Forty Gems of Beauty — Page 109
109 other intoxicants do not induce intoxication when taken in small quantities, thus there is no harm in their restricted consumption. Human nature is so constituted that once permission to use a thing is granted, one fails to observe a subtle distinction of this nature and cannot keep off a particular limit. This danger is especially pronounced in the case of intoxicants. Because when one betakes himself to this field, in most cases, there is nothing to prevent further progress in that direction and from a drachma to an ounce and from an ounce to a double dose and then to a pound, the momentum continues to grow. It is, therefore, that the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him) has declared unlawful the consumption of intoxicants even in small doses so that dangerous vices of this nature are uprooted at the outset. Tens of thousands of persons meet their doom in this world simply because they tried to have a temporary excitement in their mind by taking a few drops of wine in the beginning, then slipped so fast that they fell into a state of stupor throughout the day and far into the night. The same is true of opium, morphia, bhang, chars, h ash i sh, cocaine, and other intoxicants; their limited consumption leads in the end to heavy dosages, and the man who plays in ankle-deep water by the seashore, eventually gives up the ghost in its overflowing depths. The Glorious Quran has, therefore, notwithstanding its recognition of some merits of wine and gambling, given the finding that their danger far exceeds their benefits: 25 Wu m ?G ;<9 | M ` I “but their sin is greater than their advantage” 25 The Holy Quran, Ch: 2 (Al-Baqarah), V: 220