Allah, Who guided you to the true nature; had you taken the one containing wine, Your Umma would have gone astray”.
BY HAROON RASHID BHAT
Let me begin this write-up with one of the famous traditions of our beloved ProphetPBUM where Abu HurairaRA narrates, “During the miraculous journey- the holy night of Mihraj, the prophet PBUM was presented two cups at Bait al-Maqdis; one containing milk and the other containing wine. He looked at both of them and took the one containing milk, whereupon Gabriel (peace be upon him) said, “Praise is due to Allah, Who guided you to the true nature; had you taken the one containing wine, Your Umma would have gone astray”.
There is a clear message in this particular Hadees, that consuming wine is not in any way a good deed. It ruins the nations. There is mention of Muslim Umma in the particular Hadees but, if we try illustrating it further, we came to know that such messages have universal relevance and implication. After all the prophets came here from time to time with a sacred mission. Their role was not limited to circulating the message of Almighty Allah but they also acted as advisors to warn each one of us about the devastating consequence of our odd actions and ideas on the whole human race. They all played their role as directed by the supreme authority.
Now, let us try to compare these two products – milk and wine in terms of their use and their value in our lives. Milk as an essential substance has numerous social, economic, and health benefits whereas wine may have economic value but its consumption leads to the habit of alcoholism. This bad habit not only damages the physical or mental balance of an individual but it leaves a catastrophic impact on the basic institutions of our society like family, education, religion, etc. It becomes the cause of many social evils. There are numerous research reports which reflect a strong link between alcoholism and the occurrence of social evils like domestic violence, sexual violence, intolerance, etc. If we do the graphical or statistical comparison of this part of the world (Kashmir) based on the available data concerning those aforementioned evils with that of the other states or UTs of our country- India, our graph is not portraying any gloom picture. But the recent news that has been circulating through social media for the last few days indicating that the government may designate a few places for the liquor shops in the union territory of J&K may lead to liquor culture here. If so, this action will work as a catalyst to disintegrate the moral fabric of our society. If we go through the historical accounts of our land, we all will come to know that this part of the world (Kashmir) remained the abode of Reshies and Munees who selected this place for seclusion and meditation. This place always proved the calm and serene shelter for them. Now it’s is up to us whether to follow the footprints of those saintly personalities who preferred milk over wine or to be the part of this process as the shareholder or the facilitator in favor of those who are very keen to establish the wine business here and try to hurt moral sanctity of this land which is known as the Peeryar- land of saints. It looks very awkward to see liquor shops just opposite the hills of Khahimarm, Shankaracharya where we have the shrine of Muqdoom Sahab, Gurudwara on one side, and the temple of Shankaracharya on the other side. Promoting liquor culture in the name of economic development at the cost of our health and social or moral values is in no way acceptable. Our society has already been facing a lot of other social problems. Its availability will enhance will further deteriorate the situation.
Haroon Rashid Bhat is a teacher and columnist,
minamharoon123@gmail.com.
