Islam and Alchol

[Ric.ror]

I heard somewhere that the Kohran stated the rivers of paradise flow with the finest wine
So why are muslims advised not to drink

[Ric.ror]

Sorry I meant Qu'ran

[McMouse]

I'm no islamic scholar but I've always understood that muslins should not be intoxicated before prayer or important business. This is not the same as avoiding alcohol at all times.

[venator]

Some Muslim countries have very harsh penalties for drinking alcohol, which they justify by Shariah law, derived from the Koran.

[Ric.ror]

Well we are all capable of being a bit hypocritical from time to time - even catholics like me.
I just thought it seemed strange to prohibt alchol and then promise it in the afterlife. I did not know alcohol was tolerated in moderation

[mrs_overall]

I read an article on this recently. It said that nowhere in the Koran does it forbid alcohol, but it does recommend moderation.

I agree with the comments on the hypocrites

[hc4361]

Islam forbids alcohol - that joy is reserved for paradise.
Allah’s curse falls on ten groups of people who deal with alcohol.

The one who distils it;

The one for whom it has been distilled;

The one who drinks it;

The one who transports it;

The one for whom it has been brought;

The one who serves it;

The one who sells it;

The one who utilises the money from it;

The one who buys it and the one who buys it for someone else.

From this it is clear that alcoholic beverages in all varieties and forms are unlawful for Muslims.
http://www.ummahnews.co.uk/article.php?id=86

[Ric.ror]

I also read that Halal meat was not compulsory and non halah could be eaten if there was no alternative

[keyplus90]

First of all there are more than one verses about alcohol (intoxicant) where it has been forbidden.

Quran 5:90. O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.

Quran 5:91. Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?

These two verse are most commonly used. Then you have another one,

Quran 2:219. They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit." They ask thee how much they are to spend; Say: "What is beyond your needs." Thus doth Allah Make clear to you His Signs: In order that ye may consider-

Now if someone knows Arabic then the word used in all these verses is "Khamar".
Then of course there are the verses people talk about as in your question as well,

37:45. Round will be passed to them a Cup from a clear-flowing fountain,

37:46. Crystal-white, of a taste delicious to those who drink (thereof),

37:47. Free from headiness; nor will they suffer intoxication therefrom.

First of all the word used in these verse is "Sharbin" plural of Sharab. Although Sharab is the word used in Urdu (and I believe in Persian) where it does mean an alcoholic drink. And I believe that is where few people go wrong. They try translating words from two different languages.

But without going into language implications one must read Verse 37:47 again. It clearly says that it will not be intoxicant. Scholars say that whatever drink it would be but affect will not be same as alcohol.

Then someone said Islam does not forbid alcohol but intoxic

[keyplus90]

cont: Then alcohol has been forbidden even in Bible.

Proverbs 20:1 and Ephesians 5:18

Then to someone who said about Muslims (especially youngsters) drinking etc, then very simply that is their own act and that does not prove Quran wrong.

[boxtops]

As I understand it, in the beginning of Islam, people used to come to prayers drunk. This was bad, so it was recommended that people took less alcohol. Gradually it was suggested that if little was better, none at all was ideal - so people are always in control, always free for their prayers and in control of themselves.
Re Halal meat and pork - yes, if there is nothing else at all, and you risk starvation if you don't eat those things, it would be acceptable under those conditions. The preservation of human life would be more important.

[boxtops]

Agree with keyplus re drinking - if people choose to do it, that's their human decision. You have the choice to do right, or wrong.

[DTCwordfan]

The Koran does refer to wine and alcohol is not banned in that. What is clear though is that one should not be intoxicated before communication with Allah - with prayers five times a day that is what rules it out......it is on this basis that the Sharia was constructed - I am paraphrasing a pretty complex range of verses but there is plenty out there on the web that outlines this...plus also the sect interpretation serves to complicates things further.

Jewish and Arabic practices are in fact very similar and designed for 'social welfare' - when you have temps from 45 to 50C in summer, there are a few obvious essentials historically - i.e. burial, fresh meat, avoiding animals/fish prone to worms and all the rest. Just historical common sense (oh and so was the permission of multi-wives as they (the Arabs) needed to replace their armies pronto after the likes of the Christians, Mongols, Indians etc had duffed their armies over.

[DaisyNonna]

How do they justify the virgins?
And how many wives are legal?

[keyplus90]

For an unknown reason my first post was cut short, it should have read like this,

///Then someone said Islam does not forbid alcohol but intoxication. Now few people take that as that you are free to drink as long as you don't get drunk. But that is wrong////.

[boxtops]

Well paraphrased, DT.

Daisynonna - four wives... the origin is (I recall) after a battle so many men were killed, and women widowed with no means of support, that it was decreed that men could marry up to four wives - but only on the understanding that the man treated each one of them absolutely equally.

I think I recall reading (keyplus may confirm) that the virgin is a mistranslation of something else, still something agreeable but not the nubile young woman!

[DTCwordfan]

it is now four, though exceptions can be made for a fifth given if a sister of a wife needs support...........the Sunnites tend to be more monogamous as wives should be treated equally - as one of them once told me. "4 wives, 4 Mercs, but there is one thing, you can't have equality as you can only have your dick in one at a time"

Sorry to be graphic but the point is made.......