Umar sets the penalty for wine at eighty on Ali's counsel

As drinking spread in the newly opened lands, Umar took the counsel of Ali and ordered that a drinker be flogged eighty lashes. Ali explained: "when he is drunk he raves, and when he raves he slanders, and the penalty for slander is eighty" ¹.

The book says that Ali held that a drinker who becomes drunk raves, that one who raves slanders, and that the penalty for the slanderer is eighty; Umar acted on this. The book describes the saying as transmitted from Ali through a chain of narrators, and says Umar took his counsel ¹.

The book sets out the jurists' views. Malik, al-Thawri, Abu Hanifa and those who followed them make the penalty eighty by the consensus of the Companions. Al-Shafi'i, and one view of Ahmad, make it forty, with anything beyond that a discretionary penalty the imam may impose. It also reports Ibn Taymiyya's detailed position ¹.

• The book does not date the decision; the period is inferred from Umar's caliphate.
• This page concerns jurisprudence; specialists should consult the books of the schools before expanding it.

The speaker recounts Umar's rebuke of men drinking behind a closed door: "O enemies of God, do you think God does not see you?" ².

He recounts the revelation on wine: the Prophet ﷺ's companions asked for a clear ruling, Umar among them, after they heard that its harm outweighed its benefit ³. He recounts that Abu Bakr said he never drank wine, in the Jahiliyya or in Islam ⁴.

He recounts a companion's error in leading the Maghrib prayer, and that Umar heard the verse forbidding prayer in a state of intoxication. The speaker says the Qur'anic term for avoidance of prohibitions appears only for idolatry and wine (needs_source) ^{5 6}.

He recounts Anas going round Medina announcing the ban on wine ⁷. He says the jars were poured into the streets of Medina and the smell lasted about twenty-one days (needs_source) ⁸. He says that no new command or prohibition came after the verse on the completion of the religion, eighty-one days before the Prophet's death (needs_source) ⁹.

He recounts that Umar's son was accused of drinking privately. He was brought to Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him), who applied the penalty; the story reached Umar in Medina. The speaker says the drinking took place in a closed room and not before a group (needs_source) ¹⁰.