Wine

What the Bible Says..

   … wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything. (Ecclesiastes 10:19)

   For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward… Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart… Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might… (Ecclesiastes 9:5-10). 

   Once more he (Jesus) visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned water into wine.. (John 4:46). 

What the Qur'an Says…

   O you who believe! intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), and gambling, and dedication of stones, and divination by arrows, are an abomination of Satan's handiwork. So avoid it, in order that you may be successful. 

   Satan wants only to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants (alcoholic drinks) and gambling, and turn you from the remembrance of Allah and from the prayer. So, will you not then abstain? (Qur'an, 5: 90,91).

Commentary…

   The Bible does not forbid wine. On the contrary, converting water into wine, according to the Bible, was the first miracle of Prophet Jesus (pbuh) (John 2: 1-11). Furthermore, bread and wine are offered by the priest during CHristian religious service as a sign of Christ's body and blood. Although the Bible falsely alleges that wine made Prophet Lot (pbuh) commit incest with his two daughters and made Prophet Noah (pbuh) lie naked, there is not a single verse in the Bible the forbids wine-quite the reverse, many verses in the Bible encourage people to drink wine. 

   Creating a society free from alcohol and other intoxicants is one of the miracles of Islam. Islam prohibits any quantity of alcohol no matter how small it is, because small quantities may well lead to large quantities.

   Alcohol is the first step to most crimes and sins. It is a slow poison and can cause fatal diseases. Alcohol takes away self-control and mental ability which distinguishes humans from animals. Many countries realized that alcoholic drinks raise the rate of diseases, poverty, and crime. Therefore, in the beginning go the twentieth century, many countries tried to emulate the Islamic prohibitions of alcoholic drinks to protect their societies from this evil. They thought that it was just a matter of making laws. They made prohibition laws and tried to enforce them by imposing strict searches, arrests, fines, imprisonments and exceptions in addition to using all possible means of media to discourage drinking and warn people against its dangerous effects. However, all their efforts ended in great failure. The prohibition increased people's love for drinking and caused public outrage. Criminals made a lot of money by smuggling, making and selling illegal alcohol. Finally, these countries put an end to the prohibition laws. 

   In contrast, as soon as the above two Verses of the Qur'an, which prohibit alcoholic drinks, were revealed, Muslims shouted, "We have abstained!"  And they poured out all alcoholic drinks in the streets of MAdinah. They did not do that because they were afraid of the law, but because they were lovingly and consciously submitted themselves to the will of their Creator, Allah the Almighty.