219 they ask you about the intoxicating and gambling, say: “In them is great sin and benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit.” And they ask you: “What they should spend”. Say, “The excess .” Thus GOD makes clear to you His Messages that you might give thought.
Arabic
Transliteration
219 Yas’aloonaka ‘anilkhamri walmaisiri qul feehimaaa ismun kabeerunw wa manaafi’u linnaasi wa ismuhumaa akbaru min naf’ihimaa; wa yas’aloonaka maaza yunfiqoona qulil-‘afwa; kazaalika yubaiyinul laahu lakumul-aayaati la’allakum tatafakkaroon
Note:
In Arabic the word is khamr which means everything that intoxicates the mind. Just as Khamr is specifically forbidden, so too sukr drunkenness is forbidden by the words of the Prophet (pbuh).
Sometimes you can find translated “offer ” which could be a legitimate interpretation.
Commentary:
Tradition reports that this verse was descended when Umar ibn al-Khattab, Mu’adh ibn Jabal and a group of followers went to the Messenger of GOD (pbuh) and said: “Please give us your verdict on intoxicants and gambling, because intoxicants disable people’s faculties of reasoning while gambling wastes their money”. In the time of the prophet, alcohol and the game of divinatory arrows (a gambling game) was a great plague in Arab society and it is no casualty if the cultural and social rise of the people of the Arabian peninsula was also due to these social rules, banning these two futile and harmful practices.
“Great sin”: A reading variant for kabīr “great” is kathīr “a lot” because at the end of the day there is a lot to lose if you rely on these vices of body and soul, while the profit for men is really minimal and temporary, not long-lasting. The pleasure and enjoyment caused by wine and drugs, and the effortless acquisition (or loosing) of money through betting do not lead the believer into growth but into ruin. When this verse was revealed, some gave up drinking while others persisted until the verse of sūrat al-Mā’ida Quran 5, 90-91 emphasized its illicitness: “Oh you who have believed in intoxicants, gambling, stone altars, and divine arrows are but a contamination of Satan’s work, avoid it so that you may be successful.
Satan only wants to cause hostility and hatred among you through intoxicants and gambling and to distance you from the memory of GOD and prayer. So you do not desist?”
Gambling is not for those who trust in GOD, but for those who follow the path of stratagem and deception and lie about what they say. Unconditional commitment to truthfulness and fairness is a precious gift, a quality to be saved in our societies and also a foundation for doctrine (9th Commandment revealed by GOD to Moses).
“What they should spend“: Someone translates “Conveniently” al-‘afwa into the accusative also reads al-‘afwu which implies a previous huwa which is the excess of your need and not spending what is necessary in order to ruin yourselves.
With al-ʿafw is meant what one possesses in excess of one’s needs, and this for sages means to draw from the excess of their wealth to give alms according to their abilities, preferring others (if they have more necessities) than oneself. Life for anyone is so unpredictable that it is more safe to invest in people than in goods, if you help you will be helped, and if you overspend your pleasure will never be satisfied because as the Bible says “the eye doesn’t satisfy itself” (Ecclesiastes 1, 8). GOD knows those who work for the good and those who instead favour injustice and do not care about their neighbour, He treats everyone according to the intentions quṣūd they have in their hearts and not according to the things they show outwardly to others.
Through the Words that have been written GOD clarifies His signs so that everyone can meditate, everyone will always be responsible for their own actions.