BASRA – The government's decision to backtrack on banning alcohol sale and consumption in Basra drew mixed reactions from people in the southern city. "I don’t agree with the lifting after everything was smoothly working," shopkeeper Ahmed Obeidi, 43, told IslamOnline.
"Drinking alcohol is common in western countries but not in Muslim ones.
"It is true that many Arabic countries allow liquors to be sold anywhere but Iraq has an Islamic history and allowing alcohol is an offence," he fumed.
Basra provincial council passed a decree in August banning the sale of alcohol in the southern city.
But local authorities changed heart earlier in December after protests from non-Muslim minorities and NGOs.
"For the first time the local government had done something in benefit of the future Muslim generations," said Obeidi.
Iraq's Clandestine Alcohol Business Alcohol Hinders Response to Threats "But the new legislation withdrawal takes away any hope with it."
Mariam Hussein Ala’a, 41, primary school teacher and mother of three, is also critical of the ban lifting.
"We are a Muslim country and drinking is a western heritage that isn’t part of our history," she told IOL.
Islam takes an uncompromising stand in prohibiting intoxicants. It forbids Muslims from drinking or even selling alcohol.
The general rule in Islam is that any beverage that get people intoxicated when taken is unlawful, both in small and large quantities, whether it is alcohol, drugs, fermented raisin drink or something else.
Mixed Reactions
Ala’a, the primary school teacher, is now worried about her three son.
"I have youth at home who are willing to try new experience in life and they have colleagues who use to drink," she told IOL.
"Every time my sons go out with them I pray for them to come back clean, without drinking alcohol which is against my religion."
Alcohol consumption is reaching worrying levels in Iraq, especially among youths of different social classes and genders.
Any person can buy the intoxicating products without being asked to prove his age.
"If they had kept the ban, at least I will know that it is hard to be consumed and I will sleep better knowing that my sons are much more protected," fumed Ala’a.
But Basra local authorities are defending their decision.
"Although Muslims are the majority in the region, prohibiting the alcohol consumption now will hurt democracy and force minorities to look for unsafe options," argues Hashimi Aleiybi, a spokesman for Basra Governorate Consul.
Authorities say they were forced to ban alcohol under pressures from religious politicians and groups.
"We were pressured by religious entities and politicians to ban alcohol consumption," Khalid Abdullah, senior official in Basra Provincial Council, recalled.
"We were the only province to ban alcohol and it is unfair for the minorities who run the business and were being forced to close their shops and move to other parts of the country."
The sale and consumption of alcohol is authorized across Iraq, including the capital Baghdad.
During Saddam Hussein’s regime, alcohol consumption in public places was forbidden.
But in 2005, the Ministry of Interior abolished restrictions on alcohol, nightclubs and casinos introduced in the 1990s.
Now bars, pubs and liquor stores are back to business and proliferating.
"We have to be aware that any person has the right to use, buy or sell what he thinks is important for him, even if it is unhealthy under Islamic eyes," argues Abdullah.
"If Muslims don’t want contact with alcohol, they just have to keep away from the shops, but forcing the total closure is unfair and unconstitutional."
Salah Kareem Jassin, 38, agrees.
"Everything that is prohibited is more interesting. If it is allowed, people will have the chance to decide what is better for them, rather than go after the curiosity that is drinking alcohol," he argued.
"There are hundreds of ways to get a drink and the ban will just put people in danger by trying to get it from the local alcohol mafia."
But for Ala’a, the primary school teacher and mother of her three, the argument is flawed.
"I hope after a while the ban can be used nationally and not only in Basra, so Muslims in this country can be protected from bad influences and live a good and clean life."
Source: IslamOnline
"Drinking alcohol is common in western countries but not in Muslim ones.
"It is true that many Arabic countries allow liquors to be sold anywhere but Iraq has an Islamic history and allowing alcohol is an offence," he fumed.
Basra provincial council passed a decree in August banning the sale of alcohol in the southern city.
But local authorities changed heart earlier in December after protests from non-Muslim minorities and NGOs.
"For the first time the local government had done something in benefit of the future Muslim generations," said Obeidi.
Iraq's Clandestine Alcohol Business Alcohol Hinders Response to Threats "But the new legislation withdrawal takes away any hope with it."
Mariam Hussein Ala’a, 41, primary school teacher and mother of three, is also critical of the ban lifting.
"We are a Muslim country and drinking is a western heritage that isn’t part of our history," she told IOL.
Islam takes an uncompromising stand in prohibiting intoxicants. It forbids Muslims from drinking or even selling alcohol.
The general rule in Islam is that any beverage that get people intoxicated when taken is unlawful, both in small and large quantities, whether it is alcohol, drugs, fermented raisin drink or something else.
Mixed Reactions
Ala’a, the primary school teacher, is now worried about her three son.
"I have youth at home who are willing to try new experience in life and they have colleagues who use to drink," she told IOL.
"Every time my sons go out with them I pray for them to come back clean, without drinking alcohol which is against my religion."
Alcohol consumption is reaching worrying levels in Iraq, especially among youths of different social classes and genders.
Any person can buy the intoxicating products without being asked to prove his age.
"If they had kept the ban, at least I will know that it is hard to be consumed and I will sleep better knowing that my sons are much more protected," fumed Ala’a.
But Basra local authorities are defending their decision.
"Although Muslims are the majority in the region, prohibiting the alcohol consumption now will hurt democracy and force minorities to look for unsafe options," argues Hashimi Aleiybi, a spokesman for Basra Governorate Consul.
Authorities say they were forced to ban alcohol under pressures from religious politicians and groups.
"We were pressured by religious entities and politicians to ban alcohol consumption," Khalid Abdullah, senior official in Basra Provincial Council, recalled.
"We were the only province to ban alcohol and it is unfair for the minorities who run the business and were being forced to close their shops and move to other parts of the country."
The sale and consumption of alcohol is authorized across Iraq, including the capital Baghdad.
During Saddam Hussein’s regime, alcohol consumption in public places was forbidden.
But in 2005, the Ministry of Interior abolished restrictions on alcohol, nightclubs and casinos introduced in the 1990s.
Now bars, pubs and liquor stores are back to business and proliferating.
"We have to be aware that any person has the right to use, buy or sell what he thinks is important for him, even if it is unhealthy under Islamic eyes," argues Abdullah.
"If Muslims don’t want contact with alcohol, they just have to keep away from the shops, but forcing the total closure is unfair and unconstitutional."
Salah Kareem Jassin, 38, agrees.
"Everything that is prohibited is more interesting. If it is allowed, people will have the chance to decide what is better for them, rather than go after the curiosity that is drinking alcohol," he argued.
"There are hundreds of ways to get a drink and the ban will just put people in danger by trying to get it from the local alcohol mafia."
But for Ala’a, the primary school teacher and mother of her three, the argument is flawed.
"I hope after a while the ban can be used nationally and not only in Basra, so Muslims in this country can be protected from bad influences and live a good and clean life."
Source: IslamOnline
| Home | Daily News | Jzom |We Are On... |
