According to the Quran, the consumption of alcoholic drinks is forbidden and not allowed, yet when we read about the description of paradise, the Quran says that Muslims will drink wine:
A similitude of the Garden which those who keep their duty (to Allah) are promised: Therein are rivers of water unpolluted … and rivers of wine delicious to the drinkers. Surah 47:15
Surely the pious will be in bliss … their thirst will be slaked with pure wine sealed.
Surah 83:22,25
So why the apparent discrepancy? Why is alcohol forbidden to Muslims while on earth, yet the Quran says Muslims will drink from wine while in heaven, why the change?
One simple answer is that on earth alcohol is forbidden, while in paradise it is not, it’s that simple. On earth God has told Muslims not to drink alcohol, this is a test for Muslims, yet in heaven they are afforded the right to drink alcohol and to enjoy it.
When we read the Quran in context, we soon discover that the wine that will be consumed in paradise is not the same type of wine on earth. The Quran says:
There will be circulated among them a cup [of wine] from a flowing spring, White and delicious to the drinkers; No bad effect is there in it, nor from it will they be intoxicated. (Surah 37:45-47)
So the Quran makes it clear that the drink being given will have no harmful effects, and that the people who consume it shall not become intoxicated.
Therefore there is a clear difference between the two, the alcohol consumed on earth causes people to become drunk when they drink it, while the wine being drank in heaven has no side or ill effects, so it is a different type of wine, not similar to the one on earth.
Even though the Quran makes it clear, once again we can simply give the first response, wine is forbidden on earth because God has made it so, as a test, while in paradise God has allowed the people to consume it.
In conclusion, there is no contradiction or discrepancy.
Written By Sheikh Ahmad Kutty