Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamualaikum wrwb,

May Allah bless the team of this forum and the people who supported in the development of this forum, Aameen. You have been of tremendous help in getting me closer to the Deen and also have more knowledge about Islam.

Well, I work in a fast-food restaurant overseas in Australia. The staff working there is multi-cultural; a mixture of scotish, locals, Americans, Egyptians and me Indian. Our management wanted an idea on how to spend the accumulated tip money and most of them wanted it to be a party in a pub/bar. And the whole staff including the management team wants it such that each and every staff memeber could participate in that. Now, me being a Muslim cannot enter a bar for obvious reasons. Now today during my work, my colleague discussed with me abt going to a near-by pub to have a party with the tip money, I said I can`t go to pubs as it is not permitted in our religion.......b`coz I am a sort of liked by all the staff they don`t want to miss me out and r insisting me to join them. One of them was just arguing saying that what`s wrong in going to the bar? You don`t have to drink alchohol, you can have soft drinks. Then I said, I am not allowed to visit a place where women r almost naked, and there is music going on. Then he said, u don`t have to look at those girls. I was tongue-tied. I could not justify my denial to join them. What`s really bad abt going to pubs/bars? Kindly clarify.

Jazakamullah Khair

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Answer:

Bars pubs alcohol

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: What`s really bad abt going to pubs/bars?

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verses 90-91:

90 O ye who believe! Intoxicants, and gambling, (dedication of) stone,s and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of the Shaytaan's handiwork: stay far away from such (abomination) that ye may prosper.

91 Shaytaan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants and gambling and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?

Dear and beloved brother in Islam, not only have Allah and His Messenger (saws) declared the consumption of intoxicants (wine, alcohol, drugs, etc.) absolutely forbidden for the believers….but the Command the Lord has given in regards to intoxicants and gambling is ‘fajtanebu’…..meaning stay far far away from these abominations!

To approach, enter, visit, or frequent bars and pubs where wine and women are flowing is directly against the Command and Guidance of Allah and His Messenger (saws). Even if a believer says that he will not drink or look at unlawful women, he will be considered being an accomplice and an intentional witness to the evil and falsehood ….and it just does not behove and befit the character of a servant of Allah to be an intentional witness to an act or deed which are clearly forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (saws).

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 25 Surah Furqaan verse 72:

72 (The servants of Allah are) Those who witness no falsehood (intentionally), and if they (happen to) pass by futility, they pass by it with honorable (avoidance).

Your Question: What`s really bad abt going to pubs/bars?

Dear and beloved brother in Islam, if one had information that a place he intends to visit is afflicted by a contagious diseases like plague, or bird-flu, etc…..even if he were in perfect health, one would totally shun and abstain from visiting such a place for fear that maybe, just maybe, he might be effected by the contagious disease.

Similarly Islam recognizes and treats evils like intoxicants, gambling, unlawful women, etc. as contagious spiritual diseases and guides the believers to absolutely shun and stay far away from all such evil….lest one is stung by that evil which may effect him, his life, his family, his honor profoundly not only in this world, but also in the Presence of the Lord in the Hereafter.

This modern-freedom loving-educated-but ungoldly world recognizes the contagious physical diseases or the harm caused by unhealthy gases and fumes which pollute the air and the environment….but the evil which is spread by intoxicants, and gambling, and unlawful women…evil which pollute and corrupt one’s hearts and minds, which harm oneself, one’s family and even the society one lives in, are left unchecked for one to fend for himself!

The deen of Truth, al-Islam, guides that man not only save himself from things that harm him physically….but also strive his utmost to guard himself from things that have the ability to harm him mentally and spiritually!

Islam has recognized and warned the believers of the evil of intoxicants…so much so that the Messenger of Allah (saws) termed ‘khamr’ or intoxicants as the key or root or mother of all evil.

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 580 Narrated by Abud Darda

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: ‘Wine is the key to (or the mother of) all evil!’

Not only is it prohibited for a believer who sincerely fears Allah and the Last Day to consume intoxicants, but so hated and so detested is this evil of intoxicants in the Sight of Allah and His Messenger (saws), that the Noble Prophet (saws) guided the believers to not even sit on a table where wine is being served, leave alone going to a place like a bar or a pub where wine is overflowing!!!

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2776 Narrated by Anas ibn Malik

Allah's Messenger (saws) invoked the curse of Allah on ten people in connection with wine: the wine-presser, the one who has it pressed, the one who drinks it, the one who conveys it, the one to whom it is conveyed, the one who serves it, the one who sells it, the one who benefits from the price paid for it, the one who buys it, and the one for whom it is bought.

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 4477 Narrated by Jabir ibn Abdullah

The Prophet (saws) said, "He who believes in Allah and the Last Day must not sit at a cloth (table or gathering) where wine is being circulated."

Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 3765 Narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar

The Messenger of Allah (saws) forbade the sitting at a cloth (table or gathering) on which wine is drunk.

If one trusts, obeys, and follows the guidance and commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of never ever being misled; but if one believes, obeys and follows any other guidance, other than that of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of being led astray.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan