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The Jews and the Christians, both, do not find anything banning alcohol in their scriptures and hence they consider it permissible. It is also known that alcohol was not prohibited in the early days of Islam.

So, do the Islamic scholars believe that alcohol was allowed for the previous nations or was it prohibited and they corrupted their book?

Edit:

The most upvoted response by @AsanRamzan does not even correctly answer the question. Firstly, it uses verses from books that are not recognized as Holy scripture by Islam (a Book attributed to Sulaiman (RA) and the other attributed to Paul). Secondly, even if we count the book of Sulaiman (RA), there is no explicit prohibition in it, only stating the harm in alcohol. Much like the following verse from the Quran:

They ask you concerning wine and gambling. Say, ‘There is a great sin in both of them, and some profits for the people, but their sinfulness outweighs their profit.’ (2:219)

But, this verse did not prohibit alcohol in Islam.

So, it would be better if the scholarly sources regarding the topic were given.

The Z
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Actually it is in the Christian scripture not to get drunk with alcohol, in at least two different places:

Proverbs 20:1 King James Version (KJV) 20 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Ephesians 5:18 New International Version (NIV) 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,

Asan Ramzan
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    It doesn't prohibit alcohol though, right, just drunkenness? – The Z Feb 07 '19 at 05:48
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    not explicitly, – Asan Ramzan Feb 07 '19 at 06:14
  • The Christian scripture also talks about Yeshua's conversion of water to wine. This seems (to my lay understanding) to be confusing, if not contradictory against the verses in this answer. Much like Quran 16.67 when compared to Quran 5.90 – mcalex Feb 07 '19 at 09:37
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    The Christian scripture forbides drunkeness, not alcohol consuption. The stance on it is more of moderation than total avoidance. – T. Sar Feb 07 '19 at 11:25
  • @T.Sar yes, several leaders in the NT are even portrayed drinking wine, with no indication that it was unacceptable. What is warned against is drunkenness. – Robert Columbia Feb 07 '19 at 12:54
  • @mcalex the ban on Alcohol was a gradual one, it was not banned straightaway, first it was revealed that Alcohol has some good and some evil but the evil is greater 2:219. it Could be Allah was doing a similar thing at the time Jesus. But one thing is consistence Allah dislikes Alcohol. As for verse 16:67, this does not explicitly say Alcohol, I sometime drink fresh grape juice, also it depends whether this verse was revealed after the ban, that also goes for the wine into water, it could be this was done before when this verse was revealed, – Asan Ramzan Feb 07 '19 at 14:10
  • @AsanRamzan All prohibitions must be explicit. The verses from the Bible you quote are equivalent to the verses in the Quran that say the harms in alcohol. But even with those verses of the Quran, alcohol was not prohibited until a clear verse came. – The Z Feb 07 '19 at 15:01
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I think the drinking of alcohol had been prohibited in all divine religions, from Adam (PBUH) to the last messenger (PBUH), since the holy Quran says:

Believers, wine and gambling, idols and divining arrows are abominations from the work of satan. Avoid them, in order that you prosper. (5/90)

so this is abominations of satan and is the satan's work, also Imam Reza (PBUH) said:

مَا بَعَثَ اَللَّهُ نَبِيّاً قَطُّ إِلاَّ بِتَحْرِيمِ اَلْخَمْرِ

Nosrati
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"Jews and christians do not prohibit alcohol" is an oversimplification. The Prohibition party forbade alcohol in the United States in the early 1900's precisely because they believed that the Bible forbade it. The Prohibition party still exists and believe Alcohol is forbidden by the Bible. The Wine allowed in the Bible was said to be grape-juice, similar to the Nabeedh that the Prophet Muhammad salallahu 3alayhe wasallam consumed. He consumed grape juice that was fermented for less than a day. Beyond a certain time limit of fermentation it was forbidden. Thus Nabeedh of this sort is allowed in the Hanafi Madhab.

As for Orthodox Jews they have varying opinions, but generally Jews dont have a culture of drunkeness. On the Sabbath they take a very very small shot of Wine(barely anything) and it is purely symbolic. Some of them use only Grape Juice/Nabeedz as mentioned above and not actually alcoholic wine.

http://irfi.org/articles/articles_51_100/alcohol_is_prohibited_for_jews_a.htm

http://www.prohibitionists.org/old%20site/bkgrd.htm

https://intoxicatedonlifedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/ctrgentryformatted.pdf

Lastly, even if it was permitted in previous sharias, it is forbidden in our Law, which supercedes the laws of the other Prophets. Thus Alcoholic Wine in any amount is forbidden in our Time, in the law of Muhammad (salallahu 3alayhe waslam)

Israfil Sulayman
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