The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 48
T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R ON E T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R ON E 48 the worst kind they were who squandered money on their car- nal passions and were openly boastful of their debauchery. Here we reproduce by way of example only a couple of verses from the aforementioned Taghlabi that are included in the fifth of the As-Sab‘ul-Mu‘allaq a t; let whosoever will, read it from there. The verses are: نَـا ی ِ ي بِصَحْنِك ِ فَاصْبَح ِّ ُب ھ َ ل َ أ َنْدَرِينَـا أ َ ال خُمُـور َ تُبْقِي ل َ ٍّو ُ بِبَعْلَبَك ْ شَرِبْت ٍ قَد وَكَأْس َ وَقَاصِرِينَا دِمَشْق فِي وَأُخْرَى Meaning that, O my beloved! (And his beloved was actually his own mother) rise up with a cup of wine and make me drink of all the wines that are distilled in the village of Andreen, and be certain that not a drop remains in the cellars. Then he says that he drank a lot of wine in Baalbek and then in Damascus, and then in Qasreen. The truth is that the Christians had nothing to do except drink wine since it formed a major part of their faith and was included even in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. What is most surprising is that this Christian fell in love with his real mother. Readers should keep in mind that Andreen is a village in Levant where Christians used to distil all kinds of vintages and then export them to far-off countries. Drinking wine was not only allowed in their religion, but just like the Bam Margi sect of Hindus, it was an integral part of their faith and no one could become a Christian without it. Therefore, the Christians have had much to do with wine since ancient times and in the present age as well, it is the Christians who are the producers of a variety of vintages. It has been established that it was the Christians who brought wine to Arabia and ruined the country. It appears that