Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted regarding intoxicants and gambling: “And their sin is greater than their benefit”

Question:
The first message in this episode is from listener Hamid Uthman from Sudan. He asks: What is the interpretation of the saying of Allah the Exalted regarding intoxicants and gambling and what is meant by the benefits?

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. As for what follows, Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, prohibited intoxicants gradually. Intoxicants were consumed in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, and they were accustomed to drinking them; it had taken hold of their souls, and it was difficult for them to leave it. So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, out of mercy for His servants, prohibited it gradually to make it easier for them. This is in the saying of Allah the Exalted: . This contains a warning that intoxication is not a good provision. It serves to deter people from intoxicants, because Allah distinguished between the provision and described it as good, whereas He did not describe intoxicants as good. This is the intoxication they derive from them, along with a good provision.
This is one of the stages of the prohibition of intoxicants. The second stage was when Allah prohibited it at a specific time rather than another, which was at the time of prayer. He, Mighty and Majestic, said: So they avoided it at the time of prayer. When they avoided it at the time of prayer, its weight became lighter for them. Then, in the third stage, Allah prohibited it definitively. Yes.
The Shaykh said: Glorified and Exalted is He, "So will you not desist?" Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, has forbidden it with a decisive prohibition in these two verses from Surat al-Ma'idah, so the Muslims avoided it completely. And among that is His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He, This is in the first stage. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, made it clear that khamr (intoxicants) and maysir (gambling) are a great sin. Maysir is all forms of competition, financial betting, and wagering; if money is taken for them, it is haram (forbidden). It is forbidden to take money for competitions, contests, and financial wagers because it is taking money without right, except for what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) excluded: racing horses, camels, and archery. He said, "There is no racing except with a blade, a hoof, or a hoof of a camel." The blade refers to archery, the hoof refers to riding camels, and the hoof of a camel refers to riding horses, because these are tools of jihad. So racing with them is a means of training for jihad in the cause of Allah. Some scholars included in these three the racing or prize for questions of knowledge, such as competitions in memorizing the Qur'an, memorizing some of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and answering some questions in the Islamic sciences. They said that this falls under jihad in the cause of Allah, because learning knowledge is part of jihad in the cause of Allah. And other than these four, it is not permissible to take a prize or a race for them. This is maysir. As for khamr, it is known that anything that intoxicates, meaning covers the mind, from any substance, is khamr, and all khamr is haram, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said. And what results from them is the consumption of wealth by falsehood in maysir and taking it without right, and what is in it of injustice, aggression, ignorance, gharar (excessive uncertainty), risk, and hazard. Is that not a great sin? And in maysir there are benefits in what is obtained from acquiring wealth, and what is obtained from joy and happiness, but these benefits are slight, and its harms are more than its benefits. And whatever its harm is more than its benefit, it is haram. Likewise, khamr has benefits in what is obtained from its sale and purchase, and what is obtained from joy and happiness in its consumption, but these benefits are slight and submerged in the harms that result from drinking khamr, such as the loss of reason, injury to the mind, the loss of prayer, aggression against people, and the great harms that result from the drunkards, such as the killing of souls, violation of honor, and others. And whatever its harm is more than its benefit, it is muharram (forbidden). Yes. May Allah reward you. He says in another question.
But in the end, when intoxicants were prohibited, Allah removed these benefits, so no benefit remained in intoxicants at all. These benefits were removed from it, so it became pure harm. And when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about the saying that intoxicants are used for medical treatment, he said: “But it is a disease, not a medicine.” So after its prohibition, Allah removed these benefits from it, and removed the benefits from gambling, so each of them became pure harm. Yes.