Allah Almighty has forbidden the believers to drink alcohol in this world because of the great harm it causes, especially its effect on people’s mental health and control of behaviour. A drunk person does not realize what he says or does. He does not reflect on the acts of worship when he performs them, which negates the very reason for performing them. It is a fundamental aim of Shari` ah that the believers maintain their mental health. Alcohol harms one’s mental and physical health and also negatively affect one’s social relationships.
The wine in Paradise, however, will not be harmful. It will not affect one’s mental or physical health, nor will it cause one to lose control. The wine of Paradise resembles that of this world only in name. So, it is out of Almighty Allah’s boundless mercy and bounty that He will allow the believers to drink wine in Paradise.
Sheikh Abdel-Halim Mahmoud, the late Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, states: “Allah Almighty refers in more than one verse of the Qur’an to the pleasures and comforts the believers will enjoy in Paradise. Among those pleasures is drinking wine. For example, Allah Almighty says: “(Here is) a Parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised: in it are rivers of water incorruptible; rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink; and rivers of honey pure and clear. In it there are for them all kinds of fruits; and Grace from their Lord. (Can those in such Bliss) be compared to such as shall dwell forever in the Fire, and be given, to drink, boiling water, so that it cuts up their bowels (to pieces)?” (Muhammad: 15)
He Almighty also says, describing the wine of the Paradise: “There wait on them immortal youths with bowls and ewers and a cup from a pure spring wherefrom they get no aching of the head nor any madness, and fruit that they prefer.” (Al-Waqi`ah: 17-20)
According to these verses, the wine of Paradise will not cause any kind of harm to the believers.
It is because of the negative effect of alcoholic drinks on the physical and mental health that they have been called “the mother of impurities.” Even before the advent of Islam, there were some wise respectable Arab men who forbade themselves to drink wine because of its bad effect on people’s behavior that they observed. Of those people was `Abd Al-Muttalib, the grandfather of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
Moreover, Allah Almighty has cursed wine, the one who makes it, the one who carries it, and the one who drinks it. Allah Almighty says about the harm it causes: “O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of Satan’s handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.” (Al-Ma’idah: 90). To sum up, the wine of the Paradise is not harmful in any way. It will be enjoyable and pleasing to the believers as a blessing bestowed on them from Almighty Allah.”