I offer my payers regularly—praise be to Allaah for that—however, I occasionally drink alcohol. Will my prayers and good deeds not be accepted from me?

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.

There is absolutely no doubt that drinking alcohol is one of the major sins and serious misdeeds. Its prohibition is an indisputably established fact of the religion that is well known among all Muslims given the great number of Islamic texts that have been reported regarding dispraising and prohibiting it. The Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, cursed ten types of people with regard to alcohol, saying:

•        “Allaah has cursed alcohol, the one who drinks it, the one who pours it, the one who squeezes (the grapes etc) it, the one for whom it is squeezed, the one who sells it, the one who buys it, the one who carries it, the one to whom it is carried, and the one who consumes its price.” [Abu Daawood and Al-Hakim]

•        “Whoever drinks wine in this world and does not repent from that, he will be deprived of it in the Hereafter.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

•        “Whoever drinks alcohol, Allaah will not accept any prayer from him for forty days, but if he repents, Allaah will accept his repentance. Then if he goes back to it, Allaah will not accept any prayer from him for forty days, but if he repents, Allaah will accept his repentance. Then if he goes back to it, Allaah will not accept any prayer from him for forty days, but if he repents, Allaah will accept his repentance. Then if he goes back to it a fourth time, Allaah will not accept any prayer from him for forty days, and if he repents, Allaah will not accept his repentance, and He will cause him to drink from the river of Al-Khabal (i.e. the pus of the people of Hell).” [At-Tirmithi] (A similar narration has also been also reported by Abu Daawood and An-Nasaa‘i)

Accordingly, whoever drinks alcohol, Allaah will not accept any good deeds from him for forty days. This Hadeeth acts as an explicit proof that the prayer, which is the most important pillar of Islam, is not accepted (during those forty days). As for the other good deeds, we do not know whether they will be accepted from the one who drinks alcohol or not? It is really sufficient to deter and prevent the Muslim individual from drinking alcohol that his prayer, which is the second and most important pillar of Islam, will not be accepted from him as long as he insists on drinking alcohol.

Thus, we advise the respectful questioner to fear Allaah Almighty, to avoid the mother of all evils, and to observe the prayers and remembrance of Allaah Almighty so that the saying of Allaah Almighty (which means): {Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allaah is greater.} [Quran 29: 45], would apply to his case.

Allaah Knows best.