Wine Drinking in Islam

Prohibition of Intoxication
 

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www.haroonsaadiq.com/quran/alcohol.htm

" O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), and gambling, and Al-Ansab (animals sacrificed on stone-altars at fixed places or graves on certain ocasions in the name of idols, jinns, angels and pious men in order to honour them or to expect some benefits from them) and Al-Azlam (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Satan's handiwork. So avoid (strictly) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful. Satan wants only to excite enmity and haterd between you with intoxicants and gambling and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah and from the prayer. So will you not then abstain? " [Al-Quran 5:90-91]

The above mentioned verse contains the final orders regarding the prohibition of intoxication, whether it be alcohol or any other substance. Before we proceed further, let us have a look at some Ahaadeeth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), narrated in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim:

" Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was asked about Bit', whereupon he said: Every drink that causes intoxication is forbidden "

" Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) observed, Whoever fornicates is not a believer so long as he commits it and no thief who steals is a believer as long as he commits theft, and no drunkard who drinks wine is a believer as long as he drinks it "

" Anas bin Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, reported: Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) lashed a man who drank wine with two palm branches about forty lashes "

So it is very much clear that in Islam, intoxication is absolutely forbidden. As long as one is a Muslim, sayings of Allah in the Quran and Muhammad (p.b.u.h) in his ahaadeeth, are more than sufficient to constitute a belief about something, as compared to any other source. Some people base their beliefs on scientific research and facts even if they contradict the Quran and hadeeth, not realizing that science is a system of knowledge or observation by human beings and human beings are prone to errors. Thus if science contradicts any views of the the Quran or Sunnah then it is science that is wrong, not the Quran or hadeeth. However scientific research that is in accordance with the Quran and hadeeth has helped us a lot to understand some issues in much greater depth.

Below is a research on alcohol (which is the most widely used intoxicant), and its not because of this research that we are going to constitute the belief about its prohibition. We are just going to use it as a tool, and see how it creates hatred and enmity among us, which is already mentioned by God in the verse cited above, to which we have already established our belief and faith regarding its prohibition.

Alcohol Problems in The Family

Families which experience problems with alcohol are fragile families. Harms related to alcohol are by no means restricted to drinkers themselves - those around them can also be damaged. The families of alcohol drinkers are particularly vulnerable to harm. A childhood in such a family can mean a childhood in distress: a distress which is often hidden to those outside the family and neglected by policy makers.

The Cries of Children

The cries of these children reveal what it is like to be in a family with alcohol problems:

" Dad gets drunk every day, he hits me and mum .. he broke my arm once. If I have bruises he .. stops me going to school. He says if we ever tell anyone he will kill us. I'm scared .. it's getting worse." [Girl]

" Dad drinks and hits mum. I took an overdose last week . I want to die. I can't talk to mum it would only add to her problems ... It's all my fault " [Girl]

" Sometimes it's hard. Ican't run away because when there's trouble there will be no-one to run to for help " [Boy]

" If other parents knew about my father drinking, they might stop their children playing with me " [Boy]

" I cry! She (mother) says she will quit, but it never happens " [Girl]

" My mum beats me when she's been drinking " [Girl]

Adults Are Also Hurt

" I felt responsible for everything. I was constantly blaming myself for having chosen this partner and the consequent effect it had on my children " ..... [Wife]

" He is prepared to lose his family rather than stop drinking. He mustn't love us and I find myself wondering if he ever did or if all our life together was a lie. I feel sad and frightened and angry " ..... [Wife]

" I felt let down and I could not cope. I felt she had given up on all the plans we had made when we got married - given up on the kids and everything " ..... [Husband]

" I made myself believe I as a good father taking my son to football. Now I admit I did it to have an excuse to have some beers ... He (the son) has more than once found me on the floor drunk and in coma. I do not know what it means to a child to see his father like that " ..... [Father, now abstinent]

" The caller said he saw the two-year-old wandering down the road wearing a T-shirt, underpants and socks. The caller asked him where he lived and the child took him to a house 200-300 yards away. The front door was opened and a man and a woman were asleep on a sofa in a cigarette smoke-filled room which also smelled of alcohol. The child went to the woman, calling her 'Mummy' and shook her. She told him to 'bugger off' " ..... [Neighbour]

" My strongest childhood memory is one of fear. My father was a huge man and always angry... He would sit up drinking late at night. My brother, sister and I were terrified of being beaten " ..... [Tim, 53]

The Importance of Family

Alcohol problems in families are important because families are important. The essential functions of the family are to meet the needs of its members for physical, psychological, social, and economic security and well being, and the provision of a satisfactory environment for the support, education and socialisation of children. All of these functions can be jeopardised by the consumption of alcohol.

In the European Union the traditional patterns of family life are undergoing a process of change, and new family forms have come into existence. One aspect of this change is the growing 'nuclearisation' of the family, the disappearance from the household of those, such as grandparents, not members of the nuclear family of parents and children. Another trend - also more evident in some European countries than others - is the growth in living alone, divorce and in single parent families. Both of these developments have implications for family alcohol problems. One possible consequence is that there may be fewer people available in the household to lend support when things go wrong. Divorce and family break-up may be both cause and consequence of alcohol problems.

It is clear that all too often alcohol consumption results in extremes of bad parenting and leads to the children (and the spouse) experiencing various forms of physical or emotional neglect or abuse. Just because these are tragic realities for so many people, it is important to identify child abuse and domestic violence with heavy alcohol drinkers.

Alcohol as a Cause of Family Problems

It has always been known that alcohol drinkers cause problems not only to themselves but also to their spouses, children, parents and other family members.

However, fully to understand the impact of alcohol drinking on the family, it is necessary to go beyond a list of specific problems and to see how alcohol drinking can affect the structure and functioning of the family as a system of relationships. This has been described in the following terms:

The Family as a Whole

Roles

Alcohol drinking can change the roles played by family members in relation to one another and the outside world. As a family member develops a drink problem, the old division of labour may break down. The alcohol drinker may cease to perform his or her previous functions as a breadwinner or in relation to the support and supervision of children, household chores or recreational activities. These functions are therefore either not performed or performed by another, often the spouse. However, a particular pattern that has been observed is that a child, particularly the eldest child, may be forced to adopt adult roles and responsibilities, for example, in doing the housework, or acting as a surrogate mother or father. He or she may also be forced to assume a kind of emotional responsibility for the family.

Routines

The alcohol drinker's behaviour is likely to become unpredictable and disruptive, impairing the family's capacity to plan activities in advance or to stick to familiar routines. It may become impossible to be sure whether the alcohol drinker will return home at the proper time, or appear at school to collect the children, or, what state he or she will be in, in the presence of the child's friends. Uncertainty and anxiety are therefore constant features of life in an alcohol drinking family.

Rituals

Family gatherings, designed to celebrate and integrate the family, may be particularly subject to disruption, either because of the absence of the alcohol drinker, or, perhaps much worse, their presence. This problem is encapsulated in a comment made by one of the children of alcohol drinking parents interviewed by Margaret Cork in one of the first studies of the subject 'The Forgotten Children' - "Dad spoiled every Christmas I can remember because he smashed the tree."

Social Life

This has two aspects: activities within the family and the family's relationship to the outside world. Activities, particularly recreational activities within the family are likely to be restricted as the drinker becomes unwilling or unable to participate, or the other family members themselves choose to avoid activities out of fear of the behaviour of the drinker.

The unpredictable, disruptive and often drunken behaviour of the drinker is likely to be regarded by family members as acutely embarrassing and shameful. The tendency is to keep the problem a secret from the outside world. Divulging the nature of the problem to others may be regarded as an act of betrayal or disloyalty. This makes it difficult or impossible to invite others into the family home, or, given the norms of hospitality, to accept invitations from others. The family tends to become increasingly socially isolated. Activities and relationships outside the home may come to be severely restricted. Where family members do still engage in activities and relationships outside the home, these are likely to be kept rigidly segregated from life at home.

In either case, family members may be unable to explain to others the real reasons for what is happening. A particular feature of this inability is that family members, often the spouse, are put in the position of having to tell lies in order to prevent the truth becoming apparent. For example, it may be the spouse who has to make the excuses for her partner's repeated absences from work. In this way the spouse may unwittingly protect her partner from the consequences of his own behaviour. Many commentators have referred to this tendency to collusion and cover-up and the way in which it may serve to perpetuate the drinking.

Finances

Money spent on alcohol is not available for other purposes. An alcohol problem may impair or destroy the drinker's capacity to earn a livelihood. Reduced earnings or unemployment are not infrequent consequences of drinking problems and these, naturally, affect the other members of the family and can have all sorts of repercussions. Holidays may have to be forgotten; it may become impossible for children to be sent on school trips; the rent may not be paid.

Communications

Communications within the family can be disrupted both by what is said and what is not said. In the early stages, the drinker may refuse to talk about the problems, and the spouse may also be reluctant verbally to confront his or her partner or discuss it with the children. In a Danish study, children said they could remember their parent's alcohol problems from when they were as young as 4-5 years old, usually several years before the problem was discussed by and between their parents.

Alternatively, or at a later stage, alcohol and drinking may come to dominate the conversation as well as the rest of the life of the family. Communication between the spouses may also be alcohol dominated. Even where the drinking itself is not addressed directly, there are likely to be conversations, often turning into arguments and recriminations, about the consequences of the drinking.

Given the way in which alcohol problems can affect the dynamics of the family, it is hardly surprising that the international research evidence is consistent in regard to the adverse impact on individual members of the family.

Individual Family Members

 

A) The Non-Drinking Spouse

The spouse has to cope with the bewildering unpredictability and frequent unpleasantness of life with an alcohol drinker. The more serious an alcohol problem, the less able a person is likely to be to perform competently, or at all, the various roles and responsibilities of a spouse and parent.

More than one third of alcohol drinkers receiving treatment cite marital conflict as one of the main problems caused by drinking. In the UK, the divorce rate is twice as high in marriages complicated by alcohol problems as in those without alcohol problems. Marital conflict may take a violent form, and there is much evidence to show that domestic violence and alcohol are often associated. High proportions of perpetrators of domestic violence are either alcohol drinkers or under the influence of alcohol at the time of the assault. Equally, high proportions of victims of violence are also under the influence of alcohol at the time of the assault.

There also appears to be an association between alcohol drinking and child abuse, including incest. The connection between child abuse and alcohol abuse " may take the form of alcohol abuse in parents or alcohol intoxication at the time of the abuse incident. " An American review concludes that alcohol consistently "emerges as a significant predictor of marital violence." Alcoholic women have been found to be significantly more likely to have experienced negative verbal conflict with spouses than were non-alcoholic women. They were also significantly more likely to have experienced a range of moderate and severe physical violence.

Studies have shown a significant association between battering incidents and alcohol abuse. Further, a dual problem with alcohol and other drugs is even more likely to be associated with the more severe battering incidents than is alcohol abuse by itself.

The spouse may be affected by relationship difficulties not only with his or her partner but also with the children. Most obviously, as the drink problem comes to dominate the lives of everyone in the family, the non-drinking parent may simply have less time and emotional as well as material resources to devote to the children. The non-drinking parent may have to assume the whole responsibility for disciplining the children, and it may well be the non-drinking parent who has to give the children the bad news that, for example, they cannot invite friends to the house or that there is no money for them this week. It is reported that, ironically and poignantly, children, especially perhaps young children, who cannot see behind the surface, may at times resent and blame the non-drinking parent as much or more than the drinking parent.

The non-drinking parents thus likely to experience an acute conflict of interests and loyalties between her partner and her children and to feel guilty for neglecting someone whichever course she takes. It is also reported that spouses, perhaps especially women, may blame themselves for their partner's drinking problem believing that they are in some way its cause.

" My husband always told me if I were a better wife, more loving, and less demanding, he wouldn't need to drink so much. I spent years trying to be that better wife, but his drinking didn't change "

Results

The spouse of the alcohol drinker is therefore under severe psychological strain, and it is not surprising that the psychological problems reported for the spouses include anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. The indications are that spouses of alcohol drinkers are themselves heavy users of health and social services, and may be prescribed, and perhaps get into difficulties with medications such as tranquillisers. It is reported that some spouses themselves get into difficulty with alcohol, perhaps through using alcohol to cope with stress or as a result of the misguided strategy of drinking with the partner in the hope of exercising some control over his or her consumption. Where the non-drinking partner is employed, his or her own work performance or attendance may suffer as a result of the difficulties experienced at home.

Excluding cases in which the drinker dies, there are essentially three possible outcomes to the relationship: the partner continues drinking problematically and the spouse continues to live with the partner and the problem; the partner ceases to drink problematically; or the relationship ends. The outcome will depend not only on factors of individual personality and circumstance but also on cultural and social factors. For example, it has been reported that men married to alcohol drinking wives are more likely to seek a divorce than women married to alcohol drinking husbands. Similarly, alcohol-impaired marriages may be more likely to survive in countries where neither the legal system nor social mores facilitate easy divorce.

Now its clear that women have to suffer much greater than men. The cause being alcohol intoxication. So whoever promotes the use of alcohol is depriving women from not only their rights but endangers their security as well. Its clearly mentioned in the beginning that Islam strictly prohibits intoxication, whether it is alcohol or any other stuff. Thus it saves humanity, and especially women (since they suffer more). As far as the West is concerned, they keep on criticizing Islam for not providing women their rights. Not realizing that they themselves deprive women from their rights and endanger their security (and of humanity)i.e. by allowing people to drink and sale alcohol. They think that their (erroneous, human made) laws can help them to lead a healthy life. So let them think who is at fault? the West or Islam.

See " Women Abuse in U.S.A."

B) Children

In a few jurisdictions, the association between problem drinking and bad parenting is regarded as so strong that evidence of a parental alcohol problem is assumed to be evidence of child neglect. The New York Family Court Act states:

" ... proof that a person repeatedly misuses a drug or drugs or alcohol ... shall be prima facie evidence that a child of or who is the legal responsibility of such person is a neglected child except .... when such person is voluntarily and regularly participating in a recognised rehabilitative programme "

Alcohol problems vary in nature, severity and persistence. Moreover, how badly a child is affected by parental problems is likely to depend, amongst other factors, on the child's age at the time they develop. The child under five is particularly vulnerable to diminished physical care whereas the older child may be more vulnerable to psychological damage. This is not to say, of course, that the younger child does not suffer psychological damage, merely that its situation does not allow it to detach from the abusive parent in the way an older child can do by simply leaving the family home.

" Everything revolves around Mum's drinking. We pretend it's not happening. I can't stop thinking about what's happening at home when I'm not there. Sometimes I think I'm going mad " ..... [Paul 15 ]

As has been described, in the worst cases the world of the child of an alcohol drinking parent is likely to be bewildering, unpredictable and threatening.

The possible adverse effects of an alcohol drinking parent will damage the trust necessary for the development of a healthy personality: the child must be able to trust the love of the adults who care for him, and he must also be able to trust in the fact that they will continue to be around in the future.

The child may experience various forms of neglect and feel abandoned by both parents; it may fear that the drinking parent may die, or that the non-drinking parent may leave; it may have a restricted capacity to make or sustain friendships; to be the victim of verbal or physical aggression; to be a witness to conflicts, perhaps violent conflicts, between his or her parents, and may experience the break-up of the family.

" To the child, it can feel as if everyone in his or her world is full of anger, bitterness and pain, with no-one offering warmth, love or support "

The child may be forced to take on adult roles and responsibilities and in this very real sense be deprived of their childhood. A particular feature that can arise is that the child, like the spouse, comes to believe that he or she may be to blame for the problems the family is experiencing.

" Mom always reminded us, not too nicely, that we were the cause of the family's strife. If we didn't fight so much, or if we got better grades, she wouldn't feel so upset all the time. I grew up knowing one thing for sure: I'd cause some problem today, though I couldn't determine how, why, or what "

Results

Many studies have been carried out in numerous countries of the children of alcohol drinking parents. These show consistently that they are at increased risk of a range of problems during childhood. These can be grouped under three main headings:

Anti-social behaviour: Children of alcohol drinking parents are at raised risk of aggressive behaviour, delinquency, hyperactivity and other forms of conduct disorder.

Emotional problems: These include a wide range of psycho-somatic problems from asthma to bed wetting; negative attitudes to their parents and to themselves, with high levels of self-blame; withdrawal and depression.

School environment: The problems include learning difficulties, reading retardation; loss of concentration; generally poor school performance; behavioural problems such as aggression and truancy.

A Spanish study shows a statistically significant impairment among children of alcoholics in many areas, including:

 

• Anorexia and other eating disorders

• Body development

• Language and communication skills

• Nightmares, insomnia, and nocturnal restlessness

• A higher rate of depressive symptoms

• Disturbed behaviour patterns

• Anxiety-related disorders and phobias

• Performance on the Weschler Intelligence Scale

In the UK, a social worker with a children's telephone help line has summarised what children of alcohol drinkers tell the counsellors about their experience:

 

• Having to take responsibility for their parents

• Feeling embarrassed and ashamed of their parents, not being able to take friends home

• Problems at school

• Being bullied

• Being preoccupied, lack of concentration

• Afraid of what they may find every time they return home

• Witnessing arguments and fights

• Feeling guilty and responsible for their parents' behaviour

• Feeling hopeless, helpless, irritable, nervous, depressed, let down, disappointed, confused, lonely, anxious, angry and resentful

It is sometimes suggested that in the alcohol drinking family, children may be affected differently, and come to play different roles, according to their birth order. In one theory, the first born child is the `hero' of the family (taking over adult roles and responsibilities); the second is the `scapegoat' or rebel (relationship problems, delinquency); the third is the invisible or 'lost' child (demands little from other family members, always takes a back seat) and the fourth is the `joker' (immature and demanding). It is unclear, however, how well founded such typologies are.

Alcohol, Marital Problems and Domestic Violence

Not all member states are able to provide figures on these subjects. In Ireland, the national marriage guidance service (Accord), says that 11% of clients identified alcohol abuse as the primary presenting problem (1997). However, figures available from the Cork Counselling Service show a much higher level of up to 25% (1994-1996). In the United Kingdom it is estimated that persistent alcohol problems double the risk of divorce/separation and it has been stated that 1 in 3 divorce petitions cite excessive drinking by a partner as a contributory factor. However, this latter claim is of doubtful reliability.

As far as domestic violence is concerned, in France it is stated that alcohol is a determining factor in many social problems, ranging from job problems to criminal behaviour (violent attacks, rape, child abuse and marital violence) but statistical information appears to be lacking. In Ireland 17.5% of men attending Cork Domestic violence treatment programme stated that they had been treated for alcohol or drug abuse. Figures from the Netherlands show that in 30% of cases of violence against wives or partners, the assailant is drunk at the time of assault. There are, in that country, around 15,000 drunken assaults on wives or partners each year. In Portugal, 16% of cases of violence against women are alcohol or drug related. (the majority being associated with alcohol)

The 1996 British Crime Survey found the following in relation to domestic violence:

 

	Violence Involving Alcohol and/or Other Drugs
	Offender Under Influence of Drugs	Offender Under Influence of Alcohol	Offender Under Influence of Drugs or Alcohol
Domestic Violence	13%	32%	38%

Abuse and Neglect

Parental alcohol consumption can have adverse effects on children even before they are born.

Foetal Alcohol Problems:

Foetal alcohol syndrome is defined in terms of the following:

 

• Foetal growth retardation

   

• Central nervous system involvement (neurological abnormalities, developmental delay, intellectual impairment, head circumference below the 3rd centile, brain malformation).

   

• Characteristic facial deformity

Other, lesser abnormalities, affecting all systems in the body, have been described and are referred to as foetal alcohol effects.

Foetal alcohol syndrome is relatively rare with reported incidence of 1.7 per 1,000 and 3.3 per 1,000 live births in Sweden and France , respectively. It is reported that every year in Germany around 2000 children are born with foetal alcohol syndrome.

The incidence of foetal alcohol effects may be much higher than foetal alcohol syndrome. Some studies have suggested that children born to mothers who have on average as little as one to two drinks per day, or who may occasionally have up to five or more drinks at a time, are at increased risk for learning disabilities and other cognitive and behavioural problems. However, it is difficult to establish the frequency of a birth defect that is hard to identify at birth and may be confused with other health problems.

Other Child Abuse:

Information is not available from every member state as to the relation between alcohol problems and child abuse, but, for those able to supply such figures, it would seem that it is not unusual for half the number of cases to involve alcohol. In the Netherlands, whilst 17% of child abuse cases had alcohol addiction as a contributory factor, between 30 and 50% of children registered with Boards of Child Protection had parents who were excessive drinkers. In Norway, it is believed that alcohol is involved in 60-70 per cent of cases of child abuse and neglect. In Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, 49% of incidents of physical or emotional abuse towards children involve alcohol, whilst estimates for Italy suggest a figure of 50%. 12.9% of children taken into care in Ireland - as opposed to all cases of child abuse - had parents who were assessed as addicted to alcohol or other drugs. A 1992 study in Spain showed that 30% of cases of child abuse or neglect met the criteria for parental alcohol abuse or dependence.

A survey of case loads of child care social workers identified 28 per cent of cases in which alcohol was thought to be contributory factor. In child protection cases, the percentage of referrals involving alcohol ranged from 30 to 60 per cent.

Devon County Council in an analysis of needs and services carried out in 1996 identified 15% of all children and young people looked after away from home as having either alcohol problems themselves or as the children of adults with an alcohol problem. If the data are replicated throughout the U.K. a total of 30% of all registered abused and neglected children (a figure of approximately 11,500) could be suffering, at least in part, because of alcohol misuse. Since only 64% of children, on average, referred to a child protection case conference are actually registered the numbers severely abused and neglected are considerably higher.

Further confirmation of the problems experienced by children in families misusing alcohol comes from two major child care charities in the U.K. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the largest charity working exclusively with abused and neglected children, analysed 2,234 calls received by their help line for a 4 month period to 31.12.97. This showed that 23% of child abuse or neglect calls involved the misuse of alcohol.

In a report published in November 1997 by 'Childline', a free national children's help line, 3,255 children who spoke about parental alcohol misuse were shown to have been counselled in a twelve month period from 1.4.95 to 31.3.96. This survey shows that alcohol misuse was an issue across almost the entire range of problems which children cited, including running away, violence in the home, physical abuse and poor family relationships.

The Cycle of Abuse:

There is considerable evidence in regard to the way in which abusive behaviour in one generation produces abusive behaviour in the next. An obvious example is the increased risk of alcohol drinking in children of alcohol drinkers. Physical, including sexual, abuse appears to follow a similar pattern. In particular, while alcohol abuse in a parent or other may be associated with child sexual abuse, there is also evidence that, especially among women, childhood sexual abuse is associated with problem drinking later in life.

Variations in the Experience of Problems:

Children of alcohol drinking parents are at raised risk of problems, but not all such children experience problems at the same level of severity. Some do not appear to experience any significant problems even while they are children, let alone as adults.

Research suggests that some of the main factors influencing the likelihood of experiencing problems and thus the degree of negativity of the child's experience are:

Violence: Witnessing violence even when not its target greatly increases the child's risk of experiencing the kind of problems described above.

Marital conflict: Even non-violent marital conflict appears substantially to increase the likelihood of children experiencing severe problems.

Separation, divorce and parent loss: This also appears to be another major factor affecting the negativity of the child's experience.

Inconsistency and ambivalence in parenting: This is implicit in the above, and related to the unpredictability of life in an alcohol drinking household. Much research suggests that, especially in their earlier years, children have a strong need for structure, for things to be familiar, stable and thus predictable.

Problems in later life: The evidence is clear that the children of alcohol drinking parents can have very disturbed and unhappy times as children, though this is not inevitable. But do the emotional and other problems persist into later, adult life? In many cases they do. Evidence for this is provided by the United States, where there is a large social movement of adults who experienced parental alcoholism in their childhoods, and a formal association, Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA). There are also helping services for children, one of the aims of which is to reduce the risk of problems continuing into later life.

Some children have significant problems that persist into later life and affect their lives as adults. However, the available evidence is limited and is primarily concerned with the question of whether children of alcohol drinkers themselves become problem drinkers, and with the persistence of clinically definable psychological or other problems.

A Note on Genetic Factors

Alcohol problems tend to run in families and through the generations. First degree relatives of alcoholics are two to seven times more likely than the general population to develop problems with alcohol sometime in their lifetime (Merangas, cited in 9th Special Report 1997). Numerous investigations have attempted to discover why this should be. Clearly, one possible explanation is a form of 'social contagion' whereby alcohol drinking is learned behaviour and, for a variety of reasons, children and others come to imitate the behaviour of the alcohol drinker.

Another possible explanation is that there is a genetic basis to alcohol drinking. While it is unlikely that genetic factors alone can explain the great variations in the prevalence of alcohol dependence from one country or society to another, or in the same society over time, the consensus of scientific opinion is that genetic factors do play a part. Studies of families, twins, adoption and genetic markers have shown that genetic factors are involved in relation to alcohol consumption (total amount and frequency); complications experienced (physical, social and psychological) and dependence. However, it is 'the balance between environmental and genetic factors that is important. It is not genetic factors on their own that make someone an alcoholic or a problem drinker.'

So after reading this report, only a sinner and a fool will continue to drink alcohol. And the biggest fool would be one who allows alcohol to be sold in his country and does not put a ban on its use. May Allah Guide us all to the straight path.