adminAlcoholic Drinks are Rendered Haram
Alcohol was rendered haram in the 4th year of the Migration while Sons of Nadr Jews were being expelled.
Alcohol was rendered haram in three phases.
When the Messenger of God arrived in Madinah, Muslims used to drink alcohol and gamble.
When the Prophet arrived, they asked him about the judgment regarding alcohol and gambling. Meanwhile, Hazrat Umar prayed as follows: “O my Lord! Make a clear statement about alcohol.”
After a while, the following verse was sent down: “Say: ‘In them is great sin, and some profit for men; but the sin is greater than the profit.’”[1]
Thereupon, some Muslims gave up drinking but others continued drinking.
However, some unpleasant incidents took place among those who drank alcohol. Furthermore, one of the Companions mispronounced some words in verses while leading the prayer in such a way that the verse had a completely different and wrong meaning.
Hazrat Umar prayed again, “O God! Make a clear statement about alcohol.”
After a short while, the following verse was sent down: “O ye who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say, nor in a state of ceremonial impurity (except when travelling on the road), until after washing your whole body if ye are ill, or on a journey!”[2]
This verse stated the second phase of the prohibition.
Thereupon, some Muslims said, “O Messenger of God! We will not drink when the time for prayer is near!”
The Prophet kept silent; he did not answer them.
The number of drinkers among Muslims naturally decreased.
When it was time to pray, upon the command of the Messenger of God, somebody called out, “No drunkard can perform prayers!”
However, a Muslim drank alcohol and went to the mosque to pray one evening.
Hazrat Umar prayed again, “O God! Make a clear statement about alcohol.”
Thereupon, the following verse was sent down:
“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.
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 abstain?”[3]
Thereupon, the Muslims said, “O Lord! We gave up drinking alcohol and gambling from now on!”
It was the third phase of the prohibition. Thus, alcohol was rendered haram for all Muslims.
When those verses were sent down, the Messenger of God ordered somebody to call out loudly in the streets of Madinah: “Know it very well that drinking alcohol was rendered haram.”
The Muslims who heard this order poured all of the alcoholic drinks in their houses. The alcoholic drinks flowed in the streets of Madinah like a flood.
Some of the hadiths regarding the issue:
“Doubtlessly, God curses those who produce alcohol, the place where it is produced, those who make others drink, those who carry, make others carry, sell, buy alcohol and those who spend the money earned through alcohol.”[4]
“Every intoxicant is khamr and every intoxicant is forbidden. He who drinks wine in this world and dies while he is addicted to it, not having repented, will not be given a drink in the hereafter!”[5]
“Keep away from alcohol because it is the key to all evil.”[6]
“Alcohol is the mother of all evil.”[7]
“If a big amount of something intoxicates, a small amount of it is forbidden, too.”[8]
Death of Zaynab bint Huzayma
Hazrat Zaynab, the wife of the Prophet, was known and mentioned as “Umm al-Masakin” (Mother of the Poor) because she showed mercy on the poor and always gave them food during the period before Islam. She married the Messenger of God in the month of Ramadan in the 3rd year of the Migration. She died at the end of the month of Rabiulakhir in the 4th year of the Migration when she was thirty years old.
After leading her janazah prayer, the Prophet buried her in the cemetery of Baqi. Only two of the wives of the Prophet, namely Khadijah al-Kubra and Zaynab, died before the Prophet.
Fatima, the Mother of Hazrat Ali Dies
Fatima bint Asad was the wife of Abu Talib, who was the uncle of the Prophet. She was one of the first Muslims and had migrated to Madinah. She took care of the Prophet when he was a child. She loved him and looked after him more than her own children. The Prophet always showed respect to her, visited her and enquired about her health.
This woman of high ethics died in the 4th year of the Migration in Madinah. The Messenger of God said, “My mother died today” due to his love and respect to her.
Hz. Ali (may God be pleased with him) said, “When Fatima, my mother, died, the Messenger of God (pbuh) took off his own shirt and used it as a shroud and wrapped it around her; then, he led her janazah prayer.
The Messenger of God entered the grave of this blessed and respectable woman; he lay in the grave for a while. Then, she got out of the grave. His eyes were full of tears. The Muslims around said, “O Messenger of God! We have never seen you act like that for anybody else.”
The Messenger of God answered,
“There is nobody who helped me as much as this woman except Abu Talib. I clothed her in my shirt as a shroud so that she would be clothed in the clothes of Paradise. I lay in her grave so that it would be easy for her.”[9]
After that, the Prophet prayed as follows:
“May God show mercy on you and reward you with good things!
May God show mercy on you, O my mother! You were my mother after my mother. You went hungry but fed me. You did not buy clothes for you but you bought clothes for me. You refrained from eating nice things but gave them to me to eat. You did so in order to attain the pleasure of God and the hereafter.
God revives and kills. He is al-Hayy and al-Qayyum.
O God! Forgive Fatima bint Asad, my mother; tell her about your proof; enlarge her grave.
O God, who is the most merciful of the merciful ones! Accept my prayer for my sake and for the sake of other prophets before me!”
Birth of Hazrat Husayn, the Grandson of the Prophet
Hazrat Husayn, the second son of Hazrat Ali and Fatima and the grandson of the Messenger of God was born in the month of Shaban in the 4th year of the Migration.
The Prophet slaughtered two rams on the seventh day of his birth for his grandson, recited adhan into his ear and cut his hair.
Hazrat Husayn looked like the Prophet just like his brother, Hazrat Hasan. The Prophet prayed for his grandsons as follows: “O God! I love them; please love them…”[10]
Once, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (may God be pleased with him) saw Hazrat Hasan and Hazrat Husayn playing in front of the Messenger of God. He asked,
“O Messenger of God! Do you love them a lot?” The Prophet answered,
“Of course, I do. They are two basils that I smell in this world.”[11]
Zayd b. Thabit Learns Arabic, Hebrew and Assyrian Writing
Zayd b. Thabit (may God be pleased with him) was left an orphan when his father died during the fight on the day of Buath between the tribes of Aws and Khazraj before the Migration. He was six years old then.
The Messenger of God had declared that if the captives taken during the Battle of Badr did not have enough money to pay ransom, they would be set free if they taught ten Ansar children to read and write. Zayd b. Thabit was one of those children who learned to read and write then.
Zayd b. Thabit was very clever.
In the 4th year of the Migration, the Messenger of God ordered him to learn Hebrew and said, “I cannot be sure whether they would change my writings or not.”[12]
Thereupon, Hazrat Zayd learned Hebrew in fifteen days; he had a good command of Hebrew. When the Prophet wanted to write something to Jews, he called Zayd and dictated it to him. When he received a writing from Jews, he made Zayd read it.[13]
Once, the Messenger of God asked Zayd, “Can you read and write Assyrian? I receive writings in Assyrian.”
Zayd said, “I cannot read or write it well.” Thereupon, the Prophet said, “Then, learn it very well.”
Upon the order of the Prophet Zayd b. Thabit learned Assyrian in seventeen days.[14]
Death of Abdullah, the Son of Hazrat Uthman
Hazrat Uthman had migrated to Abyssinina with his wife, Ruqiyya. They had a child there; they called him Abdullah.
When Abdullah was six years old, a rooster pecked at his face. His face was swollen. He got very ill. He died of this disease in the month of Jumadal-Awwal in the 4th year of the Migration.
The Prophet led the janazah prayer of his grandson himself. Hazrat Uthman, his father, placed him in the grave.[15]
The Messenger of God, who placed the gravestone, started to cry. He said,
“God shows mercy on His slaves that are merciful and soft-hearted.”[16]
[1]al-Baqara, 219.
[2]an-Nisa, 43.
[3]Al-Maida, 90-91.
[4]Abu Dawud, Sunan, Vol. 2, p. 292.
[5]Muslim, Sahih, Vol. 6, p. 100.
[6]Hakim, al-Mustadrak, Vol. 4, p. 145.
[7]Dara Qutni, Sunan, Vol. 4, p. 247.
[8]Abu Dawud, Sunan, Vol. 2, p. 294.
[9]Ibn Abdi’l-Barr, al-Istiab, Vol. 4. p. 1891.
[10]Tirmidhi, Sunan, Vol. 5. p. 661.
[11]Tirmidhi, ibid, Vol. 5. p. 657.
[12]Tabari, Tarikh, Vol. 3, p. 42; Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, Vol. 5. p. 186.
[13]Abu Dawud, Sunan, Vol. 2, p. 286; Tirmidhi, Sunan, Vol. 5. p. 67-68.
[14]Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, Vol. 5. p. 182.
[15]Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, Vol. 3, p. 53-54.
[16]Balazuri, Ansab, Vol. 1, p. 401.
