Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s4.54

c7.s4.54

A. Drinking.—Drinking is forbidden by the Qur'an very strongly but was recommended by the Persian tradition in equally unequivocal terms.¹ In the latter cases, the recommendation to drink was more agreeable since it persuaded people in a most reasonable manner. ‘Wine is the best restorative for health’, so runs a precept ‘if taken in moderate quantity. An immoderate measure of drink will do you harm, as much as any other beneficial drug, even elixir’.² Outside India, where the religious influence of Islam was greater, Muslims usually resorted to the common practice of explaining away the provisions³ of the Holy Book. In Hindustan, where the general outlook on life was frankly secular, hardly any apologies were ever offered to justify the habit of drinking. On the other hand, people were quite enthusiastic in defending it, and even took an unholy pride in over-riding the provisions of Islam. In fact, a Hindu religious reformer found no better term to describe the kingdom of Bengal than ‘the land of the wine-bibbing Muslim king’.⁴