The Prohibition of Alcohol and Its Medical and Social Harms: A Comparative Study of Islamic Teachings and Modern Scientific Research

Few prohibitions in Islamic law are as categorical as that of khamr, yet few are so often defended with loose appeals to science. This article revisits the prohibition with two aims: to establish its textual and juristic basis with precision, and to examine what current biomedical and social evidence can, and cannot, contribute to understanding its wisdom. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative, comparative design combined with a structured review of the literature. Islamic sources, namely the Qur’an, authenticated Hadith, classical and modern exegesis (al-Ṭabarī, al-Rāzī, Ibn ʿĀshūr, al-Zuḥaylī, al-Ṣābūnī and al-Shaʿrāwī) and authoritative Hanafi texts culminating in the fatwā position of Imam Muḥammad as affirmed by Ibn ʿĀbidīn and Imam Aḥmad Riḍā Khān, were retrieved and verified against primary editions, largely through al-Maktaba al-Shāmila. Empirical sources were selected through an evidence hierarchy that privileges World Health Organization data, Global Burden of Disease analyses, systematic reviews and meta-analyses over single studies. The findings were then mapped onto the five objectives of the Sharīʿah and classified into three tiers: clear convergence, partial convergence and methodological limits. The analysis reveals strong convergence on cognitive impairment and addiction, liver disease, cancer, injuries and intimate-partner violence; in 2019 alcohol caused an estimated 2.6 million deaths worldwide. Evidence on low-volume drinking and cardiovascular health, and on certain prenatal outcomes, remains contested, while the Qur’anic harm of turning people away from the remembrance of God and from prayer lies beyond empirical measurement. The study argues that modern science neither grounds nor proves the ruling, which rests on revelation; it offers instead a contemporary lens on its wisdom, above all the preservation of the intellect. It further shows that the Prophetic strategy of gradual reform, blocking the means and outlawing the entire supply chain anticipates what public-health research now identifies as the most effective alcohol-control measures. Recommendations are offered for curricula, preaching, health policy and interdisciplinary research.