“The prohibition of wine was revealed concerning two clans of the Ansar. They drank until, having drunk their fill, they began striking one another in drunken play. When they sobered up, a man would see the marks on his face, head, and beard, and say, ‘My brother did this to me’—though they were brothers and bore no rancour toward one another. ‘By Allah, had he been kind and compassionate toward me, he would not have done this to me!’ Thus rancour entered their hearts, and Allah, Mighty and Majestic, revealed: ‘Indeed, wine and gambling ...’ up to His words: ‘So will you not desist?’

Some people said, ‘It is an abomination, yet it is in the belly of so-and-so who was killed on the day of Badr, and so-and-so who was killed on the day of Uhud!’ So Allah, Exalted is He, revealed: ‘There is no blame upon those who believe and do righteous deeds for what they have consumed, provided that they fear Allah, believe, and do righteous deeds.’

Al-Nasa’i recorded it in al-Kubra (11151), as did al-Hakim (2/141–142), al-Bayhaqi (8/285–288), and al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (12/56–57/12459).

Al-Hakim declared it authentic, and al-Dhahabi said in his Talkhis:

“I say: It meets Muslim’s criteria.”

Al-Haythami said (7/18):

“Al-Tabarani narrated it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.”

I say: It is as they both said. However, there is some minor criticism concerning Rabiʿah ibn Kulthum ibn Jabr and his father, which does not lower their hadith beneath the rank of good. Al-Hafiz also declared it authentic in al-Fath (10/31).

Sammak also corroborated him, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbas, in its latter part concerning the revelation of the verse: ‘There is no blame upon those who believe ...’

Al-Tirmidhi recorded it (3052), as did al-Hakim (4/143), Ibn Jarir (7/24), and Ahmad (1/295). Al-Tirmidhi said: