All of the three of the world’s main religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam have their own relationship with wine. While it is accepted by the first two, wine is radically rejected in Islam. But everything has a reason, so let’s take a closer look at each case.
Islam
Probably everyone knows that alcohol in Islam is forbidden, but people rarely ask the question why? How come that the region of the Arabian Peninsula, whose alchemists were the first to produce alcohol and whose farmers were the pioneers of winemaking eventually refused this gift? As in most of such ancient religious decisions the answer is old and has a serious reason.
Just like wine became one of the cornerstones of Green and Roman cultures it became a threat for young and spreading Islamic nations. Initially intoxicants were forbidden in several separate verses of Qur’an, first it was forbidden for Muslims to attend prayers intoxicated, then another verse revealed that alcohol contains some good and some evil, but evil is greater than good. And finale alcohol (and gambling) were labeled as Satan’s handiwork and banned for life. So as you see Islam rejected wine and other alcoholic beverages step by step and did it to protect its followers. While Christianity and Judaism had to adapt a number of restrictions over the course of history, because they had vine in their religious rituals and tradition, Islam had no serious ties to wine and chose to ban wine instead of adapting it.
Judaism
As for Judaism its relation towards wine is way more positive than the Islamic one. Around the time that the Jews were living in Ancient Egypt they took the wine from the Egyptians and used it for its own rituals. Later they mastered winemaking and just like with some other products started making kosher wine, still it was not a very common product. The democratization of wine made by the Roman Empire had its influence on the Jewish culture and the final religionization of wine was made based on the example of the young Christianity at the beginning of the millennia.
As for the biblical part there is a very good example of the overall Judaist view on wine. Planting a vineyard was the first thing that Noah did after leaving the Ark, so wine became a symbol of the new world and practically a holy product. But right next it is stated that Noah drank the wine, got drunk and this eventually lead to a conflict between him and his son Ham. This story shows that while wine is a powerful symbol of a new world, but it should be approached with caution and can threaten even such a powerful family bond like father-son. Which is actually a common view on wine in both Christianity and Judaism.
Practically Judaism sees wine as a strong spiritual beverage that with the right use bounds the believer with his faith and grants him a blessing of taste, feel and flavor. Overall attitude towards wine is positive and what is more important respectful.
