Prayer Rejected for Wine-Drinker

📖Sunan al-Tirmidhi 1862
Abdullah ibn Umar reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever drinks wine, Allah will not accept his prayer for forty mornings, but if he repents, Allah will accept his repentance. If he does it again, Allah will not accept his prayer for forty mornings, but if he repents, Allah will accept his repentance. If he does it again, Allah will not accept his prayer for forty mornings, but if he repents, Allah will accept his repentance. If he does it again a fourth time, Allah will not accept his prayer for forty mornings and if he repents, Allah will not accept his repentance. He will drink from a river of pus in Hell.”

Meaning:
Islam gave a gradual and merciful system to help people give up alcohol. The forty days mentioned are a warning period – their prayers are not accepted as a sign that they must leave this habit. But Allah, in His mercy, still accepts repentance again and again. If a person persists without change, the warning becomes severe, and the punishment awaits in the Hereafter.

For Muslims, this shows the urgency of giving up alcohol. But for non-Muslims, the case is different. If someone spent their life drinking and later accepted Islam, sincerely repenting and giving it up, Allah forgives him completely. He drank under other laws and influences that made him addicted, and he did not realize the truth before. Once he enters Islam, his past is erased:

Quranic Context:

📖Quran 25:70
Except for those who repent, believe, and do righteous work. For them Allah will replace their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.

📖Quran 4:43
O you who believe! Do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying, nor in a state of major impurity until you have bathed—except when traveling. Allah is indeed Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.

📖Quran 5:90
O you who believe! Intoxicants, gambling, idolatry, and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid them that you may be successful.

• So:
• A Muslim must immediately stop drinking and repent, or face forty days of prayers not being accepted.
• A non-Muslim who reverts to Islam is not held to the same rule for his past life – Allah forgives him completely when he stops and repents.
• Those who spread, normalize, and legislate alcohol bear responsibility for making others addicted.