence of a categorical prohibition, the use of liquor in social gathering did not cease. In a certain assembly, it so happened that under the influence of drink, the prayers were conducted in an atmosphere lacking decorum and due reverence, whereupon the Divine Command was issued more categorically in regard to the use of drink at prayer times, to the following effect:

"O ye who believe! Approach not prayer when ye are intoxicated, until ye know (well) what ye say." (Al-Qur'an 4:43).

This command practically decided the attitude of Islam, and the believers began to expect the final categorical word of prohibition, which came in due course, in the following strain:

"O ye who believe! Intoxicants and games of chance. (dedication of) stones (i.e., idols) and (divination by) arrows, are only an abomination of Satan's handi-work, so be ye away from it. So that ye may be successful (Al-Qur'an 5:93).

And with this final verdict alcohol and other specified evils vanished from the Muslim Society, as by a magic wand, The announcement of the ban effectively sealed the fate of the evil. And how did Islam achieve its unique civilisation? This question baffles the modern social worker, who finds it hard to convince the victims to slow down to moderation in not only drinks but other obnoxious habits as well. It was a process of educating and gradually disciplining the minds of the votaries of Islam to generally submit to Divine dispensations unconditionally, without demur. They were taught and trained to see that the evanescent pleasures of the moment were of no weight as compared with higher happiness that comes of absolute submission to the commands of the Almighty Allah. With this mental equipment they could stand any incitement of the devil, including the inviting pleasures of self-forgetfulness in drink.

They were disciplined in the fundamentals of healthful living, as directly flowing from obedience to Divine Laws, which to them were the source of pure good in this and the other life. This attitude on their part engendered a spirit of self control under all circumstances. They needed no persuasion or threats to refrain from or to undertake any activity demanded of them. The simple command or prohibition issuing from Divine Authority was their motive for action. Of course consequences followed that yielded them unexampled bliss in the present and of perfect hope for the future. Reality was unfolded to them in all iridescent magnificence, with an inviolable message of everlasting good. How could they then, be enamoured or the fleeting satisfaction of drink. They were freed of all worries and fears.from which the less fortunate seek an escape by flights from Reality into the Nirvan of self-forgetfulness. Even before the categorical command came round, the more sedate among them had taken to abstinence, taking their cue from the hints that were conveyed by revelation of verses, purporting to make them beware of the obnoxiousness of the evil.

The evil of drink is universally condemned by all sane religions of the world, and yet the votaries of Bacchus have been able to bribe the authorities in religion as well as in politics to manipulate the relevant commands of the scriptures to their own views. They manage to get the terms used by the scriptures in this behalf to mean something other than the intoxicants in favour with them. which they cleverly manoeuvre to get excluded from the operation of the Divine commandments. The relevant passages in the old as well as the New Testaments, are very explicit on the point of the evil of the intoxicants, despite whole-sale distortions in the text. very severe penalties are prescribed for the use of liquors by the old scriptures. Western mind, however, in mad pursuit of carnal pleasures, has thrown over-board the directives in this behalf, and plunged the society into a vortex of untold misery and affliction. In the short space here available, however, we cannot take stock of the Biblical views fully in the matter of alcoholic drinks. Suffice it to say, that every thing that is disturbing to the forceful relations of men, has been adequately provided against by Divine revelations, from the first day of the advent of man on this earth. Whether he would heed the exquisite guidance and reap supreme bliss of eternal life or not, is left to his free choice.

Here we may just refer to some of the amplifications of the Divine ban on the use of liquors, as made by the Holy Prophet (s.a.) and his own followers, reported in authentic books of (Ahadith) Traditions and the commentaries thereon.

These pronouncements may be classified as those that refer to the business of intoxicants in general - the manufacture, sale and handling, etc. of liquors - and those that relate to the physical, mental, moral, spiritual harm that results to the person using them. The Holy Prophet (s.a.) is reported to have said to the effect: Any thing that intoxicates a person, comes under the heading 'Khamr' (alcohol) and its use is unlawful. In another narration he (s.a.) is reported to have said to the following effect: Dealing in intoxicants is unlawful.

Anws bin Malek has reported that the Holy Prophet (s.a.), cursed ten people in connection with intoxicants: (i) One who distils liquor, (ii) The distillate itself, (iii) The one who drinks, (iv) The one who offers the liquor to others. (v) The one who carries liquor, (vi) The one for whom liquor is carried, (vii) The one who sells liquor, (viii) The one who buys liquor, (ix) The broker in the business of liquor, (x) Tho one who makes use of the sale proceeds of liquor.

Imam Hazrat Ja'far-as-Sadiq (a.s.) says of the one who drinks as one who worships idols, and he comes to suffer from involuntary jerks, and to sing all night, manliness and magnanimity he takes to vice, bloodiness and unlawful actions like fornication and every kind of villainy under the influence of drink.

The holy prophet (s.a.w.): After the divine ban on liquor through my word, it is not permissible to enter into matrimonial relations with one, who drinks liquor. or to credit his statement, or to accept any testimony of him, or to entrust him with any charge under an impression of his integrity, for then Allah will not guarantee his faith, nor recompense any one for it.

Hazrat Amirul Mominin Ali (a.s.) was asked if he (a.s.) regarded drinking as a more heinous sin than adultery. To this he (a.s.) replied that he (a.s.) did, because the vice of adultery did not incite the sinner to any other sin, while a drinker is led off to adultery, to thieving, to man slaughter as also to forsake prayers.

Hazrat Imam Baqir (a.s.): The drinker will rise black-faced on the Doomsday, with his tongue protruded from his mouth, dripping saliva on his chest - a state which the Al-mighty Allah is perfectly justified to place him in on the Day of Judgement.

The Holy Prophet (s.a.): The Almighty Allah has sent me to be a Mercy to the worlds, to ban the musical instruments, indecencies and the symbols of ignorance. The Almighty Allah, on oath says that He will make a person drink of the Hellish liquor, if he drinks wine in this word, whether he be of the condemned or the forgiven.

It was because of such stem views of Islam on drink, coupled With the fundamental teachings on discipline and moral training, that a problem which baffles modern man for a solution, was solved so effectively and finely.

Islam discountenances all intoxicants and the severest penalties are provided for those who transgress the limits in this behalf. Flogging is prescribed for the first offender and if the delinquent persists in his perverted taste, he is liable to the penalty of death even according to Islamic Laws.

It must, however, be emphasised in all matters of obligations and prohibitions that every commandment is enforced in the interests of the Society and the individuals composing it - to close all those avenues that lead to disorder and disintegration and to establish an orderly society on earth, working for the good of every one of its citizens.

The Western countries, infatuated with the powerful gadgets supplied by their technology and science proceeded to ignore the fundamental laws laid down by Benign Providence for man's good in the matter of alcohol and other allied misdemeanours. The recent events of their history have amply demonstrated the folly of such a course. They are now trying to retrieve their losses by recourse to half-hearted measures of propaganda and legislation, which, however, are leading them nowhere. Their helplessness is evidenced by the waves of crimes which sweep the body politic like night mares.

Had these people listened to the voice of reason, given by their religious scriptures, they would have avoided much or the unnecessary national and individual losses they have undergone. As Imam Baqir (a.s.) has declared, "Allah never raised any prophet, but with the knowledge that he would forbid the use of alcohol in the perfection of his faith, which has been in all ages forbidden." The Bible, though it has undergone whole-sale mutations and alterations, yet it is very clear in its verdict on the unlawfulness of alcohol as a drink. In verse No.20 of the Amthal Sulaiman (a.s.) we find a condemnation of the drunkards and the people are warned against keeping company with them. In verse 39, this condemnation is further amplified by using words which mean: For whom is stressful strife? For whom is rage as well as ill-luck? For whom is bodily injury? And for whom is redness of eyes? (Who through warped reason, and emotional instability is a source of bodily injury, even death to others and himself by his evil disposition). All such misdemeanours are the portions of the person who is habituated to drink. In the same context, Verses Nos. 31, 32, are to the effect, "Wine is rose-red in colour, which it displays in the bubbling goblet. It is clear and fine in appearance. Do not, however, cast a look at it, for it bites as a snake in the end and lashes like a viper". In verse 20 is laid down the penalty for the drunkard which is no less severe than the stoning to death of the offender.

In the gospel of Lucus, Chapter I, verse 15, we find, "He is dignified in the eyes of his Lord. He touches not drink or any other intoxicant He is overflowing with the light of pure spirit".

In the book of Yulees, Chapter V, Verse 18, the words are to the effect.

"Do not get the intoxication of wine, for there is nothing but mischief therein. Rather betake yourself to the joys of the soul".

From the few references given above it will be seen that the revealed religions always looked with abhorrence on the evil of drink. They never allowed their followers to touch the unnatural substance to satisfy an unnatural craving, This has been the outlook of all sane persons throughout the ages, whether they belonged to any of the great religions, or they received the requisite guidance from their sturdy common sense, and powers of farsighted observation.

In countries where the evils of drink are being recognised in respect or its bearing on the bodily and mental health of the individuals and the moral and special implications of the same, great efforts are being made to control the evil. Prohibition. wherever tried, has resulted in intensifying the evil. Legislation is powerless as a preventive. The right approach is that adumbrated by Islam. which insists on the fundamental principle or all-reform - the reform of the soul - as pithily expressed by a great thinker, the soul of all improvement is the improvement of the soul.

  Punishments for drinking in Islam from judgements of Hazrat Ali (a.s.) The holy month of Ramazan  

Once the poet Najjashi was brought to Hazrat Ali (a.s.) with the accusation that he was found drunk during the holy month of Ramazan.

The accusation when proved, Hazrat Ali (a.s.) ordered for whipping the poet by eighty lashes which was carried out.

The next morning the poet was ordered for another twenty lashes. When Najjashi asked Hazrat Ali (a.s.) the cause of the extra twenty lashes, as the order of the Holy Qur'an in such cases was only eighty, the holy Imam (Hazrat Ali a.s.) replied:

"Twenty for discarding the chastity of the holy month of Ramazan.

The first case after the demise of the holy prophet (s.a.w.)  

A case was decided by Hazrat Ali (a.s.) in such a way that it was never decided before and that it was the first case after the demise of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.).

"During the caliphate of Abu Bakr, a man was found drunk and brought before the caliph, Abu Bakr, the Caliph asked him as to whether he had drunk wine. In reply the man admitted to have drunk.

The Caliph asked him :

"Why did you drink when it has been prohibited in Islam?

The man replied :

"I am residing in the neighbourhood of some people who are habitual drinkers. Although I am a Muslim, but I have never heard that wine has been prohibited in Islam".

Hearing this Abu Bakr looked at Omar with a question mark in his eyes.

Omar said :

"This is just one of the cases that no one else than Ali would decide".

When the case was referred to Hazrat Ali (a.s.), he sent the man round in the city with some people to ask the people as to whether any one had recited to him the verse of the holy Qur'an whereby wine was totally prohibited. And when it was proved that none had done so, the man was released with a warning never to drink in future".

A case of penalty with regard to drunkards:  

Four people drank wine, quarrelled among themselves and stabbed one another with the result that two of them died on the spot and two others who survived were wounded in the brawl.

Hazrat Ali (a.s.) ordered for eighty whips each to the wounded and also ordered them to pay the penalty to the inheritors of the deceased after deducting the penalty for their wounds. He also added that in case any of the wounded people or both of them died then inheritors had nothing to pay to the inheritors of the murdered.

According to another report he said that the penalty was due from all the four tribes of the people concerned. The amount of penalty which had to be paid to the wounded would however, be deducted from the total amount of penalty to be paid to the inheritors of the murdered because it was quite possible that they might have murdered each other,

Drinking (Alcohol) According to an order of Hazrat Ali (a.s.) if someone drinks once, twice or thrice he will be punished by eighty whips each time, but if he repeats the crime for the fourth time he will be beheaded (this is a tradition in a Islamic book from 1400 years ago and not our practice in 2013).

Driving wrong meaning from the verses of the holy Qur'an During the Caliphate of Omar, Qudama bin Mazoom drank wine. The Caliph (Omar) wanted to punish him by whipping, but the accused Qudama recited the following verse from the Holy Qur'an: 

"There is no harm if the believers and those who do good deeds eat and drink according to their own choice, provided they continue fearing Allah and doing good deeds".

Having heard of the above verse beautifully pronounced by Qudama as an argument in his favour  Omar forgave him and acquitted him of the charge of drinking.

When Hazrat Ali (a.s.) heard of it, he said to Omar :

"Qudama does not come under the definition of those who have been mentioned in the verse in question and therefore certainly not under declaration made therein as the very first words of the verse refers to those who do not lead a prohibited way of life and abstain from what has been forbidden by Allah.

Proceeding further Hazrat Ali (a.s.) asked Omar as to how a person who does not care for the commandments of Allah could come under this declaration by Allah in the Holy Qur'an. Therefore, Qudama must offer penitence, otherwise, he does not remain a Muslim and has to be beheaded.

When Qudama heard of this, he came at once and offered penitence. Omar hearing this well argued point from Hazrat Ali (a.s.) wanted to punish Qudama For drinking as he had already offered

penitence for deriving wrong meaning from a verse of the Holy Qur'an, but he did not know the number of blows of whip to be struck on the .body of a person accused of drinking. He, therefore consulted Hazrat Ali (a.s.) in the matter.

Hazrat Ali (a.s.) explained it as under :

"After drinking one becomes intoxicated and under intoxication one is addicted to slandering, As the punishment for slandering is eighty strokes of a whip, the punishment for drinking if calculated in this way amounts to the same number of strokes by a whip i.e. eighty strokes.

Hazrat Omar punished Qudama accordingly.

From Qur'an (II: 219)   They ask thee (O' our Prophet Muhammad (s.a.) concerning wine and lots (gambling and games of chance); Say, in both these is great sin and also (some) profits for man; but their sin is greater than their profit.

(V: 90)   O' ye who believe: intoxicants and game of chance, dedication of stones (i.e. idols) and divination by arrows, are only an abomination of Satan' s handi-work, so be ye away from it so that ye may be successful.

(V: 91) The Satan only desireth to cause enmity and hatred in your midst through intoxicants and gambling and keeps you away from remembering Allah and from prayer; will ye then abstain (from them)?

(IV: 43)   O, ye who believe! approach not prayer when ye are intoxicated, until ye know (well) what ye say, nor when ye are polluted, unless ye be passing through, until ye wash yourself and if ye be sick, or on a journey, or one of you come from the privy or ye have touched the women and ye find not water then betake yourself to clean (pure) earth and wipe (with it) a part of your face and your hands i.e. make Tayammum; Verily Allah is pardoning: Forgiving.

(VII: 33)  Say: Verily did prohibit my Lord only shameful deeds, those apparent of them and those concealed and sin and rebellion without (any) right, and that ye associate (not) with Allah for which hath not been sent down any authority, and that ye say (not) against Allah what ye know not.

From holy Prophet (s.a.w.), says: (i)   Anything that intoxicates a person, comes under the heading (Khamar, Alcohol) and its use is unlawful.

(ii)   Dealing in intoxicants is unlawful.

(iii)  Anas bin Malik has reported that the Holy prophet (s.a.) cursed ten persons in connection with intoxicants:-

   (1) One who distils liquor, (2) the distillate itself, (3) the one who drinks (4) the one who offers liquor to others (5) the one who carries liquor (6) the one for whom liquor is carried (7) the one who sells liquor, (8) the one who buys liquor, (9) the broker in the business of liquor (10) the one who makes use of the sale proceeds of liquor.

(iv)  After the Divine ban on liquor through my words, it is not permissible to enter into matrimonial relations with one, who drinks liquor, or to credit his statement, or to accept any testimony of him, or to entrust him with any charge under an impression of his integrity, for then Allah will not guarantee his faith, nor recompense anyone for it.

(v)  The Almighty Allah has sent me (Holy Prophet) to be a Mercy to the universe, to ban the musical instruments, indecencies and the symbols of ignorance. The Almighty Allah, on oath says, that He will make a person drink of the Hellish liquor, if he drinks wine in this world, whether he be of the condemned or the forgiven.

(vi)  Three kinds of persons will not be able to enter Heaven : -

(1)  Those who always drink wine.

(2) Those who are always busy with magic.

(3) Those who are accustomed to break relations with relatives.

(vii)  When somebody had the first sip of alcoholic drink Allah thereby put him on a series of five trials, firstly: hard heartedness, secondly Gabriel, Michael and Israfil and the whole lot of angels will forthwith disown him, thirdly the entire group of Prophets (a.s.) will repudiate him, fourthly Allah Himself will disown him and fifthly he will enter headlong into the hell fire.

(Viii)   Never drink wine for it is a root of all evils.

(ix)   Whoever drinks liquor, Allah will not accept his prayer.

From Hazrat Ali (a.s.), says: (i)  The drunkenness of overweening conceit and pride passes off more slowly than that of wine.

(ii)  Hazrat Ali (a.s.) was asked if he regarded drinking as a more heinous sin than adultery. To this he replied that he did, because the vice of adultery did not incite the sinner to any other sin, while a drinker is led of to adultery, to thieving, to man slaughter as also to forsake prayers. The drinker will rise black-faced on the Doomsday, with his tongue protruded from his mouth, dripping saliva on his chest - a state which Almighty Allah is perfectly justified to place him in on the Day of Judgment.

From Hazrat Imam Ja`far-e-Sadiq (a.s.), says: One who drinks is as one who worships idols, and he comes to suffer from involuntary jerks, and losing all light manliness and magnanimity, he takes to vice, bloodiness and unlawful actions like fornication and every kind of villainy under the influence of drink.

Allah has fixed some locks to evil and the key to those locks is wine ; and worse than wine is lying.


Intoxicants are forbidden in the Bible, Drinking is sin4

LUK 1:15  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

LEV 10:8  And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying,

LEV 10:9  Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:

LEV 10:10  And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;

LEV 10:11  And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

ISA 5:11  Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

ISA 5:12  And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

ISA 28:7  But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

ISA 28:8  For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

HOS  4: 11   To prostituition, to old wine and new, which take away the understanding

HAB 2:  indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. ....

PRO  23: 20-21  Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

PRO  23: 29-35  Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complains? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!  In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. "They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt! They beat me, but I don't feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?"

Contaminated verses in the Bible about intoxicants:

Refer to the articles of "The message of the prophets and the teachings of Paul of Tarsus" and "The message of Jesus in the Gospel of Barnabas" in this book to know about the character of Paul and intoxicants.

Paul's advice to Timothy:

TI1 5:23  Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.

Solomon's sanguine yet humorous recommendation for enslaving and subjugating a conquered people:

PRO 31:6  Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto  those that be of heavy hearts.

PRO 31:7  Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

  Wine is forbidden in the Gospel of Barnabas5  

Chapter 1: ... Mary answered: "I know that God is almighty, therefore his will be done." The angel answered: "Now be conceived in thee the prophet, whom thou shalt name Jesus: and thou shalt keep him from wine and from strong drink and from every unclean meat, because the child is an holy one of God. Mary bowed herself with humility, saying: "Behold the handmaid of God, be it done according to thy word."....  

 

Chapter 124:...Andrew: 'Now how shall the truth be known?'

Jesus answered: 'Everything that conformeth to the book of Moses, that receive ye foe true; seeing that God is one, the truth is one; whence it followeth that the doctrine is one and the meaning of the doctrine is one; and therefore the faith is one. Verily I say unto you that truth had not been erased from the book of Moses, God would not have given to David our father the second. And if the book of David had not been contaminated, God would not have committed the Gospel to me; seeing that the Lord our God is unchangeable, and hath spoken but one message to all men. Wherefore, when the messenger of God shall come, he shall come to cleanse away all wherewith the ungodly have contaminated my book.'

 

Chapter 97:.....Then said the priest: 'How shall the Messiah be called, and what sign shall reveal his coming?'

Jesus answered: 'The name of the Messiah is admirable, for God himself gave him the name when he had created his soul, and placed it in a celestial splendour. God said: "Wait Muhammad; for thy sake I will to create paradise, the world, and a great multitude of creatures, whereof I make thee a present, insomuch that whoso shall bless thee shall be blessed, and whoso shall curse thee shall be accursed. When I shall send thee into the world I shall send thee as my messenger of salvation, and thy word shall be true, insomuch that heaven and earth shall fail, but thy faith shall never fail." Muhammed is his blessed name.'

Then the crowd lifted up their voices, saying: 'O God, send us thy messenger: O Muhammed, come quickly for the salvation of the world!' 

Alcohol in Medicine Alcohol and Alcoholism3  

For unknown ages ethyl alcohol has continued to give rise to moral, social and economic problems. Individuals, families, nations and whole civilisations have succumbed to its invidious influence and gone down to ignominious oblivion. Ever new labels and Scientific techniques for its manufacture are invented by the votaries of Bachus to rope in the unwary victims. Vast tracts of fruit growing lands that would support the starving millions are reserved for destroying the healthy stocks of humanity.

Intoxicants are of many-fold benefit to the queerish among the politicians. They bring in revenue. They encourage crime and goonism, which are important factors in over-adding and corrupting the voters. Late Theodore Roosevelt, President of USA said: "It is now a question whether the liquor interests are to dominate your parties, dominate your public life and dominate your government."

High police officer of Chicago, Mr. J.N. Flynn said: "Every time I arrest a man who is running a 'blue pig' (an illicit liquor shop), I find when I go to court, that the representative of the brewery has been there before me. He threatens whatever judge is sitting there with political death if he doesn't 'Listen to reason'." Backed by the great political influence which the big business magnates of the liquor trade have come to possess in the political life of the Western Countries, they violate every instinct of decency and break or evade every law made for their control with the single exception of the law requiring them to pay tax.

The money saved by the consumer from liquor is by him re-routed to the purchasing of usual goods, and the establishment of a healthier and more efficient level of living. The healthier physical, mental, moral and spiritual standard which springs from a reformed outlook on life on the part of the individuals composing the nation, is the real asset of value to the individual no less than to the nation. He would work more efficiently, earn more munificently, spend more judiciously and thereby pay more taxes indirectly, besides contributing solidly to the national fund by his improved efficiency. With temperance, which has been defined as moderation in the use of every thing good and abstinence from the use of every thing bad, in the field of human activities and mutual relationship, a state is a pure gainer on all counts increased efficiency and consequent increased output and decreased waste of human energy. Accuracy of judgement, avoidance of accidents, tactful handling of colleagues and subordinates, observance of discipline, punctuality, reticence in matters of confidence are all such matters that affect the efficiency of the workers on the one hand and on the other relate to the problems of temperance and drink. To the industrialised set-up, therefore, the question of liquor traffic is even more important in its economic bearing than one of academic morals.

Moderate Alcohol and Efficiency

One of the outstanding figures of the World of science, says, "Work and alcohol do not belong together, especially when work demands wide awareness, attention, exactness and endurance." Alcohol has been the subject of scientific investigation, as a problem effecting almost every facet of human life-- industrial, economic, administrative, social, political, etc. Over and above its moral and spiritual bearing on the individual as a component unit of the complex human relationships. There is complete unanimity among the experimenters as to the impairment or efficiency or the individual on all planes of activity.

The exact amount of damage which a person suffers as a result of consumption of even moderate quantities of alcohol, however, varies from individual to individual according to each one's bodily and mental blindness. A very considerable factor in laboratory experiments, however, is that the person under observation is, so to say, in a resisting mood, endeavouring to act as sober as possible. This naturally affects the results. His efficiency does not sink to the level of a relaxing, bragging drinker.

Another important factor which prevents the correct appraisement of the depreciation in efficiency, is the measured quantity, which is allowed in the atmosphere of the laboratory, as a dose by itself. In actual life, on the other hand, the same quantity is yet another dose piled upon the leg-over effects of the previous doses. In the laboratory the person is challenged to fight the effects, With all the success he can command, while in actual life he endeavours to intensify the effect psychologically. The results of laboratory experiments, as such, fall very much below those that accrue in actual life. Even with such conditions favouring the alcohol in the laboratory, the state or affairs disclosed thereby is a staggering revelation of the loss of efficiency suffered by a worker even as the result of 'moderate' drink.

Alcohol produces paralysis of judgment  

It is admitted by the research scholars and experimenters in the field that there can be no such thing as a moderate use of a poison. As Sir Victor Horsely, M.D. the distinguished British Surgeon, puts it, "In reality we have no proof that a minimum and a permissible dose of alcohol exists at all. Other eminent authorities agree with this verdict of the British Surgeon. among them Sir Londer Brunton M.D. says. "Alcohol produces progressive paralysis of judgement and this begins with the first dose." Dr. Mc Adam Eccles gives his considered opinion as follows, "A daily moderate dose of alcohol taken in the form of alcoholic drink has a tendency, quietly but surely to destroy the tissues of the body" The world renowned physician Dr. Quensel of Leipzig says, "Even small quantities of alcoholic drink may result in pronounced changes, especially of the cystic functions, in a decrease in the clearness of sensory perceptions, in the impairment of thought and judgement, in a dullness of the finer emotions and in the inhibition and disturbance of the coordination of movements". Dr. Irwin H. Neff, superintendent of the Norfolk, State Hospital for Inebriates (drunkards) at Norfolk Massachusetts, asserts that the moderate drinker is even more liable to suffer from organic diseases than the man who occasionally becomes drunk.

"The small dose is particularly dangerous in jobs where alertness of mind and body in the interests of the safety of the worker and his charge, becomes essential for his efficiency. as in driving for example. The heavily drunk driver is easily detected. in fact mostly in-capacitated for any mischief. The moderate dose, however, deludes him into the belief that he is in possession of his faculties, while as a matter of fact, his driving judgement as also his muscular co-ordination is badly impaired. Such a person is naturally a menace to public safety as also to his own life on the highway. A slight swerve in the wrong direction, an inadvertent disregard of a road signal, a small miscalculation in judgement may result fatally by colliding with any of the millions of vehicles on the national highways or by over whelming some un-wary pedestrian, or even by dashing against electric poles, trees and walls.

Dr. Benedict, director of the Nutrition laboratory of the Carnagie lnstitute of Washington sums up the situation when he says that after very moderate doses of alcohol, virtually all individuals are effected with general depression of nerves and muscles, lessened sharpness of vision, and lessened eye-hand motor co-ordination. "The driver of an automobile in the traffic of a modern American city has no business to undertake his task after drinking even these so-called permissible amounts of alcohol......clearly dilution even to 2.75 per cent, cannot solve the alcohol problem, nor can it alter our estimate of the effect of alcohol upon human efficiency......Inflexible science say: Moderate user, keep off. For at least four hours after a dose of alcohol formerly considered 'permissible' for you as a motor vehicle operator, may well be considered a menace to Society."

This is not an individual doctor's personal opinion. But the verdict of exhaustive vested interests or the manufacturers of all liquor products are shrewdly trying to delude the gullible populace to believe that beer and other so-called light drinks are not to be classed under alcoholic drinks beverages. These drinks also have been subjected to searching laboratory investigations, which have totally discredited the claims of the brewers, that they are in any way less poisonous. They have been found to contain no food value. As a matter of fact, they show the way to stronger and more persistent habits for drink.

Dr. Charles Gilbert Devis of Chicago arraigns beer in no un-equivocal terms. Says he, "Beer produces disease of the stomach, kidneys, heart and blood vessels. Owing to its diuretic affect, the alcohol in the beer is diverted to the kidneys, which probably accounts for its destructive action on those organs. It causes a deposit of morbid fat in the body especially around the heart, enlarges that organ, and increases the work of the heart and the blood vessels, manifested by the fatigue and shortness of breath of all beer drinkers

 

Beer deposits fat around the heart  

Beer deposits fat around the heart, weakens its muscular walls, thickens and enlarges the ventricles and if continued, ultimately cuts short the life of the individual.   All of this has been proven time and again by the post mortems of Bloinger, who has examined and weighed the hearts of many beer drinkers. This is a terrible scientific arraignment of beer. but it is true..'

Dr. Struempell. the eminent German physiologist regards beer as no less an enemy of Society than any other alcoholic drink. His verdict is expressed in the following dear terms: Nothing is more erroneous from the physicians' standpoint than to think of diminishing the destructive effects of alcoholism by substituting beer for other alcoholic drinks.

The Scientific American, in describing the intellectual desolation and brutalization resulting from the beer habit, has the following imflattering remarks thereon : The most dangerous class of ruffians in our large cities are beer drinkers.  Intellectually a Stupor amounting almost to paralysis arrests the reason, changing all higher faculties into a mere animalism, sensual selfish, sluggish, varied only by purisms of anger senseless and brutal. In appearance the beer drinkers may be the picture of health, but in reality he is most incapable of resisting disease. A slight injury, a severe cold or a shock in the body or mind will provoke acute disease ending fatally. Beer drinking in this country produces the very lowest kind inebriety, closely allied to criminal insanity.

 

Beer makes people ferocious and beastly  

"Beer makes people ferocious and beastly," is the testimony of the French doctor, Fiessinger to which may be added the remarks of the Pacific Medical Journal which declares that beer is most animalising, inciting the user to deliberate and unprovoked crime.  The following words of a suffering house wife are also note-worthy in this context. "When my husband drinks whisky, he soon gets stupid ; but when he drinks beer, he runs after me with a knife." These observations of the same elements of all lands and of all ages, can be. multiplied and infinitum. They are, however, quite enough to discredit the claims of vested interests in behalf of beer and other forms of the so-called "light sort of drinks." There is no sort of alcoholic beverage and no minimum dose which can be called safe for human consumption - in fact for any living organism. The very living organisms of yeast which convert fruits and grains into alcohol die when only thirteen and a half percent of the raw materials has passed into.

The effects of Alcohol

The effects of alcohol are easily recognised at the second stage after careful study. All activities get tainted. Gait becomes unsteady and talk gets less circumspect. Well-developed movements become way-ward. Self-control is seriously impaired. Man gets into a stupor in the third stage, which borders on torpidity and stupefaction. Another increase in the alcohol content of the system damages the respiratory system.

Even with normal health the use of alcohol does not activate the nervous system, rather it slows down the nervous process and renders their activities unstable. It throws a light veil over the brain. A peculiar effect or alcohol is that it lowers the scrutinizing potency and one's actions in their crude form become satisfying to him. This defective judgement persists for hours. Alcohol deteriorates the ability to bear any kind of hard physical fatigue. Its use perverts action and brings on fatigue quicker".

After this, it is little else but regrettable that people still being themselves to become to enamoured of alcohol. It is a different matter if alcohol is taken on a doctor's advice as medicine. But to get one's self addicted to it, and become its slave, is positively unbecoming of the inherent dignity of man.

Besides, it is also a waste of good money. This is a case where man buys mad men with his hard earned money. A person drinks this stuff only to lose his senses and his power of reasoning, and -stoops to mere gibberish nonsense. Often we find ourselves revealing important information to our very enemies under the influence of alcohol.

In short getting addicted to alcohol is like throwing one's self in the gutters only to die in that muck. The house, the family all is pushed into ruin, and there is no calamity which is too great for alcohol to bring upon the heads of its worshippers. Alcohol, because of the poisonous effects of the products, which is so dilute and of which the higher potencies are obtained by the process of distillation.

Some instructive tests

 Tests which have been devised to measure the effect on human efficiency, of calculated doses of alcohol, will be of interest to the inquisitive reader. Thousands of studies, demonstrations and laboratory experiments have been undertaken to gauge the mischief which the use of alcohol perpetrates on the working capacity of the intellectual no less than of the manual worker. To pile up all this evidence would be tedious indeed, and yet the following typical experiment of Dr. J. J. Ridge of England has a value of its own in demonstrating in a simple way the deterioration in efficiency which invariably results from alcoholic drinks - both light and strong, in small or large doses.

"Some years ago, I constructed instruments to test the effect of small doses of alcohol on the sense of touch and muscular sense. The instrument for testing consisted of two fixed upright points, about half an inch apart, and between these a third point, which could be moved so as to approximate to one or the other. The individual moved the Centre until be considered that it was midway between the two. The movement of point was registered on a dial. The degrees on the dial were arbitrary, but fourteen experiments on five persons showed that whereas the average divergence from the actual centre, before taking alcohol, was represented by 115 degrees on the dial, after taking alcohol these were 1898 degrees, and in no case was there any improvement. Hence the sensitiveness of the touch is clearly deteriorated, by small doses of alcohol, although the people experimented on were quite un-conscious of the attention. The nature of the experiment is also to some extent a test of the judgement or power of perception, and it does not show which link or links in the chain of sensation would chiefly be affected."

Another demonstration of the effect of alcohol upon physical efficiency took place on the occasion of a sixty-two miles walking match at Kiel which was held to decide the championship in long-distance walking among German athletes. It was open to all, irrespective of their habits in regard to alcohol. The contestants in the match, however, were required to give full particulars before hand to the committee in charge of the affair in this behalf. Of the 83 contestants there were 24 abstainers and yet they won 40 percent of the prizes. Among the remaining 59 people, there were 2 who had used no alcohol for months in preparation for the contest. They too won prizes. Among the first 25 men to reach the goal, 60 percent were abstainers only 2 or the 24 abstainers failed to reach the goal while 30 of the 59 drinkers were unable to complete the walk.

Yet another interesting test was undertaken by Lieutenant Bengt. Boy, of Carls - Krona Grenadiers in the Swedish Army, and others, by way of measuring exactly the effect of small doses of alcohol on target shooting. which was at a distance of 200 feet. These tests covered a series or experiments and were held on the regular army manoeuvre grounds at Stockholm. .'The experiments, carried out by six men, all excellent marksmen, and all used to alcohol were divided into three series each lasting several days. During the first and third series the men were entirely abstinent. During the second series, lasting five days, the men took a small definite amount of alcohol daily.

There were three Kinds of tests. In the first and second tests, the men took about two thirds or a wine glass or brandy (containing a little more than an ounce of alcohol) from 20 to 30 minutes before the firing and an equal amount of alcohol on the evening before.

In the precision test of shots, every man showed less precision, and made fewer points when influenced by alcohol. In the quick firing test each man fired a round of 30 shorts in 30 seconds. On the first series of abstinent days, they hit the target. on the average, 23 out of 30 times. But the alcohol days told a different story. The wind, the weather, and the light conditions were better than on the abstinent days. yet the effect of so little alcohol as that in about two glasses of beer twice a day cut down the average to only 3 bits in 36. Again on the abstinent days, the firing improved and the men averaged 26 hits out of 30 shots.

"Third were the endurance tests, two trials of 200 shots each. Here the amount of alcohol used was the least of all, less than two glasses or beer (four fifth of an ounce of alcohol), taken half an hour before the test, yet the result was the same. Although without alcohol the men made 359.5 points, on the alcohol days they made only 277.5 points, nearly a third less."

"The men thought they were doing better on the alcohol days. One of the corporals said after laying down the gun, "I am sure a man can shoot better when he has had a little brandy", but the results proved how grievously he misjudged."

Mental efficiency Mind and body are so intimately linked that the effect on one is as a matter of course, reflected with proportional intensity on the other. The brain as the instrument of the mind, is very deleteriously affected by even.......... very small doses of alcohol. In the words of Dr. Chapple of London "Alcohol is a poison, having a specific affinity for the nerve centres of the brain, and paralysing those centres in the inverse order of their development the last developed suffering most." In other words the higher qualities of the mind are attacked first and suffer the most. "Civilized man equals the brute animal plus the brain development. Alcohol blots out the higher brain development and leaves the brute animal. Even a very little alcohol not showing itself in drunkenness, has a damaging effect on the human brain." In these words has been summed up the alcoholic affinity for the nervous centre as a poisoning and denaturing factor.

The man who becomes intoxicated by the alcoholic poison, as such, "loses first his sense of decency, his ability to think clearly and accurately and to associate ideas. As his intoxication progresses it affects those nerve and brain powers which control the senses. He begins to see double, to be unable to control his movements, his powers of smell, hearing and sight are distinctly lessened. It has been well-said that intoxication epitomizes the whole history of insanity. The man who becomes dead drunk within the space of a few hours undergoes very much the same changes as the man who gradually becomes insane, and he who keeps his association and motor senses slightly drugged all of the time by 'moderate' drinking is not entirely a sane man. He is constantly drunk to some degree and is therefore constantly insane to some degree.

"The day has passed when any intelligent and informed person could boast of the ability to 'carry liquor well'. Such ability is not a sign of a strong body but of a weak brain. The brain which is not sensitive to alcohol is an atavistic product." This is indeed a very unflattering commentary on the alcohol poison by an eminent American authority on the basis of direct experience or the situation prevailing around. But it is a truth, pure and simple.

Alcohol is a ready solvent of fat, and the brain cells being composed largely of fatty tissue are, as such, the peculiar domains of alcoholic poison. In fact, as is well-established every poison has a peculiar affinity for certain specific organs of the body, for instance lead for the muscles of the wrist, mercury for the salivary glands, arsenic for the stomach wall, Strychnine for the spinal cord, and alcohol for the brain cells. The brain cells, once damaged, as it often happens in cases of continued drinking, are never replaceable.

EXPERIMENTS with particular reference to the damage which the brain cells suffer as a result of alcohol poisoning have been conducted by physicians of note in Europe and elsewhere. They have demonstrated beyond the shadow of doubt that the consumption of even very small quantities of alcohol has a distinctly deleterious effects on mental efficiency. "one glass of beer will decrease the powers of memory, reason and perception for a certain length of time, and steady so-called moderate drinking produces an abiding impairment of the mental capability. Investigations made by Dr. Alfred Stehr, in Germany disclosed a distinct loss of efficiency on Mondays, after the drinking on Sundays, among a group of workers in Dresden. This loss amounted to 28.5 percent.

Dr. Exner of Vienna, found as a result or his experiments to determine the effect of alcohol on the ability of the subject to respond quickly to a flash of light, that "A small quantity of alcohol would distinctly lengthen the reaction time, and when the test was complicated by requiring the subject to press a right or left telegraph key, as might be suggested by the signal a very small quantity of alcohol was found to increase greatly the liability to error. Another research worker Dr. Krapelin has demonstrated that alcohol has virtually the same effect upon mind and strain.

Long - term memory 'hit by drinking'7

Australian newspaper reported in 1993:  Alison Fox, lecturer at National Drug and alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales said in a symposium: "A lot of recent studies have been inconsistent on this but we found that heavy drinking certainly affects your long - term or complex memory". She and other colleagues have spent the past two years studying a group of 31 people - 15 light drinkers and 16 heavy. The results are as follows: A male light drinker was one who consumed less than 47.5ml of pure alcohol in a session or for women, 32ml. The average light drinker would consume 21.9ml per session, or two standard drinks, while the average heavy drinker would down 76.9ml, or six standard drinks. We found heavy drinkers were having two or three such sessions a week. We had volunteers with an average age of 30 and education of 14 years. The heavy drinkers were asked not to consume any alcohol for 24 hours leading up to a series of word and computer tests to determine short and long-term memory recall. In other words, we tested them when they were stone-cold sober. The heavy drinkers struggled with the long-term memory tests far more noticeably than the light drinkers, said Ms Fox.

Drinkers risk brain damage7

Western Australian newspaper reported in 1989:  Graphic messages about the risk of brain damage through alcohol abuse are the main thrust of a new phase of the WA Health Department's successful Drinksafe campaign. Two new television commercials was shown. Shrinkage: The commercials feature a beer can and a wine cask slowly collapsing to illustrate the risk of brain shrinkage for people who drink excessive amounts of alcohol. Clive Harper, Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Sydney  and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital has prepared a report about the link between alcohol consumption and brain damage. The report shows that the consumption of more than eight alcoholic drinks a day cause brain shrinkage. Most people who drink more than this amount will develop abnormalities in brain function including impaired ability to learn new or complex information and reduced ability to solve problems and to plan and organise their lives. The report also noted that, although there is not complete agreement among researchers on the effects of moderate amounts of alcohol on the brain, some studies have shown that people who drink between three and eight drinks a day may suffer brain shrinkage and subsequent brain damage.

Alcohol related brain damage (ARBD)6

Western Australian Health Department reported in 1988:   Damage to the brain from alcohol use usually affects people in four areas: thinking, emotions, behaviour and coordination (balance or movement). People who drink a lot often don't have a healthy diet. They may have vitamin deficiencies, including a lack of Vitamin B1 (thiamine) which can lead to a particular form of brain damage resulting in memory loss. Thinking:  People with ARBD have their thinking affected through: * Deterioration in work performance  * Aggression   * Confusion   *  Suspicion or paranoia   *   Impulsiveness.  Coordination:  Poor coordination can also be a symptom of ARBD. A person with ARBD may, for example, have difficulty in walking even when sober.

Third mentally ill7

The Weekend Australian January 15-16 1994, reported:   Chicago: Almost a third of Americans are mentally ill, according to the most farreaching report on US mental health in 10 years.

Drinkers cause accidents3 The Hetna Life Insurance company on the basis of their experience in the fields of accidents and fatalities in the industrial sector have issued the following valuable piece of advice of the industrialists:

It is advisable not to employ or to continue in employment men who are known to be steady and hard drinkers. The regular use of intoxicants in any quantity is bound in time to make a workman undesirable as regards both his liability to cause accidents, and his efficiency.

Crime and indecency According to the Russian Paper 'Pravda' as quoted in the Millat' dated 2-4-1969  Alcohol is responsible for more than half of unnatural deaths, for 40% of the Divorces, for 85% of deaths due to fights, for 63% of deaths through drowning and for 98% of deaths through murder. Further according to Pravda several Anti-Liquor Institutions are themselves conniving the evil of drunkenness and many of the officials of the institutions are themselves addicted to the vice of drinking. The solutions suggested by Pravda are the stoppage of wholesale of Liquor in Public and the drinkers should not be allowed to move out in streets.

Another study in the field will bear brief mention. It is the story of Max Jukes of New York - a drunkard - whose descendants covered almost all fields of crime and indecency. 1200 of them were proved during the study period to be occupying. penal and charitable institutions. They cost Society

$ 1200,000, without giving any service in return. 310 were in poor houses with a high infantile mortality. amounting to 25 percent of the child birth ;440 were viciously diseased; 400 were physically wrecked at an early age because of their own misdoings; 50 were notorious women; 7 were murderers ; 60 were habitual thieves ; 130 were convicted for miscellaneous crimes.

Drunken fathers and mothers The home atmosphere exerts a powerful influence on the moral stamina of the budding personality. Drunken fathers and mothers cannot but beget drunkards. The evil is imposed on the young by hereditary influences, operating through the medium of the inexorable forces of the psycho-physical set up of the mighty genes, which though tiny in size, transmit parental traits faithfully. Add to this the visual perceptions of the environment and nursing and the picture of the direct temptation is completed  in salient details, "It is an astounding fact that government, which will not permit brewery slop to be sold to cows because it produces swill milk does nothing to combat the superstition that the milk of the mother is not harmfully affected by beers, ales and porters. Such milk is deficient in the tissue-building constituent that is so essential to building strong vitality," says Dr. Ira S. Wiles, one of the editors of the Medical Review. In a survey of 259 alcoholized patients of Bellevue Hospital in New York city, it was found that 6.5 percent started drinking from one to twelve years of age, 23 percent began to drink from twelve to sixteen years of age, 39 percent began from sixteen to twenty-one years of age. The percentage of those who got into this habit beyond these age groups was 31.5. In a study conducted by Mrs. L. A Rufe, it was revealed that no less than 4458 children out of 18 503 on rolls of twenty three Public Schools of Philadelphia, admitted that they drank alcoholic liquor-a finding which according to the said investigator is very much lower than the actual state of affairs.

Possible effects of drinking on women6  

Western Australian Health Department reported in 1992:  There is some evidence that higher levels of drinking by women can lead to obstetrical and gynaecological problems, including:

*  Menstrual disorders (pre-menstrual discomfort, period pain, heavy menstrual flow, missed or       reduced periods).

*    Gynaecological conditions needing surgery.

*    Increased risk of miscarriage, prematurity or stillbirth.

*    Infertility.

*    Risk of birth defects (Foetal Alcohol Syndrome).

Long-term risks of excessive drinking include heart and liver damage, raised blood pressure, irritation of ulcers, cancers of the throat and liver and brain damage which can lead to mood and personality changes and memory loss.

If you are pregnant any alcohol you drink enters the blood of the baby. Binge drinking can be particularly harmful. It has been linked to miscarriages. Heavy drinking can lead to the birth of a baby with foetal alcohol syndrome. The effects of foetal alcohol syndrome includes slow growth patterns, facial abnormalities and mental disabilities. Medical researchers are not sure what amount of drinking by the mother can cause harm to the baby. If you're pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding, it is best not to drink at all.


Family and alcohol6

Western Australian Health department reports in 1992:   If you are intoxicated or hangover the day after a binge, you will have difficulty working. Your performance may suffer. Your workmates may be offended and injury to yourself or others may result. In 1988 alcohol-related problems cost the Australian community $6.027 billion. Binge drinking can result in overspending. Twenty drinks over each weekend for a year will cost you more than $2,000. A close relationship exists between alcohol use and violence. Binge drinking appears to be a contributing factor in 70% of violent crimes. Alcohol is a factor in many unhappy relationships. It may contribute to arguments, poverty and tension. Drinking too much alcohol has been associated with domestic violence. The exact nature of the link is not understood. However intoxication is no excuse for violent behaviour. Binge drinking can have negative consequences for the family. Some of these are: i)  Forgetting family responsibilities  ii)  Children seeing parents lose control   iii)  Arguments, fights, violence and child abuse.

Children of drinking fathers3 The children of drinking fathers are very much more liable to tuberculosis. The results of my investigations are as follows; 149 occasional drinkers 8.7 per cent tuberculous children; 169 habitual drinkers-10.7 per cent tuberculous children; 67 moderate drinkers - 16.4 per cent tuberculous children; 60 confirmed drunkards - 21.7 per cent tuberculous children. Professor A. Von. Burge, Basil.

Whether we look to America, the West Indies, Egypt, India, Arabia or Persia, there is the same testimony that the health and discipline of soldiers are much better when they are not allowed or cannot get alcoholic liquors. Dr. Jame Ridge, Medical officer of Health, Enfield England.

Spirits and poisons are synonymous terms.- Sir Astley Cooper, M.D.

Alcohol is the pathological fraud of frauds. Dr. Norman Kerr, England.

Alcohol is, under no conditions and in no amount beneficial to the healthy body. Professor Fick. Physiologist, Germany.

For every real drunkard there are fifty others suffering from the effects of alcohol. George Harley, M. D. England.

I dread the task of operating on a drinker Sir William Paget. M. D.

"Lobular pneumonia, Cardiac failure"-so runs the usual certificate, and the cause of the cardiac failure in ninety nine cases out of a hundred is alcohol.-Dr. A. A. Hill. On the use of alcohol, British Medical journal. Alcohol causes the guards to sleep at their posts until man's enemy, disease, has gained its foot-hold.-S. G. Stewart, M. D. Kansas Medical College.

One fights shy of having to operate upon patients who are alcoholic, because of the degeneration of their tissues - they do not heal well inspite of the asepticism of the present day. w. McAdam Hceles, M. S.

Trying to cure consumption with whisky is like trying to put out a fire with kerosene - John E. White, M. D., Medical Director, Nordrach Ranch, Sanatorium.

Besides its deleterious influence on the nervous system and other important parts of our body, alcohol has a harmful action on the phagocytes (white blood corpuscles), the agents of natural defence against infective microbes - Professor Metchnikoff, Pasteur Institute, Paris.

Alcohol is one of the chief curtailers of life. The man of twenty who drinks has a probable life of fifteen years before him, the abstainer one of forty four years - Professor Lowbroso, Italy.

Alcohol perverts the moral nature, affects the judgment and impairs the memory, it, moreover, especially affects the motor system and creates an enormous loss to the community through destroying the productiveness of the skilled craftsman - Dr, Robert Jones.

in the opinion of the Neurologists of the United States in convention assembled, it has been definitely established that alcohol when taken into the system acts as a definite poison to the brain and other tissues: and, whereas, the effects of this poison are directly or indirectly responsible for a large proportion of the insane, epileptic, feeble-minded and other forms of mental, moral and physical degeneracy. 

Alcohol is a poison Below are given the opinions of some of the most eminent medical authorities of the west in regard to the characteristic damage that humanity is exposed to by this inveterate enemy of all good senses. The testimony of such famous doctors should convince even the incurable drunkard to pause in his head-long pursuit of self-immolation on the altar of Bacchus.

Drunkenness and its consequent degeneracy, explain 35 per cent of epilepsy - Dr. Mathew Woods.

Twenty-eight per cent of the men admitted to this hospital during the past year were alcoholized. This does not include alcohol-caused insanity. Dr. H. C. Eyman, of the Massilon, Ohio, Asylum.

A sun-stroke, is often nothing more or less than a beer-stroke. Dr. W. A. Evans, Medical Editor, Chicago Tribune. I am not aware of any medical connection in which alcohol is necessary nor of any in which it could not, with advantage, be replaced by some less dangerous drug. Sir Arthur Chance M. D. Twenty five of the 100 deaths which occur every day in Chicago are caused directly or indirectly by alcohol. John D. Robinson, Health Commissioner.

Alcohol is not a medicine, it aggravates diseases and hastens death. it is productive of physical and mental degeneracy, and should be no longer prescribed by intelligent physicians. It is the best possible persuader or disease and damaging even in small doses. Dr. De W. H. G. Wilcox.

Alcohol replaces more actively vital materials by fat and fibrous tissue: it substitutes suppurations by new growths it helps time to produce the effect of age; and in a word is the genius of degeneration. Dr. Dickinson or England.

Alcohol is a poison. It is claimed by some that alcohol is a food. If so, it is a poisoned food. Fredcrick Peterson, M. D., Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University.

Extract from Life and health , March 1969, PP 21 Alcohol is dangerous  

"Alcohol acts as a poison to the human system. The body tries to get rid of it as rapidly as possible. It serves no good purpose in the body." Francis A Soper, Listen, May, 1968."

you are right in indicting alcohol for its insidious wrongs to humanity. It is an old and shy offender and very much the "mocker", in medical practice that it has been pronounced in the Holy Writ. It exhausts the latent energy of the organism. Upon investigation I found 38 per cent of our male tubercular patients were excessive users of alcohol, 56 per cent were moderate users. From my study of the cases. I am led to believe that in a vast majority of these cases drink has been a large factor in producing the disease, by exposure, lowering the vitality etc. O. C. Willhite, M. D., Superintendent of Cook County Hospital for Consumptives.

In tuberculosis there is a state of overstimulation of the circulatory system due to the toxins. The use of alcoholics simply makes the condition worse - H. J. Blankmeyer, M. D., Sanatorium Gabvels, New York.

That in view of the close connection between alcoholism and tuberculosis, this congress strongly  emphasizes the importance of combining the fight against tuberculosis with the struggle against alcoholism. Resolution adopted by the International Congress on Tuberculosis, held in Paris, October 1905. Alcohol is the most potent factor in the production of crime, and I have never known of alcohol - Dr. J.T. Tilmore, Superintendent of the Ontario Reformatory.

Whisky and other forms of alcohol have caused more deaths after snake-bite than the venom of the Snake. Dr. L. K. Hirshberg of John Hopkins University.

Is alcohol a medicine? Whereas, it is the unanimous opinion of the Council on Health and Public Instruction of the A.M.A. that alcohol has no drug value, either as a stimulant, as a tonic, or as a therapeutic agent, and that it has no food value; and whereas, its use as a beverage or as a therapeutic agent is detrimental rather than beneficial to the individual. Therefore, be it resolved that the House of Delegates of the A.M.A. declares it as opposed to the use of alcohol by individuals either as a medicine or as a beverage, and be it further resolved that its use in medicine is permissible only in the preparation and preservation of Pharmaceutical products. (Resolution passed by House of Delegates of American Medical Association 1917).

Gospel advocate says:

Statistics show that ten thousand people are killed by liquor and one is killed by a mad dog; yet we shoot the dog and license the liquor. What sense is there in this?

Japanese proverb:

First the man takes a drink, then the drink takes the man.

Dr. Charles Richet of Paris says:

This (alcohol) poison is a recognised poison. We all know this. The noxious effects of alcohol are as obvious as the light of moon day sun. It is common knowledge that it is a poison, and yet people persist in poisoning themselves.

Mr.W.Jay says:

The curse of intoxication. Drunkenness takes away the man, and leaves only the brute; it dethrones reason from its seat, stupefies conscience; ruins health, wastes property, covers the wretch with rags; reduces wife and children to want and beggary, and gives such Power to appetite that physically as well as normally, it is next to impossible to cure it.

Sir Alfred Pearce Could, K.C.V.O.,M.S. F.R.C.S. says:

Alcohol lessens man's power of physical endurance, delays recovery from fatigue, increases the ill-effect of great heat or cold, blunts the senses, retards nerve response, diminishes self- control, blurs the judgement.

Professor A.Toynbes says:

This spirit (of Islam) may be expected to manifest itself in many practical ways and one of these manifestations might be liberation from alcohol which was inspired by religious conviction and which was, therefore, able to accomplish what could never be enforced by external sanction of an alien law.

Bishop Carpenter says:

It (Islam) has set an example of sobriety to the world and has shielded its followers from the drink plague which destroys the strength of the nations.

David M. Kay says:

The success of Islam in persuading its adherents to abstain from the use of wine is a notable achievement.

Evening standard (Special Correspondent)

Alcohol has none of the vitamins or minerals necessary for good health.

Sir William Wileox, M.D. says:

Alcohol poisons the vital cells of the body, acts directly upon the nervous system and the brain, impairing one's higher faculties, judgement, conception and control long before the least symptoms of drunkenness appear.

References

1)         Western civilisation through Muslim eyes, by S.M.R.M. lari, Published by Sayyed Mojtaba Musavi Lari, Foundation of Islamic C.P.W., 21 Entezam St. Qom, I.R.Iran

2)         Forces that destroy a nation, a pamphlet by Ahmed deedat, Published by IPCI, P.O.Box 2439, Durban 4000. RSA

3)         Alcohol, Published by World Organization for Islamic Services (WOFIS), P.O.Box 2245 , Tehran - Iran.

4)         The Bible, King James version.

5)         The Gospel of Barnabas, published by Begum Aisha Bawany Wakf, 3rd floor, Bank House No.1, Habib Square, M.A. Jinnah Road, Karachi - Pakistan

This book is the true Gospel of Jesus. It can be ordered free of cost from the publisher.

6)         Brochures of "the Western Australian health department" about Alcohol.

7)         Australian newspapers.