He asks: What is the authenticity of the hadith whose meaning is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "People from my Ummah will drink intoxicants, calling them by other names, and drums will be beaten over their heads..."

The questioner : He asks: What is the authenticity of the hadith whose meaning is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "People from my Ummah will drink intoxicants, calling them by other names, and drums and female singers will be present over their heads, and Allah will cause the earth to swallow them and turn them into monkeys and pigs". If this hadith is authentic, what is its complete, correct wording? And can the threat of being swallowed by the earth and turned into pigs and monkeys occur in the time of the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) until the Hour, even though Allah has lifted that from the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as an honor for him?

The Shaykh : This hadith is authentic; Ibn al-Qayyim and others (may Allah have mercy on them) authenticated it. Its wording is: and the wording: "drums are beaten over their heads" .

The questioner : Beaten, yes.

The Shaykh : It is beaten, yes. And it is an authentic hadith, and what al-Bukhari narrated in his Sahih also supports it, in the chapter he titled "The one who drinks intoxicants and calls it by another name." And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has spoken the truth, for indeed people are drinking intoxicants and calling it by another name; it is said that it is called "spiritual drink." How great is this statement, how false and how lying! How can this drink, which removes reason, kills the heart, and distances one from the Lord, be a spiritual drink? It is nothing but a vile drink that corrupts the intellect, corrupts the religion, and corrupts the mind as well. Therefore, its companion, the one afflicted with it, may Allah protect us, finds no rest, no peace, and no expansion of the chest until he returns to it again. You will find him always in worry and anxiety until he drinks and becomes addicted. We ask Allah for well-being and safety. How can a drink of this nature be called "spiritual drink"? It is nothing but a drink that destroys the body and the spirit, and the intellect and the mind. We ask Allah for safety. For this reason, Allah the Exalted has forbidden it to His servants with a confirmed prohibition in His saying: and in His saying: meaning: be away from it, while it is away from you, and this is more eloquent than His saying: "do not drink it", because abstaining means keeping away from it. Then He said: meaning: will you stop from that after you have known these great harms in it? For this reason, the scholars said: whoever denies the prohibition of intoxicants, and he is one who lived among Muslims so that its prohibition is not hidden from him, is considered an apostate, a disbeliever in Allah the Mighty and Majestic. He is given the opportunity to repent; if he repents and acknowledges its prohibition, the killing is lifted from him, otherwise he is killed as a disbeliever and apostate, may Allah protect us.
The important point is that this hadith has found its verification: intoxicants were drunk and called by other names, and drums and female singers were present over the heads. As for the one who says: How can that be, when Allah has lifted this from this Ummah? It is said: What was lifted from this Ummah is destruction by a general sunnah, by a general thing that eradicates them. But as for some of them being singled out for punishment, that has not been lifted. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: meaning in congregational prayer . And likewise here, it is mentioned in the hadith that Allah the Exalted will transform them into monkeys and pigs. The speech of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as well as the speech of Allah the Mighty and Majestic in the Qur'an, must be taken at its apparent meaning without figurative interpretation, except with a clear legal, rational, or sensory proof. So here we say: It is possible that these people will be transformed into real monkeys and pigs, and that is not difficult for Allah, for Allah the Exalted is capable of all things. If He wills a thing, He only says to it "Be," and it is. And He who transformed the people of the town from the Children of Israel into monkeys is capable of transforming others from the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Some scholars have held that the transformation here is a moral transformation, meaning that Allah makes their morals the morals of monkeys and pigs. But the first is more fitting to the apparent wording, and it is incumbent upon us to follow the apparent wording and to fear this shameful punishment, may Allah protect us, that a person leaves his family as a human and returns as a monkey or a pig. We ask Allah for safety.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.