Wine in Christianity Fatwa No: 124202
- Fatwa Date:15-2-2012
Is wine permissible in Christianity? I would like you to support your answer with quotes from the Gospel in both cases.
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The current Christian Gospel is not a trusted reference. It is impermissible to believe what is in it either for the sake of proving or refuting anything because most of the current gospels are distorted. It is impermissible to read them, with the exception of a knowledgeable person who is reading them with the intention of refuting them.
If we assume that the gospel is not distorted, even so it cannot be regarded as a source for prohibiting and permitting things for Muslims. Rather, Muslims should return to the Quran because it is an authority over the previous Books and abrogates them. Prohibition of wine and alcoholic drinks is established in the Quran. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allaah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.} [Quran 5:90]
According to the opinions of scholars, it seems that wine was prohibited in the law of ‘Eesa .
The author of Taqaarub Al-Adyaan said, “Priests and kings added a great deal of legislation on the issues of prohibition and permissibility and ignorant people followed them. They considered wine and pork as lawful, worshipped crosses, hung images and claimed that ‘Eesa is Allaah, the son of Allaah or the third person in the Trinity according to their different sects.”
Among the common superstitions of Christians is the Eucharist. They drink wine and claim that whoever drinks it, it is as if he has drunk the blood of ‘Eesa . After consulting books on Christianity, we find that Dr. Munqith As-Saqqaar quoted from the Bible a threat for the drinker of alcohols not to enter Paradise: “Nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Allaah Knows best.