[[ There are three verses regarding all intoxicants [khamr] including alcohol. These verses are laid down below in their chronological order. The last verse prohibits the use of all intoxicants along with gambling and foretelling future. ]]

Sura 2 al-Baqara, Madina 87 [Early Madina verse]

The Quranic text and Ali’s version

يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ ...

2:219. They ask thee concerning wine

... وَالْمَيْسِرِ...

and gambling.

... قُلْ فِيهِمَا إِثْمٌ كَبِيرٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثْمُهُمَآ أَكْبَرُ مِن نَّفْعِهِمَا...

Say: "In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit."

... وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنفِقُونَ...

They ask thee how much they are to spend;

... قُلِ الْعَفْوَ ...

say: "What is beyond your needs."

... كَذَلِكَ يُبيِّنُ اللّهُ لَكُمُ الآيَاتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ ﴿٢١٩﴾

Thus doth Allah make clear to you His Signs: in order that ye may consider.

Asad’s Translation

2:219

THEY WILL ASK thee about intoxicants and games of chance. Say: "In both there is great evil 204 as well as some benefit for man; but the evil which they cause is greater than the benefit which they bring." 205 And they will ask thee as to what they should spend [in God's cause]. Say: "Whatever you can spare." In this way God makes clear unto you His messages, so that you might reflect

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Ali’s comments:-

C240. Wine: Khamr: literally understood to mean the fermented juice of the grape; applied by analogy to all fermented liquor, and by further analogy to any intoxicating liquor or drug.

There may possible be some benefit in it, but the harm is greater than the benefit, especially if we look at it from a social as well as an individual point of view.

C241. Gambling: maisir: literally, a means of getting something too easily, getting a profit without working for it; hence gambling. That is the principle on which gambling is prohibited.

The form must familiar to the Arabs was gambling by casting lots by means of arrows, on the principle of a lottery: the arrows were marked, and served the same purpose as a modern lottery ticket.

Something e.g., the carcass of a slaughtered animal, was divided into unequal parts. The marked arrows were drawn from a bag. Some were blank and those who drew them got nothing. Others indicated prizes, which were big or small. Whether you got a big share or a small share, or nothing, depended on pure luck, unless that was fraud also on the part of some persons concerned.

The principle on which the objection is based is:

- that, even if there is no fraud, you gain what you have not earned, or lose on a mere chance.

Dice and wagering are rightly held to be within the definition of gambling. (R).

C242. Hoarding is no use either to ourselves, or to any one else. We should use the wealth we need; any superfluities we must spend in good works or in charity.]]

Asad’s comments:-

204 Lit., "sin", or anything that is conducive to sinning. As some of the classical commentators (e.g., Razi) point out, the term ithm is used in this verse as the antithesis of manafi' ("benefits"); it can, therefore, be suitably rendered as "evil".

205 Lit. , "their evil is greater than their benefit" . For a clear-cut prohibition of intoxicants and games of chance, see 5:90-91 and the corresponding notes.

[[Asad’s comments on 5:90 and 5:91 :-

105 According to all the lexicographers, the word khamr (derived from the verb khamara, "he concealed" or "obscured") denotes every substance the use of which obscures the intellect, i.e., intoxicates. Hence, the prohibition of intoxicants laid down in this verse comprises not merely alcoholic drinks, but also drugs which have a similar effect. The only exception from this total prohibition arises in cases of "dire necessity" (in the strictest sense of these words), as stipulated in the last sentence of verse 3 of this surah: that is to say, in cases where illness or a bodily accident makes the administration of intoxicating drugs or of alcohol imperative and unavoidable. - As regards the expression "idolatrous practices" (ansab, lit., "idolatrous altars"), see note 8 of this surah. This term has, I believe, been used here metaphorically, and is meant to circumscribe all practices of an idolatrous nature - like saint- worship, the attribution of "magic" properties to certain inanimate objects, the observance of all manner of superstitious taboos, and so forth. - For an explanation of the expression rendered by me as "divining of the future" (al-azlam, lit., "divining-arrows"), see note 9 on the second paragraph of verse 3 of this surah.

106 Lit., "Will you, then, desist?" - a rhetorical question implying the necessity of desisting, which can be expressed in English only by the use of the negative

form.

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