[Sca-cooks] Moslems and alcohol

[Jeff Gedney]

>Another poster mentions "fruit of the grape" as being the 
>original category. I haven't checked the Koranic passage, but my 
>memory from the Hattox book on coffee is that it wasn't that 
>explicit.

Apparently it was anything that intoxicated or clouded the mind.
Coffee could be said to do that, and then again some say it
sharpens it... hence the confusion.

Here are the Koranic verses that I could find that touch on the 
subject, there may be others.  You will note that the holy ones in 
paradise drink as much pure wine as they please. 

Qur'an: Sura 2 verse 219
They question thee about strong drink and games of chance. Say: In 
both is great sin, and (some) utility for men; but the sin of them 
is greater than their usefulness. And they ask thee what they 
ought to spend. Say: that which is superfluous. Thus Allah maketh 
plain to you (His) revelations, that haply ye may reflect. 

Qur'an: Sura 4 verse 43 
O ye who believe! Draw not near unto prayer when ye are drunken, 
till ye know that which ye utter, nor when ye are polluted, save 
when journeying upon the road, till ye have bathed. And if ye be 
ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye 
have touched women, and ye find not water, then go to high clean 
soil and rub your faces and your hands (therewith). Lo! Allah is 
Benign, Forgiving. 

Qur'an: Sura 5 verse 90
O ye who believe! Strong drink and games of chance and idols and 
divining arrows are only an infamy of Satan's handiwork. Leave it 
aside in order that ye may succeed. 

Qur'an: Sura 5 verse 91
Satan seeketh only to cast among you enmity and hatred by means of 
strong drink and games of chance, and to turn you from remembrance 
of Allah and from (His) worship. Will ye then have done? 

Qur'an: Sura 16 verse 67
And of the fruits of the date-palm, and grapes, whence ye derive 
strong drink and (also) good nourishment. Lo! therein is indeed a 
portent for people who have sense.

Qur'an: Sura 47 verse 15 
A similitude of the Garden which those who keep their duty (to 
Allah) are promised: Therein are rivers of water unpolluted, and 
rivers of milk whereof the flavour changeth not, and rivers of 
wine delicious to the drinkers, and rivers of clear-run honey; 
therein for them is every kind of fruit, with pardon from their 
Lord. (Are those who enjoy all this) like those who are immortal 
in the Fire and are given boiling water to drink so that it 
teareth their bowels? 

Qur'an: Sura 83 verse 22-28
Lo! the righteous verily are in delight, 
On couches, gazing, 
Thou wilt know in their faces the radiance of delight. 
They are given to drink of a pure wine, sealed, 
Whose seal is musk - for this let (all) those strive who strive 
for bliss - 
And mixed with water of Tasnim, 
A spring whence those brought near (to Allah) drink. 


Capt Elias
Dragonship Haven, East
(Stratford, CT, USA)

-Renaissance Geek of the Cyber Seas

- Help! I am being pecked to death by the Ducks of Dilletanteism! 
There are SO damn many more things I want to try in the SCA 
than I can possibly have time for. It's killing me!!!

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Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;
Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give
To sounds confused; behold the threaden sails,
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea,
Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think
You stand upon the ravage and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;
For so appears this fleet majestical,
Holding due course to Harfleur. 
  - Shakespeare - Henry V, Act III, Prologue