In Islam, drinking alcohol is a capital offence along with adultery, fornication, slander, grand larceny and murder, and this may even apply to taking medicines dissolved in alcohol substances. Among the 20 greatest sins in Islam, the consumption of alcohol ranks thirteenth. The prohibition for devout Muslims is inextricably linked to Mohammed (570-632), the founder of Islam. Wine or alcoholic beverages were thus banned forever from almost all countries that adopted the new religion. Drinking wine (shurb al-chamr) is one of the hadd punishments in Islamic criminal law. These are punishments imposed to protect property, public safety and public morals and are considered "legal claims of God". Depending on the school of law, alcohol consumption can be punished with 40 to 80 lashes or, as in Iran, even death in case of repetition.
However, the ban only became established over time, because wine was certainly appreciated in individual Arab countries in the early Islamic era. The Persian city of Shiraz was considered the centre of the highest wine culture until the 19th century, and poets like the famous Hafis (1324-1388) sang the praises of wine. The picture on the right shows one of Hafis' poems (Ghasel) on the Goethe-Hafis monument in Weimar. Trading in wine was at times allowed to Jews and Christians (not Muslims) by individual caliphs because it brought in tax revenue. The ban was then reinforced by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the 20th century. After Ayatollah Khomeini's followers seized power in Iran in 1979, all alcohol that had previously been on sale in shops was emptied onto the streets of Tehran.
Origin of the alcohol ban in Islam
But what is the reason for the ban and how is it justified in the Koran, to which the legal scholars of Islam refer? The Koran explicitly names the vines as God's creation, as it says in Sura 16, verse 11: "It is He Who causes water to come down from the clouds. With it He makes the grain grow, and the olive trees, date palms and vines". The Islamic paradise is described as a garden watered by wells and clear streams with many fruits. The orthodox rest on divans and are cared for by beautiful black-eyed huris (dazzling whites) who serve them ginger-spiced wine mixed with the water of the Tasnim spring from full musk-sealed hoses. In Sura 47, verse 16, the believers are promised "rivers of water, milk, wine and honey" . Qur'anic commentators, however, emphasise that the wine of Paradise will not intoxicate.
It is often debated what the Prophet meant by the prohibition of alcohol and whether there are not exceptions. Mohammed also enjoyed nabidh, a drink made from dates....
