Khamr is an Arabic word for wine;. In Islamic jurisprudence, it refers to certain forbidden substances, and its technical definition depends on the legal school. Jurists from the Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali legal schools have traditionally viewed it as general term for any intoxicating beverage made from grapes, dates, and similar substances. Hanafi jurists restricted the term to a narrower range of beverages. Over time, some jurists classified other intoxicants, such as opium and qat, as khamr, based on a hadith stating: Traditions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad indicated that khamr may be made from two plants, the grape-vine and the date palm. There are some Muslim jurists who take the concept of khamr literally and forbid only grape-based alcoholic beverages, allowing those made with other fruits, grains, or honey. This is, however, a minority opinion.
Scriptural basis
Quranic verses that at least discourage alcohol include According to a hadith where Imam Ahmad recorded what Abu Maysarah said, the verses came after requests by `Umar to Allah, to "Give us a clear ruling regarding Al-Khamr!". Many Muslim believe the verses were revealed over time in this order to gradually nudge Muslim converts away from drunkenness and towards total sobriety. Since Islam brought "a society steeped in immorality" to one observing "the highest standards of morality", to ban alcohol abruptly would have been too harsh and impractical. Another hadith report that Muhammad said:
Punishment
The Quran does not prescribe a penalty for consuming alcohol. Among hadith, the only reference for punishment comes from one by Anas ibn Malik, who is reported to have stated that Muhammad prescribed 40 lashes "administered with two palm branches... for someone accused of consuming alcohol". Saudi Arabian scholar Saalih al-Munajjid also states that a hadith report narrated by Sahih Muslim from Anas reports that Muhammad flogged someone who had drunk wine with palm branches stripped of their leaves and with shoes.
Interpretation
Of prohibition
As far as the prohibition of alcohol in the Qur’an is concerned alcohol was prohibited after an incident which is recorded in the Sunni hadith literature in a hadith found in Jami a Tirmidhi where some companions of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, were guests at a meal and drank wine and verses of the Qur’an were revealed. The narrative is found in Chapters of Tafsir Vol.5 Book 44 Hadith No. 3026.
"Narrated Abu 'Abdur-Rahman As-Sulami: that 'Ali bin Abi Talib said: "'Abdur-Rahman bin 'Awf prepared some food for which he invited us, and he gave us some wine to drink. The wine began to affect us when it was time for Salat. So they encouraged me and I recited: 'Say: O you disbelievers! I do not worship what you worship, and we worship what we worship' - so Allah, Most High, revealed: O you who believe! Do not approach Salat when you are in a drunken state until you know what you are saying."
;All alcohol or only wine? Like Mu'tazila, Hanafi scholars uphold the unlawfulness of khamr, but restrict its definition to fermented juice of grapes or grapes and dates. As a result, alcohol derived by means of honey, barley, wheat and millet such as whisky, beer and vodka are permitted according to Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf, although all forms of grape alcohol are banned absolutely. This is in stark contrast to other schools of Islamic jurisprudence which prohibit consumption of alcohol in all its forms. Though Hanafis trace their liberal view on intoxicants back to Umar ibn al-Khattab and Ibn Mas'ud, but, in essence, this conclusion has its roots in the early Basric and Kufic traditions of Islamic legal thinking with its hermeneutic preference for rational reasoning. Ibn Rushd al-Qurtubi explains it thus in his encyclopedia of comparative Islamic jurisprudence,
“In their argument by way of reasoning they said that the Koran has explicitly laid down that the Illa of prohibition of khamr is that it prevents the remembrance of God and breeds enmity and hatred… found only in a certain quantity of the intoxicating liquor not in what is less than that; it follows therefore that only this quantity be prohibited..”
This distinction between the legal status of wine and non-grape alcoholic beverages trickled down to Hanafi legal code. Hanafi jurists delineated drinking-related offences into two categories:
Drinking grape-derived wine.
Intoxication from non-grape intoxicants.
As the second category of punishment is specific to the Hanafis, they had to come with a legal definition of drunkenness. These definitions ranged from Ibn Qutayba’s,
“ whose intellect has left him so he does not understand a little or much ” to Ibn Nujaym’s,“ does not know between a man and a woman or the earthfrom the sky”.
Hanafi understanding of Shariah not only permitted adherents to indulge in alcoholic beverages but they could do so up to a near point of total "annihilation".
Of punishment
According to scholar Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid of Saudi Arabia, the consensus of classical Islamic scholars of fiqh for the punishment for consumption of alcohol is flogging, but scholars differ as to the number of lashes to be administered to the drinker, "the majority of scholars are of the view that it is eighty lashes for a free man" and forty for slaves and women. However, according to Murtaza Haider of Dawn.com in Pakistan, "a consensus on how to deal with alcohol has eluded Muslim jurist for more than a millennium". The "Maliki, Hanbali, and Hanafi schools" of Islamic jurisprudence consider 80 lashes to be lawful punishment, the Shafi’i school calls for 40 lashes. "The Hadith does not cover the matter in sufficient detail.... Is it 40 or 80 lashes? Can one substitute palm branches with a cane or leather whips? What constitutes as proof for consumption?"
