Sale of Alcholic Drinks

‘Abd al-Rahman b. Wa‘la as-Saba‘i (who was an Egyptian) asked ‘Abdullah b. ‘Abbas about that which is extracted from the grapes, whereupon he said: “A person presented to Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) a small water-skin of wine. Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said to him: ‘Do you know that Allah has forbid­den it?’ He said: ‘No.’ He then whispered to another man. Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) asked him what he had whispered. He said: ‘1 advised him to sell that,’ whereupon he (the Holy Prophet, Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said: ‘Verily. He Who has forbidden its drink­ing has forbidden its sale also.’ He (the narrator) said: ‘He opened the waterskin until what was contained in it was spilt’.”

‘A’isha reported: When the concluding verses of Surah Baqarah were revealed, Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) went out and read them out to the people and then forbade them to trade in wine.        

‘A’isha reported: When the concluding verses of Surah Baqarah pertaining to riba were revealed, Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) went out to the mosque and he forbade the trade in wine.

Jabir b. ‘Abdullah reported Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) as saying in the Year of Victory while he was in Mecca: Verily, Allah and His Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) has forbid­den the sale of wine, carcass, swine and idols. It was said: Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam), you see that the fat of the carcass is used for coating the boats and varnishing the hides and people use it for lighting purposes, whereupon he said: No, it is forbidden. Then Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said: “May Allah the Exalted and Majestic destroy the Jews: When Allah forbade the use of fat of the carcass for them, they melted it, and then sold it and made use of its price (received from it).

Source: Economic Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): A Select Anthology of Hadith Literature on Economics, Muhammad Akram Khan. Republished with permission.