Angels tapping at the wine-shop's door

• Verfasst von: Matthee, Rudolph P. [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Angels tapping at the wine-shop's door
• Titelzusatz: a history of alcohol in the Islamic world
• Verf.angabe: Rudi Matthee
• Verlagsort: London
• Verlag: Hurst & Company
• Jahr: 2023
• Umfang: 1 online resource
• Illustrationen: illustrations
• Fussnoten: Also issued in print: 2023. - Includes bibliographical references and index. - Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on August 22, 2023)
• ISBN: 978-0-19-775633-1
• DOI: doi:10.1093/oso/9780197694718.001.0001
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Bibliogr. Hinweis: Erscheint auch als : Druck-Ausgabe
• Sach-SW: Food and Drink
• Sach-SW: Cultural studies: customs & traditions
• K10plus-PPN: 186880979X
• K10plus-PPN:
  Universitätsbibliothek
• Lokale URL UB: Zum Volltext

Abstract

Islam is the only major world religion that resists the juggernaut of alcohol consumption. In many Islamic countries, alcohol is banned; in others, it plays little role in social life. Yet, Muslims throughout history did drink, often to excess - whether sultans and shahs in their palaces, or commoners in taverns run by Jews or Christians. This evocative study delves into drinking's many historic, literary and social manifestations in Islam, going beyond references to 'hypocrisy' or the temptations of 'forbidden fruit'. Rudi Matthee argues that alcohol, through its 'absence' as much as its presence, takes us to the heart of Islam. Exploring the long history of this faith - from the eight-century Umayyad dynasty to Erdogan's Turkey, and from Islamic Spain to modern Pakistan - he unearths a tradition of diversity and multiplicity in which Muslims drank, and found myriad excuses to do so.