Islamic Sociological Perspective on Social Deviance of Khamr Drinking

Theoretically, western sociologists discussed the topic involving khamr drinking in the context of social deviance related to addiction and the causes of drinking that harm others, such as accident driving, violence, and crime. The interpretation of deviance is up to the norm of certain groups in society’s culture because the discussion of the social system is limited to the interaction between humans and humans only. However, social deviance from the Islamic viewpoint is totally different because it is discussed based on the Islamic social system that involves the element of tauḥīd (interaction between humans with God, whose name is Allah). In Islam, drinking is considered deviant not by society but by Allah as the source of Muslims’ norms. Fundamentally, the studies on khamr, from the Islamic studies, are on fiqh discussion. This article offers a sociological view of khamr drinking by having the fiqh of khamr as a framework to guide the perspective. Therefore, this research will provide other researchers with another viewpoint of deviance on khamr drinking.