Note 187 — Chapter VI

Although Muhammed strictly prohibited the drinking of wine, even more potent liquors are indulged in by many Muslims, especially those of the shi’ah persuasion. The more strict súnís create for themselves a “paradise of fools” with narcotics, such as bang and other preparations of which opium is the principal ingredient, satisfying their “consciences” with the quibble that the holy Prophet does not forbid its use in express terms—an omission which is probably due to his ignorance of such deleterious drugs. The old pagan Arabs were inordinate wine-bibbers, as we learn from their poetry, and sanguinary fights were a frequent result between rival factions when they assembled from different districts at Makka. Muhammed at first attempted, by a “revelation” in the Kurán, to restrain this propensity within reasonable bounds, and finding this of no effect prohibited wine altogether. It seems to have been a very ancient custom among Asiatics to drink wine in the early morning, and in the Mu’allaka poems, which were suspended in the Temple at Makka before the advent of Muhammed, the “morning draught” is frequently mentioned, with evident gusto. The prophet Isaiah exclaims: “Woe unto those that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue till night, till wine inflame them!”—ch. v, 11.