The damage alcohol does to a person is indeed considerable. Like all drugs that have an effect on the brain, alcohol soon has one addicted.
The side-effects of alcohol consumption are poor health, impaired judgment, violence, broken careers, broken families, lost opportunities, lost fortunes, incoherence and disorientation in society.
I doubt that talking and preaching about the evil effects of alcohol will have a substantial impact on the majority of the people. Everyone knows what is bad for them, yet they go on doing it anyway. If everyone around you consumes alcohol freely, chances are you will too.
The government has gone all out to fight smoking but has done almost nothing about alcohol consumption even though it is probably an even greater evil than smoking.
Alcohol has a long-term effect on both the body and the mind that will ultimately force the person into a state of self-denial which will render him or her practically useless and almost without dignity.
Alcohol does this to its devotees slowly but without fail, even to those who think they drink in moderation.
Indeed few situations are as demeaning to a human as the state of being drunk.
For a Muslim who values his religion, alcohol is particularly to be abhorred.
Since the residual of what we eat and drink remains in our body for up to 24 hours, and the space between prayers is no longer than six hours, drinking alcohol would effectively prevent a Muslim from performing his obligation to God. It would certainly be impiety to say the prayers with your breath still smelling of alcohol.
I am all in favour of removing the item from the shelves completely so that people don’t have a chance to start drinking in the first place and also do not have the opportunity to continue drinking.
For the Muslims, I believe the Quran sums it up best when it states that in both drinking and gambling there is some profit for man and also