Khamr

Khamr, is an Arabic word for wine or intoxicant. In Islamic context, is variously defined as alcoholic beverages, wine or liquor. The position of alcohol in Islam is a complex subject in terms of its historical implementation and nuanced scholarly interpretation. While the "dominant" belief among Muslims is that consumption of alcohol in any form is forbidden, and in addition selling, transporting, serving, etc. alcohol is also a sin, there are some disagreements; for example, the Hanafi school interprets khamr to mean only certain specified beverages, rather than all intoxicants. According to Murtaza Haider of Dawn, "A consensus on how to deal with alcohol has eluded Muslim jurists for more than a millennium".
How khamr in Islam is defined varies by the school of jurisprudence. Most Islamic jurists have traditionally viewed it as general term for any fermented intoxicating beverage, though one school has limited it to alcohol derived from dates and grapes. Over time, other intoxicants, such as opium and khat, have been classed by jurists as khamr. A minority of Muslims do drink and believe consuming alcohol is not Qur'anically forbidden. Among Alawites, an esoteric sect of Islam, Sufi Bektashis, Alevis, and Ahmadis, the consumption of alcohol is permissible. The punishment for consumption of alcohol is disagreed upon; some believe that any punishment for consuming alcohol is un-Islamic, while others believe it is flogging, though legal scholars disagree over whether the number of lashes should be 40 or 80.
Historically, many Muslim elites consumed alcohol, encompassing the reign of the Umayyads, the Abbasids, Islamic Spain, and dynasties that ruled Egypt and the eastern, Persianate half of the Muslim world. These included notable rulers such as al-Hakam I, al-Mu'tamid, and Abd al-Rahman III. Drinking wine was also reflected by Islamic poets, such as Abu Nuwas, Ibrahim al-Nazzam, Omar Khayyam, Rumi, and Hafez Shirazi. Wine consumption in the Islamic Golden Age was a mainstream literal practice, sometimes even intertwined with religious rituals. A notable figure during this period was the Islamic philosopher Ibn Sina, who would refresh himself in his studies with a cup of wine.
Modern Islamic countries have low rates of alcohol consumption, and it is completely banned in several of them while strictly controlled in others. Muslim-majority countries produce a variety of regional distilled beverages such as arak and rakı. There is a long tradition of viniculture in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt and in Iran. Beer has been historically produced in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Definition

In fiqh, it refers to certain forbidden substances, and its technical definition depends on the madhhab. Most jurists, including those from the Maliki, Shafiʽi, Hanbali and Ahl-i Hadith legal schools, have traditionally viewed it as general term for any intoxicating beverage made from grapes, dates, and similar substances. Hanafi jurists restricted the term to a narrower range of beverages. Over time, some jurists classified other intoxicants, such as opium and khat, as khamr, based on a hadith attributed to Muhammad stating,

"The Holy Prophet said: 'every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is forbidden.'"

Other traditions state:

"Khamr comes from these two trees : The date palm and the grape."

A minority of faqīh, particularly of the Hanafi school, take the concept of khamr literally and forbid only grape-based alcoholic beverages, allowing those made with other fruits, grains, or honey. Other sources speaking for the Hanafi Madhhab, state that while not all alcohol is khamr in sufficient quantity to intoxicate or if 2) consumed for recreational purposes,.

Scriptural basis

Quran

Quranic verses that at least discourage alcohol include:

Hadith

Various sahih versions of the following hadith are found in Abu Dawood, Ibn Maajah, Al-Tirmidhi and other collections:
According to a hadith where Imam Ahmad recorded what Abu Maysarah said, the verses came after requests by Umar to Allah, to "Give us a clear ruling regarding Al-Khamr!" Many Muslims believe the verses were revealed over time in this order to gradually nudge Muslim converts away from drunkenness and towards total sobriety, as to ban alcohol abruptly would have been too harsh and impractical, since Islam brought "a society steeped in immorality" to one observing "the highest standards of morality."

Interpretation

All alcohol or only wine debate

Early caliphs distributed cooked wine to Muslim troops, as the cooking process caused the wine to be nonalcoholic. However, fermentation could resume in the amphorae, and Caliph Umar II had to prohibit drinking this beverage.
Like the rationalist school of Islamic theology, the Muʿtazila, early Hanafi scholars upheld the unlawfulness of intoxication, but restricted its definition to fermented juice of grapes or grapes and dates. As a result, alcohol derived by means of honey, barley, wheat and millet such as beer, whisky or vodka was permitted according to some minor faction of followers of Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf, although all forms of grape alcohol were banned absolutely. and Abdullah ibn Masud
This was in stark contrast to other schools of fiqh, which prohibit consumption of alcohol in all its forms.
Averroes, the Muslim Andalusi
polymath and jurist, explained in his encyclopedia of comparative Islamic jurisprudence the idea of alcohol derived from honey, wheat, barley or corn being haram when used as an intoxicant, in an amount that intoxicates, but permissible if used in a manner intended for medical purpose, hygiene, perfume, etc.:
The distinction between the legal status of wine and non-grape alcoholic beverages was reflected in early Hanafi jurists delineated drinking-related offences into two categories:

Drinking grape-derived wine.
Intoxication from non-grape intoxicants.

Since the second category of punishment was specific to the Hanafis, they had to come with a legal definition of drunkenness. These definitions ranged from Ibn Qutaybah's, " whose intellect has left him so he does not understand a little or much " to Ibn Nujaym's, " does not know between a man and a woman or the earth from the sky". Hanafi understanding of Shariah not only permitted adherents to indulge in alcoholic beverages but they could do so up to a near point of total "annihilation".
However, from the 12th century, the Hanafi school embraced the general prohibition of all alcoholic beverages, in line with the other schools.

Alcohol consumption as traditionally allowed

Contemporary Islamic scholar Shahab Ahmed argued that fiqh prohibition and punishment of consumption of alcoholic beverages notwithstanding,
Rudi Matthee also writes that many Muslim elites during the reign of the Umayyads, the Abbasids, Islamic Spain, and dynasties that ruled Egypt and the eastern, Persianate half of the Muslim world consumed alcohol.
Rather than being relegated to "‘bad’ or ‘non-observant’ Muslims, or talked about only as a metaphor for the mystic's ‘spiritual intoxication’ in the midst of the divine, wine consumption in the Islamic Golden Age was a mainstream literal practice, sometimes even intertwined with religious rituals. "The Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi, for example, describes a party at a palace of Sultan Murad IV where wine was consumed, followed by mid-afternoon prayer and Quranic recitation." 10th century polymath Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, in a "foundational work" of medicine, The Welfare of Bodies and Souls, waxed rhapsodic on the virtues of wine, "unique among all foods and drinks, for none of these have in them anything of which the pleasure is transported from the body to the soul, producing therein". Physician and philosopher Ibn Sina,, 'routinely drank wine in good company’ when ‘not engaged in the problem of defining God'. According to Gina Hames some scholars argue that the Quran only prohibited wine drinking when used in pagan rituals or when misused to create social divisions or further Godlessness.

Punishment

The Quran does not prescribe a penalty for consuming alcohol.
Among hadith, the only reference for punishment comes from one by Anas ibn Malik, who is reported to have stated that Muhammad prescribed 40 lashes "administered with two palm branches... for someone accused of consuming alcohol". Saudi Arabian scholar Muhammad Al-Munajjid also states that a hadith report narrated by Sahih Muslim from Anas reports that Muhammad flogged someone who had drunk wine with palm branches stripped of their leaves and with shoes.
According to Muhammad Al-Munajjid, the consensus of classical fuqaha’ for the punishment for consumption of alcohol is flogging, but scholars do not agree on the number of lashes to be administered; "the majority of scholars are of the view that it is eighty lashes for a free man" and forty for slaves and women. Similarly Murtaza Haider writes, "a consensus on how to deal with alcohol has eluded Muslim jurists for more than a millennium". The "Maliki, Hanbali, and Hanafi schools" of Islamic jurisprudence consider 80 lashes to be lawful punishment, the Shafi’i school calls for 40 lashes. "The Hadith does not cover the matter in sufficient detail.... Is it 40 or 80 lashes? Can one substitute palm branches with a cane or leather whips? What constitutes as proof for consumption?"

Contemporary punishments in Muslim majority countries

A man convicted of consuming alcohol was given 80 lashes in a public square in the Iranian city of Kashmar on 10 July 2018.
In Pakistan the penal code, under "the Prohibition Order of 1979, awards 80 lashes to those convicted of consuming alcohol". Non-Muslims may consume alcohol in licensed areas in Pakistan, but violating alcohol regulations there may result in "severe penalties, including fines, imprisonment, and public flogging in some regions".
In Saudi Arabia lashes "can also be part of the sentence" for consuming alcohol, according to the British Embassy.