Food Resources and their Transformation - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 136

1. Juridical aspects
Arabia and the Syriac desert are, in
contradistinction to Palestine and Meso-
potamia, not a soil fit for the vine; there
are, however, exceptions, among which
may be mentioned al-āif, ibām and
other parts of Yaman. Wine, probably
of an inferior quality, is also mentioned
in Medina. Usually, however, it seems to
have been imported from Syria and Irā;
in early Arabic poetry the wine-trade is
chiefly connected with Jews and Chris-
tians, who pitched their tent ( ānūt , also a
loan-word from Aramaic) among the Bed-
ouins and provided it with a sign denoting
its character. In it entertainment sessions
were held, in the company of female sing-
ers who often also belonged to the estab-
lishment. The wine was kept in jars or
skins, provided with a mouth-piece which
was closed by means of a string.
In the days of Muammad the people
of Mecca and Medina used to indulge
in drinking wine as often as an occasion
offered itself, so that drunkenness often
became a cause of scandal and of indul-
gence in a second vice, gambling, which
together with wine, incurred Muammad's
condemnation. Tradition has not refrained
from describing how amza b. Abd
al-Mualib, Muammad's uncle, in a fit
of drunkenness mutilated Alī's camels.
The commentaries on the urān also
relate how Muammad's companions
held drinking-parties which caused them
to commit faults in ritual prayer.
The prohibition of wine was not in
Muammad's programme at the begin-
ning. In Sūra XVI, 69 we even find it
praised as one of the signs of Allāh's grace
to mankind: “And of the fruit of palmtrees,
and of grapes, ye obtain an inebriating
liquor, and also good nourishment”. But
the consequences of drunkenness mani-
festing themselves in the way just men-
tioned are said to have led Muammad
to change his attitude. The first revelation

giving vent to these feelings was Sūra II,
216: “They will ask thee concerning wine
and gambling ( maysir ). Answer, in both
there is great sin and also some things
of use unto men: but their sinfulness is
greater than their use”. This revelation,
however, was not considered as a prohibi-
tion. As people did not change their cus-
toms and the order of prayer happened
to be disturbed in consequence thereof, a
new revelation was issued, viz. Sūra IV,
46: “O true believers! come not to prayers
when ye are drunk, until ye understand
what ye say” etc. But neither was this
revelation considered as a general prohi-
bition of wine, until Sūra V, 92 made an
end to drinking: “O true believers! Surely
wine and maysir and stone pillars and
divining arrows, are an abomination of
the work of Satan; therefore avoid them,
that ye may prosper”. This sequence of
revelations regarding wine is the accepted
one among the traditionists and commen-
tators of the urān.
The prohibition of wine may, how-
ever, also be looked upon from a wider
aspect, as Islam is not the only monothe-
istic religion which has taken a negative
attitude towards wine. It is well known
that, according to the Old Testament
(Numbers vi, 3-4) the Nazarite who had
wholly devoted himself to Yahweh had to
abstain from wine and spirits, just as the
priests before administering the sacred
rites (Lev. x, 9). The Nabataeans, accord-
ing to Diodorus Siculus, likewise abstained
from wine and one of their gods is called
in their inscriptions “the good god who
drinks no wine”. Likewise, abstention
from wine belonged to the rule of many
Christian monks. All this has its roots in
remote Semitic antiquity which ascribed
a demoniac character to wine and spir-
its. The same is true for music, especially
singing, which is also prohibited by Islam.
It is not improbable that negative feelings
of this kind may have worked, together