al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabaith

al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabaith (The Vile Mother of Evils) is a legal and theological treatise on intoxicants (khamr) authored by the Islamic scholar Abd al-Fattah bin Sulayman Ashmawi, an instructor at the Faculty of Hadith and the Secondary Institute of the Islamic University of Madinah al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+1. Published in the university's journal, the work examines the prohibition of alcohol across Quranic exegesis, prophetic traditions, jurisprudence, and modern medical and chemical findings al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+1.

Background and Purpose

The treatise begins by affirming the primacy of the human intellect (‘aql) as the foundation for moral discernment, honor, and religious accountability al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…. To safeguard this faculty, Islamic law prohibited intoxicants al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…. Ashmawi details the gradual revelation (tadarruj) of the prohibition across three Quranic stages: the initial verse highlighting that its sin exceeds its benefit ( يَسْأَلونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ قُلْ فِيهِمَا إِثْمٌ كَبِيرٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثْمُهُمَا أَكْبَرُ مِنْ نَفْعِهِمَا ; al-Baqarah: 219); the prohibition of approaching prayer while intoxicated ( يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلاةَ وَأَنْتُمْ سُكَارَى ; al-Nisa’: 43); and the final, decisive ban revealed in Surat al-Ma’idah (90–91) al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+2. The author cites historical opinions dating the final prohibition to either after the Battle of the Trench (al-Ahzab) in 4 or 5 AH or during the campaign against Banu al-Nadir in 4 AH al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai….

Ashmawi addresses modern claims that alcohol is not explicitly forbidden in the Quran due to the absence of the specific phrase hurrimat ‘alaykum. He argues that the Quranic command فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ ("so avoid it") is linguistically and legally far more stringent than explicit prohibition, as it bars approaching, carrying, trading in, or sitting near intoxicants, drawing a parallel to God's prohibition to Adam regarding the forbidden tree ( وَلا تَقْرَبَا هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ ) and the avoidance of idolatry ( فَاجْتَنِبُوا الرِّجْسَ مِنَ الأَوْثَانِ ) al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+1.

Definitions and Modern Intoxicants

The work classifies intoxicants across three disciplines:

• Linguistic: Derived from khamara (to cover or veil), because it clouds the mind, or from fermentation (ikhtimar) al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+1.
• Chemical: Drinks containing ethyl alcohol (al-kuhul or al-ghawl), explaining how yeasts ferment sugars and starches into alcohol, and contrasting ethyl alcohol with lethal methyl alcohol used in industrial spirits al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+1.
• Juristic: Every intoxicating substance regardless of its base, citing the hadiths كُلُّ مُسْكِرٍ خَمْرٌ، وَكُلُّ خَمْرٍ حَرَامٌ ("Every intoxicant is khamr, and every khamr is forbidden") and Umar ibn al-Khattab's sermon defining khamr as encompassing drinks made from grapes, dates, honey, wheat, and barley al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai….

Ashmawi enumerates traditional drinks such as al-mizr and al-bit‘, as well as modern distilled and fermented beverages, noting their alcoholic percentages—ranging from high-proof spirits (whiskey, brandy, rum, gin) to wines, champagnes, beers, and indigenous fermented beverages like buza al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+2.

Medical, Social, and Comparative Perspectives

The treatise compiles medical studies, quoting specialists such as Dr. Sydney Kaye and reports from British, French, and American medical bodies regarding the pathological effects of alcohol al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+2. Documented harms include:

• Suppression of cerebral cortex functions, leading to erratic behavior, loss of moral inhibitions, impaired motor control, and traffic fatalities al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+2.
• False sensations of warmth caused by peripheral vascular dilation while body heat is lost, and increased risk of coronary artery disease and strokes al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+2.
• Liver cirrhosis, gastritis, esophageal cancer, and kidney damage al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+2.
• Teratogenic effects on fetuses, citing studies on birth defects and developmental delays among children of alcoholic mothers al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai….

Ashmawi contrasts the failure of secular legislative attempts—citing Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi's Tanqihat on the American Prohibition era (1920–1933), which cost hundreds of millions of dollars and caused mass arrests before its repeal—with the immediate and willing eradication of alcohol in early Islamic society upon the revelation of its prohibition al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+2.

Juristic Rulings

The final section covers legal rulings governing intoxicants:

• Medical Use (al-Tadawi): Prohibited based on the prophetic declaration to Tariq ibn Suwayd: إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ بِدَوَاءٍ وَلَكِنَّهُ دَاءٌ ("It is not a cure, but an illness"), and the legal consensus that non-defiled medicines must be sought instead al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+1.
• Theological Status of Denying Prohibition: Declaring raw grape wine lawful constitutes apostasy (riddah) due to definitive consensus, whereas declaring non-grape intoxicants lawful is treated as grave disobedience (fisq) by scholars due to historical disagreements over terminology al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+1.
• Commerce, Gifting, and Value: Selling, buying, profiting from, or gifting alcohol to non-Muslims is invalid and unlawful; in Islamic law, alcohol lacks legal financial value (saqit al-taqawwum) for Muslims, meaning its destruction incurs no liability, though the authority to destroy it belongs strictly to the ruler al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+2.
• Prescribed Punishment (Hadd): Administered exclusively by the state, set historically at forty lashes and increased by Umar to eighty lashes; the author also cites Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz's policy of punishing those who voluntarily attend drinking assemblies even if they did not drink al-Khabitha Umm al-Khabai…+1.