ham@gator.cacs.usl.edu (Hameed Ahmed Mohammed) (06/11/91)
In the name of Allah most Gracious most Merciful
Avioding drinking parties
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The Muslim is ordered to stay away from drinking parties or gatherings at which
drinks are served. 'Umar narrated that he heard the Prophet(Peace be on him)
saying,
"Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day must not sit at table
at which "khamr" is consumed." (reported by Ahmed, Al-Tirmidhi)
While it is the duty of a Muslim to eradicate the evil he sees, if the is
unable to do so, he must stay away from it, leaving the place where people
are engaged in such things.
It is reported that the rightly-guided Caliph 'Umar ibn 'Abdul-'Aziz used to
flog not only those who drank but those who sat with them as well, even if
they were not themselves drinking. When once he was told of a group of people
who were at a drinking party, he ordered that all of them be flogged. He was
told that a person who was fasting was among them. "Begin with him",he said.
"Have you not heard Allah's saying, 'And He has revealed to you in the Book
that when you hear the revelation of Allah rejected and mocked, you are not
to sit with them until they turn to some other theme; for if you do so , you
will be like them ...' (4:140)