Alcohol

You know

nowadays a lot of people don't believe in the Devil.

They think the Devil is just a cartoon character

with horns, goat's legs, and a pointy tail.

But that's not the only name we use for the Devil,

who has another name,

Satan,

the English version of the Arabic name that muslims use for the Devil,

which is Shaitan.

And Shaitan is the one who turns you away from the right path,

who whispers in your ear

telling you that things would be so much better for you

if you choose to do what is wrong as opposed to what is right.

Shaitan tempts you into doing

what is bad for yourself and others,

while persuading you

that what you are doing is for the best.

So do you want to know the way the Devil works when whispering in your ear?

Shaitan has a way of making things look tempting,

attractive and desirable,

in a way that makes them look quite the opposite of what they are.

And the Devil is better at persuading you than the best of salespeople.

By whispering in your ear

Shaitan lets you believe that those thoughts you are thinking are your own.

Here, says Shaitan,

look at this shiny liquid,

see how it gleams in the light.

Here, taste it.

What do you think?

Disgusting?

Yes, but keep working at it and you'll get to like it.

And you can always make it taste better

by adding lots of sugar and flavourings,

or mixing it with other things,

though some people just like to drink it in tiny shots

which they swallow as fast as possible

so they don't have to taste how disgusting it is.

But if it tastes that bad, surely it must be doing you good,

or at least make you feel as though it is doing you good,

mustn't it?

Well,

says the Devil,

it will probably make you feel relaxed and happy for a little while,

but then it will also make you maudlin,

stupidly sentimental and tearful,

with a tendency to tell almost complete strangers how fond of them you are.

That's until the drink makes you aggressive

and quick to take offence,

loud mouthed and ready to pick a fight with anyone,

even the friends with whom you are drinking.

Then, of course, you lose control of your body,

lose the ability to walk and talk,

and even lose control of your bladder and bowels,

not the most dignified of alcohol fueled outcomes.

Now even though Shaitan may have persuaded you that getting drunk was a good idea,

the body knows better

and will try to get rid of this poison the only way it knows how,

which is to make you throw it back up again,

which is also rather messy and undignified,

and which in extreme cases

along with loss of your bodily control

can end up with you drowning in your own vomit.

But assuming that you survive the drinking,

the poison that the alcohol leaves in you

will give you what is known as a hangover,

involving more nausea,

a blinding headache,

and muscle pains throughout your body.

And then there's the damage it's doing inside you,

damaging your liver and your brain,

crippling you and shortening your life by many years.

And you know what?

As a final sting in the tail,

the more you get used to the drinking

the harder it is to stop.

It's addictive.

You end up feeling bad if you can't get a drink,

and plan your day from one drink to the next.

It becomes the most important thing in your life,

and you have to keep on buying it forever

"Doesn't that sound good?"

whispers Shaitan,

"So who'll give me £10 for a bottle?"

And people queue up in their millions

to spend their hard earned money on those bottles,

believing that the alcohol inside is precious,

and thinking that they are getting a bargain,

whatever the price.

What a salesperson the Devil can be

with those whisperings in your ear.

Now in the age of Jahilliya

into which the Messenger was born,

alcohol was very much a part of daily life,

much as it is in Scotland today.

So because of its addictive nature,

the prohibition of alcohol in the Message came gradually,

first letting people get used to not getting drunk

before banning alcohol entirely.

Then as now, alcohol was often used as a social drug,

and people not only had to deal with the effects of giving up a substance to which they were addicted,

but they also had to find new ways of socialising if they wanted to achieve an alcohol free society.

Think of the way that alcohol is woven through the Scottish way of life,

like our daily soap-operas on TV, with so much of their social life set in their fictional pubs.

Or think of the annual New Year's drink-fest we call Hogmanay,

when it can be hard to walk the streets without being offered drink by total strangers

in the knowledge that a refusal could put you in the middle of a fight.

How hard it can be to refuse alcohol

when so much of Scottish social life revolves around it

in pubs, bars and restaurants,

and events like music festivals.

How hard it can be to resist the seductive advertising on TV,

in magazines and on billboards,

where beautiful people can be seen

having a wonderful time with their drinks,

rather than lying in a puddle of vomit in a gutter.

No pictures of drunken and abusive parents,

or relationship breakups,

no pictures of people in hospital beds

due to alcohol related illnesses

or drunken accidents.

Drinks advertisers obviously prefer to show alcoholic good times

rather than the one in six road accidents alcohol causes,

or the one in ten fatal accidents in the home,

or the one in four accidents at work,

or the one in three accidental fire deaths it can be blamed for.

Hardly surprising really,

when UK alcohol sales are worth about £40,000,000,000 a year.

That's how persuasive Shaitan is.

Now the Message didn't say that we should try to live in an alcohol free world,

as alcohol exists naturally in many things around us,

and it was muslim chemists that first separated the pure substance

using the same process that they used to make

the fine kohl that was applied as a medicine and cosmetic for the eyes,

which is where it gets its name.

But some muslims even try to avoid alcohol when it is used as a solvent for other things,

like perfume,

and even though one cannot question their sincerity,

as it is reported that the Messenger said

that a small amount of what is forbidden is still forbidden,

it is hard to see how that applies to the alcohol in perfume,

which is not to be drunk like wine, but rubbed on the skin.

The amount of alcohol absorbed into the blood stream from the use of perfume

may seem easy to dismiss, being so microscopic,

but then again,

there are those who will take a drink saying

“It's only a little bit. I won't get drunk.”

Or they will say

“There is alcohol in fruit, so why doesn't that count?”,

or find other excuses for drinking just a little.

How can we tell what is allowed?

As with all things in the Deen,

in the end it is our intention that we are judged by.

Are we intending to be just a little bit more relaxed,

just a tiny bit drunk,

or are we guiding our behaviour by trying to avoid

anything more than traces of what might get us that way?

The Deen is about examining the motives behind our behaviour

and trusting that when we face our Maker

we have acted in the best way we knew how.