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Abu Baseer was once in the company of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a)
when a woman came and said to the Imam, "I have come to ask
a question. I am ill. Physicians in Iraq have told me to take
liquor. Now I want to know what to do in such
circumstances?"
The Imam asked her, "Why don't you drink what the doctors
have prescribed for you?"
She replied, "As I am your follower, I shall obey what you
say. If you permit me, I shall drink it; if not, I shall keep
away from it; so that if I am asked by the Almighty God on the
Day of Judgment why I did so, I shall reply that I followed the
instructions of the Imam of the day."
Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a) turned to Abu Baseer and said: "O
Abu Baseer. Did you listen to what this woman has to say? Are
you not moved by her faith? In spite of her illness, she is
refraining from taking liquor without the Imam's
permission."
The Imam then turned to the woman and said, "By God, I do
not permit you to drink. If you do so, you shall be sorry when
your soul reaches your throat (that is at the time of
death)".
So saying the Imam pointed at her throat; and asked her three
times if she understood what he had said. The woman nodded her
head.
One of the things which Islam has strongly forbidden is the
taking of any intoxicating drink, like beer, wine. They are
harmful to the body and mind. Under their influence one loses
one's senses and is apt to commit criminal acts. We read of
fatal accidents and crimes committed because of drinks.
Even trading in liquor and sitting in bars where people are
drinking are also forbidden in Islam so that there is no
temptation in the way of people to taking them.
The Holy Qur'an says, "O Believers, Intoxicants and games
of chance, idols and divining arrows, are abominations devised
by Satan. Avoid them, so that you may prosper. Satan desires to
stir up enmity and hatred among you by means of intoxicants and
gambling, and to keep you from the remembrance of Allah and from
your prayers. Will you not abstain from them?" (Chapter 5,
Verses 90, 91)
The above verses from the Qur'an warn us of the effects of
drinking.
The first Imam, Ali (a), said, "Suppose a drop of liquor is
put in a well and from its water a land is irrigated. Grass
grows on the land and a sheep grazes there. That sheep then gets
mixed in a flock of other sheep who have grazed elsewhere. If
all the sheep are slaughtered making it difficult to identify
the meat of the sheep who had grazed on a land which was
irrigated from the water of the well, then I shall not eat any
of that meat."
Thus Imam Ali (a) has emphasized the evil of alcohol.
For the sake of our own physical, mental and spiritual welfare,
we should always keep away from drinks.
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