返回总目录
Qur'an Contradiction: Is Wine good or bad?
Qur'an Contradiction
Is Wine good or bad?
Wine is forbidden for a Muslim here on earth:
O you who believe! Strong drink and games of chance
and idols and divine arrows are only
an infamy of Satan's handiwork.
Leave it aside that you may succeed.
-- Sura 5:90
See also Sura 2:219.
On the other hand in Paradise are rivers of wine:
A similitude of the Garden which those
who keep their duty (to Allah) are promised:
Therein are rivers of water unpolluted ...
and rivers of wine delicious to the drinkers.
-- Sura 47:15
Surely the pious will be in bliss ...
their thirst will be slaked with pure wine sealed.
-- Sura 83:22,25
Is wine good or bad? Are we forbidden on earth something that is truly good?
Or in Paradise are we not only allowed it, but even provided in overflowing measures
(rivers of ...) something that is so bad that it is called "Satan's handiwork"?
Some Muslims attempt to explain away the discrepancy by appealing
to the following passage:
Save single-minded slaves of Allah; For them there is a known provision,
Fruits. And they will be honoured In the Gardens of delight, On couches
facing one another; A cup from a gushing spring is brought round for them,
White, delicious to the drinkers, Wherein there is no
headache nor are they made mad thereby. And with them are those of
modest gaze, with lovely eyes, (Pure) as they were hidden eggs (of the ostrich).
S. 37:40-49 Pickthall
The heavenly wine, it is claimed, which believers will drink will not cause
headaches or madness, thereby justifying Allah's decision to permit it in
paradise.
The main problem with citing this is that the passage nowhere identifies
this drink as wine. It does not even mention either the word wine or strong
drinks/intoxicants. It simply says that believers will drink from a cup
something which is white in color which does not cause headiness. If anything,
one can make an argument that this drink is actually milk. After all,
the Quran does mention the fact that believers will be given rivers of milk,
and milk is indeed white:
A similitude of the Garden which those who keep their duty (to Allah) are
promised: Therein are rivers of water unpolluted, and rivers of milk
whereof the flavour changeth not, and rivers of wine delicious to
the drinkers, and rivers of clear-run honey; therein for them is every kind
of fruit, with pardon from their Lord. (Are those who enjoy all this) like
those who are immortal in the Fire and are given boiling water to drink so
that it teareth their bowels? S. 47:15 Pickthall
Here is the other text which Muslims quote to prove that the wine in paradise will be different:
with goblets, and ewers, and a cup from a spring (no brows throbbing, no intoxication)
S. 56:18-19 Arberry
Again, the reference nowhere mentions wine and can be referring to the other drinks
which the Quran says will be given to believers, i.e. honey, milk, water etc. In fact,
the Sura goes on to mention the flowing waters which believers will have:
By water flowing constantly, S. 56:31 Hilali-Khan
Thus, one can legitimately say that the spring which the Quran says will not
cause throbbing or intoxication are these very waters. This becomes even
more apparent when we realize that the Quran mentions the fruits that
the believers will eat from right after the Quran refers to the spring and
flowing waters:
and such fruits as they shall choose, S. 56:20 Arberry
And fruit in plenty, S. 56:32 Hilali-Khan
In light of the foregoing, it seems pretty certain from the context that the drink
which the Quran says doesn't cause intoxication is in fact the very flowing
waters that are mentioned later on in the chapter.
Moreover, one can even argue that the reason these passages emphasize
that these particular drinks don't cause headiness or intoxication is to
distinguish them from the wine which believers will have access to when in
paradise. In other words, the qualification presupposes that these drinks
are different from the wine which believers will be drinking since, unlike
wine, these specific drinks don't cause madness or headaches. Putting it in
another way, these texts are not identifying these drinks as wine, but are
actually contrasting them to wine by highlighting the point that they don't
have the common affects associated with intoxicants.
Further reading:
The Quranic Teaching on Wine and Strong Drink
Muslim responses
Contradictions in the Qur'an
Answering Islam Home Page