"GRAPES AND WINE". Islam Has Drawn The Line (Limits) To Discipline Us.

“Grapes And Wine”

Islam Has Drawn The Line (Limits)

To Discipline Us

 (M. Javed Naseem)

“Those are limits set by Allah. 

Those who obey Allah and His Messenger 

will be admitted to Gardens with rivers 

flowing beneath, to abide therein (for ever) 

and that will be the supreme achievement.” 

(al-Quran 4:13) 

Allah the Almighty and the Most Merciful, prescribed Islam as faith for the entire mankind. The main purpose of it is to make all humanity righteous. To achieve that objective, the sense of 'rights' and 'responsibilities' has to be developed. The Divine Books (Torah, Bible & the Quran) were introduced to teach man how to live in this world maintaining justice and peace. There were rules and regulations (Laws) in those Books to keep man within limits. The lines were drawn and the limits were set. This was like an international discipline for all people. Man was warned by Allah the Almighty, not to cross those lines or limits otherwise he'll face the penalty or punishment. 

 “(O mankind!) Call upon your Lord humbly 

and in secret. Lo! He loves not transgressors.” 

(al-Quran 7:55) 

In his book about People of Sham (Syria), Prof. Adil Abu Shanab tells the story of an Arab sheikh who got into a discussion with one of the French occupation officers during the French occupation of Syria (they are doing it again!). The French officer had invited some Syrian dignitaries to a dinner. One of the invitees was an old Sheikh with his white beard. When the French officer saw the old Sheikh eating with his fingers, he asked him: 

“Why are you not eating like us?” 

The Sheikh replied: “Do you see me eating with my nose?” 

The French officer sheepishly answered: “I mean, why don’t you use fork and knife?” 

The Sheikh replied: “I am sure of the cleanliness of my hand, but are you sure of the cleanliness of your fork and knife?” 

This shut the French officer up, but he made up his mind to get vengeance on the old Sheikh. 

At the feast, the wife of the French officer was sitting to his right and the daughter to his left. The French officer, to spite the man of God, asked for wine to be brought, and proceeded to pour for himself, his wife and daughter. He started to drink in a way to annoy the Sheikh. 

He asked him: “Listen, O Sheikh! You like grapes and eat them, don’t you?” 

To which the Sheikh replied in the affirmative. The French officer pointed towards the grapes, hoping to beat the old Sheikh, and said: 

“This drink is from these grapes, so why do you eat the grapes, but reject the wine, keeping away from it?” 

All the guests looked at the old Sheikh, feeling that he would have no answer to that. 

The Sheikh calmly replied: “This is your wife, and this is your daughter. Your daughter is from your wife, right? So how is it that your wife is legitimate (Halal) for you and your daughter is not?” 

The French officer had no answer to that. He was embarrassed and sheepishly left the table. 

(From my book, “God's Prescription – al-Quran”)

So, at the end of the day, what matters most is righteousness – our obedience to our Creator, Almighty Allah. Our success is guaranteed if we obey Allah's commands and follow the teachings of the Prophets who were sent to this world to show us the right way. Now, the ball is in our court. The rules are drawn and the compliance is only voluntary. To us to play till the final whistle!

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