ALCOHOL and DRUGS
In the past two decades a fetal alcohol syndrome has been delineated, caused by maternal drinking during pregnancy. This entails growth retardation of the baby in utero continuing after birth, short palpebral openings, microcephaly and other dysmorphic features, and mental retardation. No safe dose of alcohol has been identified, and the response varies widely probably due to genetic factors. This is an added aspect to the health hazards of alcohol, on top of its other curses on family, society, economy, crime, accidents,-etc.
As other drugs came into fairly widespread use, their deleterious effects on the fetus in utero became delineated, and congenital malformations associated with maternal consumption of cannabis, LSD, cocaine, heroin and others were described. Drug dealing and smuggling has become an extremely flourishing business, and efforts to curb it go hand in hand with more and more consumption especially among young people of both sexes in their teens and twenties, especially in societies that broke the freedom barrier into license. An obstetrician from a relatively drug-clean country visiting a place like USA will be astounded at the number of heroin and cocaine pregnant addicts occupying antenatal beds in hospitals.
The more one sees the sequelae of alcohol and narcotic drugs, the more does one respect Islam for prohibiting them. It is our belief that all other God sent religions share this prohibition, and this goes without saying.
The crucial difference between Man and beast is that Man exceeded mere biology to the realm of morality. The signe qua non of Man is the faculty of self-criticism and self-restraint (when necessary). It is at this faculty that alcohol and psychedelic drugs hit. In other words they suppress or remove the human element of Man, which defeats the whole purpose of any religion.
When Islam came alcohol consumption was a firmly rooted social custom, perhaps even more than it is in the contemporary world. The prohibition came in three steps, each psychologically conditioning the nation of muslims to the subsequent one. The first mention of drink in the' Quran was:
"They ask you concerning liquor and gambling, say: In them is great sin and some profit for people, but the sin is greater than the profit." (2:219). After this suggestive information, the Quran followed up with:
"O, you who believe! Approach not prayers while you are under the influence of liquor, so as to (be sure) you know what you are saying " (4:43)
In their keenness on their prayers and in obedience of the Quran, the chances for drinking became quite limited after the relevation of this verse.
The decisive step entailing strict prohibition then came in the verse:
"0, you who believe! Liquor, gambling, (dedication ot) stones and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination-of Satan's handiwork: eschew such (abomination), that you may prosper. Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you through drinking and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of God and from prayer: will you not then abstain? Obey God and obey the apostle. And beware! If you do turn back, then know that it is Our apostle's duty only to proclaim in the clearest manner." (5:90-92)
And at that night the prophet sent callers in the streets of Madina to shout up that liquor became prohibited. The response was prompt. Parties who were actually drinking, as well as any who had drink in their c homes, spilt the stuff in the streets of Madina saying: We are now abstinents, messenger of God.
Perhaps there is more than history in this account. Drinking and its implications cost the American tax payer forty billion dollars a year as estimated in 1982, with no apparent evidence that the problem is shrinking. It takes faith, belief and an ideology to eradicate the problem as happened in the days of Mohammad. The fallacy of reduced or social drinking has no place in Islam. ..for if you have to close a door you have got really to close it. 'Drink' was explained by the prophet as anything that can 'confound' the mind", and this then includes drugs as well, and the prophet's clear instructions were: "Whatever intoxicates in large quantities is forbidden even in small amounts".
As other drugs came into fairly widespread use, their deleterious effects on the fetus in utero became delineated, and congenital malformations associated with maternal consumption of cannabis, LSD, cocaine, heroin and others were described. Drug dealing and smuggling has become an extremely flourishing business, and efforts to curb it go hand in hand with more and more consumption especially among young people of both sexes in their teens and twenties, especially in societies that broke the freedom barrier into license. An obstetrician from a relatively drug-clean country visiting a place like USA will be astounded at the number of heroin and cocaine pregnant addicts occupying antenatal beds in hospitals.
The more one sees the sequelae of alcohol and narcotic drugs, the more does one respect Islam for prohibiting them. It is our belief that all other God sent religions share this prohibition, and this goes without saying.
The crucial difference between Man and beast is that Man exceeded mere biology to the realm of morality. The signe qua non of Man is the faculty of self-criticism and self-restraint (when necessary). It is at this faculty that alcohol and psychedelic drugs hit. In other words they suppress or remove the human element of Man, which defeats the whole purpose of any religion.
When Islam came alcohol consumption was a firmly rooted social custom, perhaps even more than it is in the contemporary world. The prohibition came in three steps, each psychologically conditioning the nation of muslims to the subsequent one. The first mention of drink in the' Quran was:
"They ask you concerning liquor and gambling, say: In them is great sin and some profit for people, but the sin is greater than the profit." (2:219). After this suggestive information, the Quran followed up with:
"O, you who believe! Approach not prayers while you are under the influence of liquor, so as to (be sure) you know what you are saying " (4:43)
In their keenness on their prayers and in obedience of the Quran, the chances for drinking became quite limited after the relevation of this verse.
The decisive step entailing strict prohibition then came in the verse:
"0, you who believe! Liquor, gambling, (dedication ot) stones and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination-of Satan's handiwork: eschew such (abomination), that you may prosper. Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you through drinking and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of God and from prayer: will you not then abstain? Obey God and obey the apostle. And beware! If you do turn back, then know that it is Our apostle's duty only to proclaim in the clearest manner." (5:90-92)
And at that night the prophet sent callers in the streets of Madina to shout up that liquor became prohibited. The response was prompt. Parties who were actually drinking, as well as any who had drink in their c homes, spilt the stuff in the streets of Madina saying: We are now abstinents, messenger of God.
Perhaps there is more than history in this account. Drinking and its implications cost the American tax payer forty billion dollars a year as estimated in 1982, with no apparent evidence that the problem is shrinking. It takes faith, belief and an ideology to eradicate the problem as happened in the days of Mohammad. The fallacy of reduced or social drinking has no place in Islam. ..for if you have to close a door you have got really to close it. 'Drink' was explained by the prophet as anything that can 'confound' the mind", and this then includes drugs as well, and the prophet's clear instructions were: "Whatever intoxicates in large quantities is forbidden even in small amounts".