Alcohol:
Dangerous, But Why? by
Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi & Dr.
Mahmoud Akkam Professor
of Shari`ah at the University of Halab, Syria Some
Major facts:
-
Five
things that Islam aims to maintain and keep safe from
any danger, namely the soul, mind, property,
lineage, and religion. For this reason, Islam
penalizes murder, theft, alcohol drinking, adultery
and apostasy.
Alcohol
-
-
interacts
negatively with more than 150 medications.
-
contributes
to 100,000 deaths annually in the US only
-
the
third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.
-
has
many side effects including altering
perceptions, dulling senses, hindering coordination,
and blocking memory functions.
If
you continue to use alcohol heavily, you could
experience
-
stomach
ailments,
-
sexual
impotence,
-
heart
and central nervous system damage,
-
loss
of appetite, and
-
blackouts.
-
-
The
more heavily you drink, the greater the strain will be
on your relationships with family, friends, and
coworkers. It could even lead to the loss of your job.
Question. Dear
scholar! We all know that it is prohibited for a Muslim to
drink alcohol. The question that bothers me all the time
is about the dangers of alcohol. What health hazards does
alcohol have on the human body? Can you enlighten me in
this regard?
Answer.
Dear questioner!
May Allah bless you for this good question that reflects a
sincere desire to know about the rulings of Islam and the
wisdom behind its great guidance.
It goes without
saying at the very beginning that there are five things
that Islam aims to maintain and keep safe from any danger,
namely the soul, mind, property, lineage, and religion.
For this reason, Islam penalizes murder, theft, alcohol
drinking, adultery and apostasy.
The present-day
data show that the dangers of alcohol are so many and the
mortality rates stemming from drinking alcohol are
alarming. Here are some:
"Alcohol
contributes to 100,000 deaths annually, making it the
third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.,
after tobacco and diet/activity patterns. Alcohol is a
nervous system depressant, that can affect virtually every
organ in the body, since it goes directly into the
bloodstream.
It lowers
inhibitions and impairs judgment, leading to unsafe
behaviors, and eventually even death. Alcohol has many
side effects including altering your perceptions, dulling
your senses, hindering coordination, and blocking memory
functions. If you continue to use alcohol heavily, you
could experience stomach ailments, sexual impotence, heart
and central nervous system damage, loss of appetite, and
blackouts.
When alcohol
accumulates in your bloodstream, your errors will
increase. Your reaction time slows down drastically, and
you find that you are unable to control your vehicle, or
other items, as you did prior to drinking. In addition, it
creates a false sense of confidence, so you may not
realize that you are out of control.
Drinking, even at
moderate levels, can put you at risk for serious health
and social problems. Alcohol interacts negatively with
more than 150 medications.
The more heavily
you drink, the greater the strain will be on your
relationships with family, friends, and coworkers. It
could even lead to the loss of your job, or committing or
being the victim of an act of violence. If you have to ask
yourself if you have a problem with alcohol, the chances
are that you do."
Source: http://www.drinksmixer.com/dangers-of-drinking.php
Here we would
like to cite for you the following words of the prominent
Muslim scholar, Dr. Mahmoud `Akkam, professor of
Shari`ah at the University of Halab, Syria:
"Scientists
have discovered lots of hazards that are caused by alcohol
and drugs. These hazards affect the brain, the heart and
all other bodily organs. More dangerous is its effect on
the ability to reproduce. It weakens a person’s ability
to reproduce and causes many birth defects in the fetus.
Besides its
financial effects, it has another awful effect on the
social scale. It destroys the family, demolishes the bases
of truthfulness and affinity and nobility.”
Excerpted, with
slight modifications, from: http://www.akkam.org
Shedding more
light on the dangers of alcohol and the wisdom behind
prohibiting it, the prominent Muslim scholar, Sheikh
Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, states the following:
"The Arabic
word khamr signifies any alcoholic drink that
causes intoxication. It is clear that drinking alcohol has
so many harmful effects on a person's mind, his health,
his religion, and his work; let alone the disasters which
it causes to the family when the person, driven by
alcohol, neglects their needs and forgets his obligations,
as the head of the family, toward his wife and children.
In line with this, there are so many spiritual, material,
and moral evils which proliferate in societies and nations
due to the widespread consumption of alcohol.
A researcher in
this area has rightly stated that: "Mankind has
not suffered any greater calamity than that brought about
by the use of alcohol. If statistics were collected
worldwide of all the patients in hospitals who, due to
alcohol, are suffering from mental disorders, delirium
tremens, nervous breakdowns, and ailments of the digestive
tract, to which are added the statistics of suicides,
homicides, bankruptcies, sales of properties, and broken
homes related to the consumption of alcohol, the number of
such cases would be so staggering to the extent that, in
comparison to it, all exhortation and preaching against
drinking would seem too little.”
During the Period
of Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance), Arabs were very
fond of wine and drinking parties. This love of wine is
reflected in their language, which has nearly one hundred
names for it, and in their poetry, which celebrates the
praises of wine, goblets, drinking parties, and so on.
To eradicate this
pervasive evil from society, Almighty Allah adopted a wise
course of education and training, prohibiting it in
measured stages. First, He made it clear to them that the
harm of drinking alcohol is greater than its benefit;
next, He told them not to come to prayer while
intoxicated; and finally, He revealed the verse in Surah
Al-Ma'idah in which He made the final say that drinking
alcohol is totally and decisively prohibited. Almighty
Allah says: "O ye who believe! Strong drink and
games of chance and idols and divining arrows are only an
infamy of Satan's handiwork. Leave it aside in order that
ye may succeed. Satan seeketh only to cast among you
enmity and hatred by means of strong drink and games of
chance, and to turn you from remembrance of Allah and from
(His) worship. Will ye then have done?" (Al-Ma'idah:
90-91)
In these two
verses, Allah strictly prohibits wine and gambling,
linking them to idols and seeking omens by means of
divining arrows, and declares them to be rijs
(abominable or filthy), a term which the Qur'an reserves
for extremely indecent and evil things. He ascribes them
to the work of Satan, which indeed consists only of
obscenity and evil, and commands the Believers to abstain
from them as the only way to attain success. Almighty
Allah then mentions the harmful effects of wine and
gambling on society, namely, the breaking of relationships
and ensuing enmity and hatred, in addition to the harm
they do to man's soul by causing him to neglect the
religious obligations of remembering Allah and of
performing Prayer. The verses end with a very stern
admonition to abstain: "Will ye then have done?"
And when the Prophet (peace and blessings be on him)
finished reciting these verses for the first time, the
listeners answered with the fervent cry, "We have
desisted, O Lord! We have desisted!"
The response of
the Muslims to these verses was remarkable indeed. At the
time some people were drinking, with partly filled cups in
their hands. As soon as they heard someone announcing,
"Alcohol has indeed been prohibited," they
poured the remaining drinks upon the ground and broke the
big clay pots in which other drinks were being fermented.
Many present-day
governments throughout the world are convinced of the
harmful effects of alcohol on individuals, families, and
society. Some governments, such as that of the United
States, have even tried to abolish alcohol by passing and
attempting to enforce laws prohibiting the drinking of
alcohol. It is only Islam which has succeeded in the
mission of combating and eradicating it.
The churchmen
hold differing opinions concerning the position of alcohol
in Christianity. Some argue that the Biblical text
permits drinking in small quantities, since it is good for
the digestion. (See, for example, I Timothy 5:23.) But
if this should be true, even though a little wine may be
beneficial to the digestion, this little must be
prohibited, as a small amount leads to large amounts and
one glass to another, till one gets to addiction. For this
reason, Islam's stand in prohibiting alcohol and in
blocking all avenues that lead to drinking is very clear
and unequivocal."
Also visit:
http://www.drinksmixer.com/drinking-and-driving.php
http://www.islam-usa.com/im21.html
http://www.islamset.com/bioethics/obstet/alcohol.html
Almighty Allah
knows best.
Taken from
www.islamonline.net
http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=34452T
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