إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ أَن يُوقِعَ بَيْنَكُمُ ٱلْعَدَٰوَةَ وَٱلْبَغْضَآءَ فِى ٱلْخَمْرِ وَٱلْمَيْسِرِ وَيَصُدَّكُمْ عَن ذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ وَعَنِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ ۖ فَهَلْ أَنتُم مُّنتَهُونَ 91
Translations
Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allāh and from prayer. So will you not desist?
Transliteration
Innama yurid ash-shaytanu an yuqa'a baynakum al-'adawata wa-al-baghda'a fi al-khamr wa-al-maysir wa-yasidd-akum 'an dhikr Allah wa-'an as-salah. Fa-hal antum muntahun?
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah reveals Satan's strategy of using intoxicants (khamr) and gambling (maysir) as tools to sow enmity and hatred among believers, while simultaneously distancing them from remembrance of Allah and prayer. Classical scholars like Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi emphasize that Satan uses these vices not merely for personal indulgence, but deliberately to fracture community bonds and weaken spiritual connection. The rhetorical question at the end ("Will you not then abstain?") serves as a powerful call to repentance and cessation.
Revelation Context
This ayah is part of Surah Al-Ma'idah (revealed in Medina during the later Meccan period), within the passage discussing the prohibition of khamr and maysir (5:90-91). It follows immediately after the declaration of their prohibition, providing the divine wisdom behind these prohibitions. The context addresses a Medinan community where these practices were prevalent among Arabs, and the ayah explains the spiritual and social harms they cause.
Related Hadiths
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'Every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is haram' (Sahih Muslim 2001). Also relevant: 'The one who deals in wine, carries it, drinks it, sells it, buys it, presses it, or has it pressed for him—all of them are cursed' (Sunan Abu Dawud 3674), highlighting the comprehensive prohibition and its consequences.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches believers that substance abuse and gambling are not merely personal failings but deliberate tools of spiritual corruption that destroy community harmony and disconnect us from our Creator; the call to abstain is both a command and an invitation to protect our faith, relationships, and spiritual well-being.
Related Ayahs
لَوْلَا يَنْهَىٰهُمُ ٱلرَّبَّـٰنِيُّونَ وَٱلْأَحْبَارُ عَن قَوْلِهِمُ ٱلْإِثْمَ وَأَكْلِهِمُ ٱلسُّحْتَ ۚ لَبِئْسَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَصْنَعُونَ
Why do the rabbis and religious scholars not forbid them from saying what is sinful and devouring what is unlawful? How wretched is what they have been practicing.
يَـٰقَوْمِ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ ٱلْأَرْضَ ٱلْمُقَدَّسَةَ ٱلَّتِى كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنقَلِبُوا۟ خَـٰسِرِينَ
O my people, enter the blessed land [i.e., Palestine] which Allāh has assigned to you and do not turn back [from fighting in Allāh's cause] and [thus] become losers."
مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ أَنَّهُۥ مَن قَتَلَ نَفْسًۢا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَآ أَحْيَا ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعًا ۚ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنْهُم بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ لَمُسْرِفُونَ
Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And Our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors.
۞ يَوْمَ يَجْمَعُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلرُّسُلَ فَيَقُولُ مَاذَآ أُجِبْتُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَآ ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلَّـٰمُ ٱلْغُيُوبِ
[Be warned of] the Day when Allāh will assemble the messengers and say, "What was the response you received?" They will say, "We have no knowledge. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen" -