Assalam Alikom sisters & brothers..
All of us know that the government of USA banned the sale, manufacture, and distribution of alcohol between 1920 and 1933 because of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The first section of the amendment reads:
“After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.”
It paid
millions of dollars to advertise against it; it tried different types of punishments but the problem became worse! More people died; crimes increased and too many people simply refused to abide by the law; for example, people in cafes used to put alcohol instead of coffee and it was then sold on the black market. The innovation of people to get what they want is evident in the resourcefulness used to obtain alcohol during prohibition. This era saw the rise of the speakeasy, home distiller, bootlegger, rum-runner and many of the gangster myths associated with it.
People continued to drink and there was even a
rise in the number of women who drank during the era, which helped change the general perception of what it meant to be “respectable” (a term prohibitionists often used to refer to non-drinkers).
It was also a logistical nightmare in terms of enforcement. There were never enough law enforcement officers to control all of the illegal operations associated with prohibition and many of the officials were themselves corrupt.
Therefore, since this experiment had failed,
the prohibition was repealed in 1933 as the result of the public’s annoyance of the law and the ever-increasing enforcement nightmare. And there are some celebrations on the anniversary of what is referred to as Repeal Day on December 5th of each year!
This was the case of other governments as well..
However, what was the case in Islam?
Allah said:
"O you who believe! Intoxicants and games of chance and idols and divining arrows are, infamy of Satan's handiwork. Leave it aside in order that you may succeed. Satan seeks only to cast among you enmity and hatred by means of intoxicants and games of chance, and turn you from remembering Allah and from prayer. Will you then desist? [Holy Quran 5:90=91]
When the Holy Prophet finished his recitation the group of faithful listeners replied to this Quranic Revelation with determined voices:
"we have desisted Allah, we have desisted O our God"…
The Muslim citizens of Madinah immediately began to spill their stocks of wine into the sand and streets; so that the wine ran through the streets of Madinah..
There were rivers of alcohol as if the sky rained it! Individuals who up till that moment were enjoying guiltlessly a glass of wine, quickly emptied their cups on the ground and spit out the alcohol from their mouths. They rushed to make ablutions in order to purify themselves.
The news spread fast from house to house and as the call,
"Surely Al-Chamber (alcohol) has been forbidden" echoed through the corners of the blessed city, large clay pots and skins full of fermented date-juice, honey and grape were broken or emptied in every house till the streets of Madina ran with little rivers of Khamr (alcohol)
as a testimony to the greatest anti-alcoholism movement that humanity has ever witnessed.
The lesson to be learned is that you cannot legislate morals. The only way to eradicate the evil of intoxicants is through religious conviction. Religion has to speak out vehemently and unequivocally against this evil.
ISLAM is the only religion, which has taken a firm stand against this evil. A true believer will not seek to break the Divine Command, because he is aware that God sees all and God knows all.
The only solution to this pressing social problem lies in Islam. In the knowledge and fear of God's wrath and in prayer, This is the only path of salvation. Fear of God's displeasure and in the spiritual help, which comes through prayer.
How did people immediately accept this prohibition despite the fact that drinking and sale of alcohol was so common and alcohol shops and bars were open 24 hours a day?
This was because Islam built a strong base in their souls.. Islam built a strong feeling of faith.. Islam built a strong feeling of loving Allah and knowing that every command is for the behalf of humanity..
The Islamic command has been succeeded till nowadays.. Of course there are Muslims who drink, but they are few and all of them know that they are committing a big sin.. And if we compare the number of Muslim drinkers with non-Muslim drinkers, the difference will be
considerable.. When I talk about the effect of Islam in Muslims' souls, I mean the souls of the
true Muslims who are the real believers..
Okey, why does governmental legislation fail to legislate morals?
Let me here mention the following
conversation which was between Ibrahim bin Adham (a Muslim scholar) and a young boy (Ibn Qudamah Al-Maqdisi mentioned it in his book Kitab At-Tawwabeen, page 285) :
The young boy: O Abu Ishaq, I am wronging my soul, advise me with something that’ll hold me back from disobeying Allah and breathe new life into my heart.
Ibrahim Bin Adham: Alright. If you take five things from me and fulfill them, you can disobey Allah the Almighty all you want and no harm will come to you.
The young boy: (Interested) Ok, tell me.
Ibrahim Bin Adham: One, if you want to do other than what Allah wants you to do, then do not eat the food that He provides you.
The young boy: Then where am I supposed to eat from when all the food on earth is from Allah?
Ibrahim Bin Adham: Dear lad, is it right that you eat the food Allah the Almighty has given you and then go off and disobey Him?
The young boy: No it is not right. What is the second?
Ibrahim Bin Adham: Two, if you want to live life to the fullest in disobedience of Allah, then don’t live on His land.
The young boy: That’s harder than the first. Where shall I live when all that is in the east and west the belongs to Him?
Ibrahim Bin Adham: Dear boy, is it right that you eat His food and live in His land, yet still insist on turning your back when He calls you?
The young boy: No it’s not right. What’s the third?
Ibrahim Bin Adham: If you want to disobey Allah, yet still eating the food He gave you and still living in His land, then find a place where He can’t see you.
The young boy: O Abu Ishaq, how can that be so when Allah is the All-Seeing and All-Knowing of all that happens, even what the heart whispers?
Ibrahim Bin Adham: Dear boy, is it right that you eat His food and live in His land and disobey Him while He watches you and what you are exposing?
The young boy:No it’s not right. What’s the fourth?
Ibrahim Bin Adham: When the angel of death comes to snatch your soul, tell him to grant you a day so that you can sincerely ask Allah for forgiveness and change your life.
The young boy: He won’t grant me that.
Ibrahim Bin Adham: Dear boy, if you find yourself helpless to put off death for just one day and you know that it cannot be delayed by your wishes, how do you expect to win?
The young boy: (With a sigh) What is the fifth?
Ibrahim Bin Adham: When the gatekeepers of Hell will come to drag you away on your face to Hellfire refuse to go with them.
The young boy: Nothing will stop them.
Ibrahim Bin Adham: How do you expect to be saved then?
The young boy: Enough, Abu Ishaq. (And he lowers his head crying). O Allah, forgive me for my transgression.
Epilogue: The young boy went on to become a student of Ibrahim Bin Adham. He repented to Allah sincerely and lived an upright life with his teacher until death parted the two.
For me, I think that the
third & forth points are the most ones that keep us away from committing sins..
If we REALLy feel that Allah swt is seeing us all the time, we should be afraid of disobeying Him..
We usually can't do some bad actions in front of other people; however, The God of these people, the God of all of us is seeing us, why we don't think about Him when we stay alone?
Actually this feeling makes Islam better than any governmental law because Muslims have self-monitor.. I mean if the only deterrence is the governmental legislation, a person can act illegally when s/he is covered and surely no one will catch him, right?
But does this case exist if the person is a true Muslim & knows that Allah is seeing?
And about the fourth point in the conversation, we know that we'll be
judged after the death; we know that their will be punishments & rewards; we know that there will be
Heaven & Hell; we know that
death time cannot be delayed even for a single second;
and since we don't know when our death will be, we don't want to die while committing a sin!
When I talked about alcohol, it was just an example of the fact that Islam values in people's souls are better than any governmental law.. I usually see many people driving in streets reduce the speed just in the radars places, but they exceed the allowed limit once they skip the radar! But, can governments make forever radars for people all the time in all places?
Muslims feel that Allah is The Most Great One Who has to be obeyed all the time. For example, during the holy month of Ramadhan, it's
IMPOSSIBLE that we think to drink or eat covertly because then we are covering ourselves just from people, but what is the benefit since we are not fasting for people; we are fasting for Allah Who is The All-Seeing and All-knowing?
If we think about millions of people in Makkah or any other mosque, we can be amazed by the quick arrangements of people lines once the prayer call (Adhan and then Eqama) is announced..
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Standing in arranged lines once the call of each prayer is said, is like obeying the Islamic rules once we know them..
This will never ever be achieved perfectly by governmental laws only; we have to be true Muslims to build a perfect society..
Laws are different in different countries, but all people are human being! Therefore, we need something that suits all the human being and gives the right way of life in all countries; which is Islam..
True Asian, American, European, African and Australian Muslims will not drink alcohol either their countries prohibit it or not.. This applies for all other sins..
Wassalam Alikom..
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Longing for the Paradise (Al-Jannah) where the endless happiness…