Dhamm al-Khamr
- Author died
- 795 AH
- Editions
- al-Fārūq al-Ḥadīthah lil-Ṭibā‘ah wal-Nashr
Dhamm al-Khamr (The Censure of Wine) is a short treatise by the Hanbali traditionist and jurist Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (d. 795 AH / 1393 CE) addressing the prohibition and religious condemnation of intoxicants, their worldly and otherworldly consequences, and the necessity of immediate repentance .
Overview and Title
The treatise is classified among Ibn Rajab’s works on exhortation, heart-softening matters (al-raqa'iq), and legal penalties (al-jinayat wa-al-hudud) . In scholarly bibliographies, it is referred to by several variant titles, including Dhamm al-Khamr wa-Sharibiha (The Censure of Wine and Its Drinker) and Dhamm al-Khamr: Sharh Hadith "al-Khamru Umm al-Kaba'ir" (The Censure of Wine: Commentary on the Hadith "Wine is the Mother of Major Sins") .
Contents and Themes
Ibn Rajab begins the work by examining prophetic narrations and reports from the Companions regarding wine being the root of all abominations, notably opening with a narration attributed to Ibn Abbas in al-Daraqutni’s collection, as well as the report of Uthman ibn Affan concerning the devout worshipper of past nations who was enticed into drinking wine, which subsequently led him to commit fornication and murder .
The text is organized around several key themes:
- Religious harms (mafasid fi al-din): Ibn Rajab explains that consuming wine strips away faith, likens the habitual drinker to an idol worshipper, incurs divine wrath, and causes prayer and repentance to be rejected for forty days unless followed by sincere contrition .
- Worldly and otherworldly punishments (al-uqubat): The work details worldly punishments, both legal and divinely decreed (such as transformation and being swallowed by the earth), intermediate punishments in the barzakh (the grave), and afterlife torments, which include severe thirst on the Day of Resurrection, physical disfigurement, being forced to drink the bodily fluids and sweat of hellfire dwellers (tinat al-khabal), and forfeiture of the purified wine of Paradise .
- Rational and moral condemnation: The author argues that even without textual revelation, sound intellect would deem wine reprehensible because it strips human beings of their reason—which distinguishes them from animals—and degrades them below beasts; he notes that many individuals abstained from wine during the pre-Islamic Jahiliyyah for this reason .
- Call to repentance and critique of esoteric interpretations: Ibn Rajab emphasizes prompt and complete repentance (tawbah), warning against delaying or temporarily abstaining (such as during Ramadan while intending to resume drinking afterward) . He also refutes mystical or esoteric (ishari) justifications that interpret wine poetry in terms of pantheistic or monistic unity (ittihad) between the Creator and creation, arguing that such interpretations border on disbelief .
The treatise concludes as a homiletic exhortation delivered to an assembly (majlis), urging listeners to weep over sins, embrace sincere devotion, and turn to God before death arrives .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript copies of the treatise are preserved in Istanbul, including holdings at the Süleymaniye Library (MS 3518) and the Fatih collection (MS 5318) . The text was edited by al-Walid ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Faryan and published by the Arab Center for Security Studies and Training in Riyadh in 1408 AH (1987–1988 CE), and it was later incorporated into Ibn Rajab's collected treatises (Majmu' Rasa'il Ibn Rajab) .
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