[Sca-cooks] period date info?

[Decker, Terry D.]

The cultures which embraced Islam, pre-date it and have a history of
alcoholic beverages.

The prohibition in the Koran is against wine and gambling.  However, the
definition of "wine" depends upon which branch of Islamic law one follows.
This can be very complex because there are four major schools of Islamic law
derived from the Sunni branch and a myriad of minor schools derived from the
Shiite branch.  In some cases, "wine" was defined strictly as "the fruit of
the grape" while in others it defined as "all intoxicants."

Modernly, most of the schools of Islamic law adhere to the "all intoxicants"
definition.  Intoxication is a major crime because the intoxicated can not
properly maintain several of the basic precepts of Islam.  Since the amounts
of intoxicants required for intoxication differs between individuals and can
not be determined by law, then all use of intoxicants is illegal and by
association all manufacture of intoxicants is illegal and the raising of
crops strictly for use in the manufacture of intoxicants is illegal.

Some of the Islamic mystical sects adopted the use of drugs and alcohol to
help achieve an altered state of conciousness.  For example, the Assassins,
an off-shoot of the Ismailis, used hashish and the Sufis of East Africa and
Southern Arabia used coffee.

If you are interested in the Islamic legal positions, I would suggest
looking at Ralph S. Hattox, Coffee and Coffeehouses:  The Origins of a
Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East for a look at the period legal
arguments surrounding the use of coffee to get a feel for the views of
Medieval Islamic Law about intoxicants.

Bear

> Well, IIRC [Cariacoc, help?] The prohibition is agaist fermented
> grape, and some of the more heretical/less strict groups would
> make date wine.
> margali