Am I wrong? Don’t all answer at once! But as spring rears its beautiful head I look around at what is going on in the world and I see a huge amount of discord. Between the chaos in parts of the Middle East, in Africa, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, all I see is bloodshed and hatred. Then I look out over Europe and Australia, South and North America and I see peace, albeit maybe more fragile than I would hope but the bloodshed has no parallel to where the wars are being raged. And then I wonder whether or not there is a common-denominator between these peaceful countries and those at war. Alcohol. In the ‘peaceful’ countries we seem to be drinking a little more wine than our compatriots in those war waging countries. Could we resolve these wars by exporting more wine to these countries? It’s certainly possible but there would seem to be a barrier. It’s called Haram.
At this point, because I don’t want to sound intelligent about a subject I know little or anything about I’ll introduce an expert, although even he would not ascribe himself as such:
“I am no scholar in Islamic history, Islamic law, Islamic jurisprudence and above all I am not an expert in exegesis of Holy Scripture but can present you with facts and information that you can use to make your own determination on this subject.
The five Ayat (Ayas) of the Quran that most directly address the consumption of alcohol are as follows:
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They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: “In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit.” (Al-Baqara; 2:219)
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And from the fruit of the date palm and the vine, ye get out wholesome drink and food: behold, in this also is a sign for those who are wise. (An-Nahl; 16:67)
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3. O ye who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say…. (An-Nisa; 4:43)
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4. O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination, of Satan’s handiwork: Eschew such (abomination) that ye may prosper. (Al Maeda; 5:90)
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5. Satan’s plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of God, and from prayer: Will ye not then refrain? (Al-Maeda; 5:91)
Quran does not use the word “prohibition” in the context of alcohol (khMr) anytime, anywhere. KhMr is the arabic term used for anything that causes intoxication. In other words, alcohol has not been categorized as “haram” in the Quran. Only three things have been categorized as “haram”. These are (a) animals that die of any basis other than being sacrificed (“halal”) in the name of Allah, (b) blood of animals and (c) flesh of pigs. As such the reasoning behind every one of these items being categorized as “haram” was medical, especially undercooked pork which causes triganosis. This perhaps is a different discussion altogether.”
Shahid Batalvi
So my simple interpretation of this is that whilst it is a ‘sin’ for a Muslim to drink alcohol, that ‘sin’ is between him and his God. No mortal has the right to punish you for your ‘sin’. Conversely, society has a right to punish you if you drive while being intoxicated and a likely threat or danger to others in society under such circumstances.
So my point is this – let’s just all drink a lot of wine. Let’s not then go and commit a felony whilst intoxicated, in fact, let’s not get unduly intoxicated. But for God’s sake, and for Allah’s let’s just drink a little more wine and make peace!
And by the way, I can help you there! Right off the boat and delivered yesterday – the absolute freshest Prosecco you can buy. The key to a good Prosecco is not always the brand name, much more important is knowing when it was bottled, when it was shipped and how long it’s been standing around doing nothing. Nothing ruins spring more than a tired bottle of Prosecco. Our Botter was bottled in March, shipped the last week of March, arrived in NY on Friday and was delivered to the shop on Tuesday. And it’s as delicious as ever. And for the next few days and through this weekend take 20% OFF a full case of Botter Prosecco. That’s a puny $192.00 for 12 bottles of spring. And don’t forget to mix it up a little – try Prosecco and Aperol for the classic Spritz; pour 4 parts Prosecco with one part sweet vermouth and one part Campari for a Sbagliato; or 4 parts Prosecco, one part Crème de Cassis and one part lemon vodka for something seriously wicked. Just enjoy it!
I know from my sales figures that many of you have considered abandoning wine altogether. Some of you did, but hopefully only for a day or two. Some of you might need a little more encouragement, others may simply need to get out from under the duvet and smell the dafs. However you get to the realization that food without wine is something you don’t want to continue, come into Wine at Five and we will have the perfect solution – plus completely unbiased, expert advice!
