Prohibition of alcohol in Islam is the result of a more literal reading of the Quran

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If Qatar’s plan was to use the Cup to seduce the world, it’s not working. Since the announcement that this country would host the event, there has been no lack of controversy —about the heat, the exploitation of immigrant workers, the punishment of homosexuals and the repression of women. There was talk about everything but football.

The imbroglio of the time is the ban on the sale of beer in stadiums, announced by Fifa on Friday (18), two days before the opening of the event. With that, Qatar was able to reopen an old discussion, which will hurt its image even more: the issue of alcohol in Islam.

To say that Islam forbids alcohol is too reductive. This religion, followed by a quarter of the world, is marked by nuances. There is not just one Islam, but several Islams, in the plural.

Suffice it to recall that one of the great poets of the Arabic language, Abu Nuwas, was known — and celebrated — for his poems about the pleasures of wine. From Abu Nuwas, who lived in Baghdad in the 8th and 9th centuries, the lines “poor and accursed is the time when I am sober / but when staggered by wine I become rich”.

Islam emerged in the 7th century in the Arabian peninsula, with the divine revelations received by the prophet Mohammed. Its sacred text is the Koran, equivalent to the Christian Bible. As there is no central authority corresponding to the Pope, this monotheistic religion has been transformed through complex theological debates.

The issue of alcohol, like that of the veil, has been interpreted in different ways across time and space in Islamic law, the so-called sharia. In brief verses, the Qur’an condemns intoxication, without providing for specific punishments. One of the possible readings is that intoxicated people lose their ability to think and are unable to fulfill their religious obligations.

Even these brief mentions are the subject of religious debate. The term that appears in the Qur’an is “khamr”. Scholars debate what the Arabic word means. Some suggest, for example, that “khamr” only refers to the fruit of grape fermentation, such as wine. Others extend the meaning to cover all types of alcohol — including beer in World Cup stadiums.

This variety of interpretations helps explain how a culture can both ban and celebrate drinking. Abu Nuwas’ poems about wine form part of a separate genre, the “khamriyyat”, dedicated to the pleasurable intoxication of alcohol. Abu Nuwas, by the way, also celebrated homosexual relationships, now condemned in Qatar.

Countries with Arab and Islamic culture, in addition, produce the famous arak. Based on grapes and aniseed, this drink is similar to anisette. Mixed with water, the liquid turns white and cloudy like milk. It’s a favorite in places like Lebanon.

As in the past, Middle Eastern governments and populations today treat alcohol differently. Gulf countries, with more literal readings of religion, probably have the strictest rules.

It is not a crime to drink in Qatar. The problem is being found drinking or drunk in public. The monarchy, however, makes consumption difficult to the point of prohibition. Authorization to sell alcohol is rare and costly, involving lengthy bureaucracy. Today, most Qatari establishments selling beer are hotels. The target audience is foreigners, both those who live in the country and tourists.

It is so difficult to find a beer in the country that outsiders created a map of points of sale and distributed it on social networks, like this one Sheet reported. In addition to being difficult, it is expensive: before this Friday’s ban, the forecast was that each beer would cost the equivalent of R$74 in stadiums and at official FIFA events. The hand of the market can make the product even more expensive, now that it has become scarcer.

The situation is similar in the United Arab Emirates, close to Qatar. The one out of line in the Gulf is Saudi Arabia. There, alcohol is strictly prohibited — and its consumption can be punished with the whip. Still, reality is more complex than the text of the law. On the black market, it is possible to buy a homemade alcoholic drink called siddique.

The risk, with all this renewed attention to what Islam says about alcohol, is to reinforce the stereotype according to which this religion is radical and incompatible with modernity. This kind of idea, of course, depends on turning a blind eye to the fact that the United States also banned the drink in the 1920s.

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