Quora Answer: Is Wine Good or Bad?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Is wine good or bad?  The Qur’an States intoxicant are Satan’s handiwork.  Yet on the other hand, in Paradise are rivers of wine.  How does Satan’s handiwork get into Paradise?” 

Wine, and by extension, all intoxicants, is neither good nor bad.  What makes them haram is the intent of use.  By shari’ah, the consumption of wine and alcohol leads to intoxication and that is Proscribed.  There is an entire literature on the nuances of the ruling on alcohol, whether it is by itself najasah or not, and so forth.  I will not repeat that here.  Wine is not the handiwork of Satan.  Satan does not create anything.  The intent of getting intoxicated for the sake of pleasure is the influence of Satan.  That is his “handiwork”. 

The rivers of wine in Paradise are not to be understood literally. Muslims believe, as per the Qur’an, that we do not know the delights of Paradise, and every description is an approximation we can subscribe to: 

سُوۡرَةُ السَّجدَة

فَلَا تَعۡلَمُ نَفۡسٌ۬ مَّآ أُخۡفِىَ لَهُم مِّن قُرَّةِ أَعۡيُنٍ۬ جَزَآءَۢ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَعۡمَلُونَ (١٧) 

Now no person knows what delights of the eye are Kept Hidden (in reserve) for them as a Reward for their (good) deeds. (Surah as-Sajdah:17) 

And there are many narrations besides in the corpus of ahadits that emphasise this point.  Another position, for those who affirm that there are literal rivers of wine, is that there is no intoxication in their consumption. 

And finally, the shari’ah is for this world.  Its prohibitions in the consumption of what is of this world do not apply to the next.