As for the Sunnah, the evidence is plentiful. Among the many hadiths is the report collected by Muslim: “Every intoxicant is wine, and every wine is unlawful.”

Consensus: the entire Muslim community has unanimously agreed on its prohibition.

The legislative wisdom behind forbidding it is too vast for this brief space to recount; the countless harms we have learned of and witnessed are legion. It is enough that Allah the Exalted says: “Satan only seeks to sow enmity and hatred among you through wine and gambling and to turn you away from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. Will you not, then, desist?” ⦗5:91⦘. He thus declared it the root of every evil and a barrier to every good.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Wine is the mother of abominations,” designating it the source and foundation of all wickedness and vice.

Its harm to faith, morals, and intellect needs no elaboration. As for bodily harm, physicians are unanimous: they have found it to be a cause of many grave and stubborn diseases. Indeed, the corruptions and evils spawned by this odious crime are so numerous that listing them would be lengthy and exhausting.

If it did nothing but rob a person of his reason, that alone would suffice as grounds for its prohibition. How, then, can anyone drink this sinful potion that strips him of his mind, making him a laughing-stock for children and causing him to behave like a madman?

This is but a glimpse of its effects—how could any rational person be content with it for himself?

Because of its serious danger and widespread harm, governments in the United States and elsewhere have waged war against it. Yet many people do not use their reason: you find them ruining with it their minds, their religion, their honor, their wealth, their character, and their health. Truly, to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return.