Commercialization of Alcoholic Beverage Production Exposes Imran Khan's False Claim of a Madinah State

News:

The Chinese liquor company, the Hui Coastal Brewery and Distillery Limited, which was granted a licence in 2018 for making beer, has formally started production at its plant in Balochistan’s industrial town of Hub. An official of the provincial excise and taxation department confirmed on 30 March 2021 that the company had been granted a licence which it had applied for in 2017.

Comment:

Back in 2018 when the General Elections were being held, the now-Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, vowed to transform Pakistan into a Madinah-like state, one that would follow the guiding principles of our great Prophet, Muhammad (saw). However, with a Chinese liquor company operating, one is left to wonder which “guiding principles” our Prime Minister was referring to, when the Messenger of Allah (saw), «لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْخَمْرَ وَشَارِبَهَا وَسَاقِيَهَا وَبَائِعَهَا وَمُبْتَاعَهَا وَعَاصِرَهَا وَمُعْتَصِرَهَا وَحَامِلَهَا وَالْمَحْمُولَةَ إِلَيْهِ»“Allah has cursed wine, its drinker, its server, its seller, its buyer, its presser, the one for whom it is pressed, the one who conveys it, and the one to whom it is conveyed.” (Sunan Abi Dawud).

So, how and under which set of principles can our Prime Minister justify the establishment of a liquor manufacturing plant? Not only will the regime incur the sin of benefitting from alcohol, by taking taxation on its export and domestic sales, such commercialized mass production of alcoholic beverages goes far beyond Islam’s tolerance of Jew and Christian Dhimmi citizens of the Khilafah drinking alcohol. Moreover, the consumption of alcohol by the non-Muslim minority is merely a cover tactic to ensure the normalization of alcohol consumption within the Muslim populace, as occurred in the eighties in some sections of society. How can there ever be hope for establishing a Madinah State, when we such brazen violations of Islamic principles are sponsored by the government itself?

In the Quran, Allah (swt) commands the believers,

[كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ]

“And let there be [arising] from you a Ummah inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful.” [3:104]. However, it is apparent that as far as Pakistan's Prime Minister is concerned, the only guiding principle to pay heed to is the Chinese economic policy, by extending facilities to all its companies in Pakistan, regardless of their trade.

Let us not forget that China is the very same nation that is actively oppressing our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in the Xinjiang province.  As far back as 2017, the Chinese government has been engaging in a mass persecution of the Uighur people, rounding them up and caging them within internment camps where they are subjected to various forms of torture. However, when it comes to any discussion about the Chinese government and its treatment of the Uighurs, Imran Khan’s government has nothing but pleading ignorance and maintaining silence. Rather than treating with China on a war footing so that at the very least China desists from its persecution of Muslims, the Bajwa-Imran regime has entered into a wide ranging economic and military alliance with it. It did so even though Allah (swt) said,

[إِنَّمَا يَنْهَاكُمْ اللَّهُ عَنْ الَّذِينَ قَاتَلُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَأَخْرَجُوكُمْ مِنْ دِيَارِكُمْ وَظَاهَرُوا عَلَى إِخْرَاجِكُمْ أَنْ تَوَلَّوْهُمْ وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّهُمْ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الظَّالِمُونَ]

“Allah forbids your alliance with those who fight you because of your Deen, and drive you from your homelands, or aid others to do so: and as for those who turn to them in alliance, they are truly oppressors.” [al-Mumtahina 60:9].

If we are to have any hope of establishing a Madinah state, one founded on the principles of Quran and Sunnah, then it is evident that Imran Khan’s government is an affront to such a noble cause. Allah (swt) says in the Quran,

[وَمَن لَّمْ يَحْكُم بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ]

“…And whosoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed (then) such (people) are the oppressors.” [Al-Maida 5:47]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Khalil Musab – Wilayah Pakistan