al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya al-Nafsiyya

al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya al-Nafsiyya (Intoxicants from a Psychological Perspective) is a treatise by Malik Ghulam Murtada, head of the translation department at the university, examining the nature of intoxicants and alcohol addiction through integrated Islamic theological, psychological, physiological, and social perspectives al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya….

Concept of Intoxication and Innate Disposition

The author begins by exploring the nature of intoxication, quoting Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's commentary on the Quranic prohibition of wine to emphasize that human intellect ('aql) is humanity's noblest faculty, acting as a restraint akin to a camel's hobble ('iqal) against base impulses al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…. The text posits that human nature possesses two competing inclinations: an angelic disposition (malakiyya), defined by adherence to divine commands and rational discernment, and a bestial disposition (bahimiyya), characterized by following base desires al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…. Intoxicants dull the intellect, diminish the angelic quality, and unleash bestial behaviors, leading the individual to submit to passion and satanic impulses al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya….

To demonstrate that the rejection of intoxicants aligns with sound innate human disposition (al-fitra al-salima), the book highlights pre-Islamic figures and early companions who voluntarily abstained from wine prior to its religious prohibition because of its destructive effect on reason, including 'Abdullah ibn Jud'an, al-'Abbas ibn Mirdas al-Sulami, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, 'Adi ibn Hatim al-Ta'i, Qays ibn 'Asim al-Minqari, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, and Uthman ibn 'Affan al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…+1.

Stages, Harms, and Causes of Addiction

The work defines alcohol addiction as physical dependence and tissue adaptation accompanied by withdrawal symptoms and pathological craving al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…. It delineates four progressive stages of dependence:

1. The pre-addiction symptom stage, marked by social drinking and initial euphoria.
2. The prodromal stage (marhalat al-irhasat), where consumption becomes regular, triggering feelings of guilt that prompt further drinking in a vicious cycle.
3. The acute stage, involving the total loss of self-control.
4. The chronic addiction stage, where the addict becomes detached from reality, suffers cognitive decline, and exhibits severe moral breakdown al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya….

The author enumerates the multifaceted harms of intoxication, categorizing them into spiritual degradation (erosion of faith), cognitive disruption (crimes and loss of conscious restraint), severe physiological damage (heart and liver diseases, tuberculosis, pulmonary cancer, and cardiac arrest), and psychological disorders (disturbances in perception, thought, and affect, accompanied by despair, emotional numbness, and extreme dependency) al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…+2.

Regarding etiology, the work identifies secondary catalysts such as social conformity, escapism from psychological distress, the spread of permissive Western ideas, and governmental laxity in Muslim lands al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…. However, it identifies the foundational cause as the weakness or absence of religious faith and moral accountability before God al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…. It also refutes the rationalization of some drinkers who justify persistent sin by relying superficially on God’s mercy, arguing that divine moral laws function with the same immutable rigor as natural physical laws such as gravity or toxicity al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…+2.

Social Case Study and Proposed Remedies

While acknowledging conventional medical therapies, specialized rehabilitation clinics, and legislative bans on the import and manufacture of alcohol, the author maintains that secular interventions remain ineffective without spiritual reform al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…+1. To illustrate this point, the book summarizes an analysis by Abu al-A'la al-Mawdudi regarding the United States Prohibition era (1920–1933) al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…. Despite extensive financial expenditures, widespread propaganda, and aggressive law enforcement, the American secular attempt resulted in increased illicit consumption, speakeasies, organized crime, and eventual repeal; by contrast, the early Islamic gradual prohibition successfully eliminated alcohol through inner spiritual transformation al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…+2.

For individual rehabilitation, the treatise prescribes spiritual mechanisms centered on continuous remembrance of God (dhikr) and "repeated repentance" (al-tawbah al-mutakarrirah), where the struggling addict performs a two-unit voluntary prayer (rak'atayn) and seeks forgiveness immediately after any relapse without succumbing to despair al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…+2. The author includes a firsthand counseling account of an individual with twenty years of alcoholism who overcame the habit through this iterative spiritual method al-Muskirat min al-Nahiya…+1.