# Approximately what percentage of Muslims abstain from alcohol? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550 "2017-03-19T16:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/21 "2017-03-21T12:23:14Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > As a cultural Catholic (German branch), I challenge this assumption! You make a good point. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/22 "2017-03-21T19:06:43Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > As a matter of terminology, there’s a distinction (at least in Catholicism) between fasting and abstinence. Days when you don’t eat specified foods such as meat are abstinence days rather than fast days. While it’s the RCC and Orthodox, not Protestants, that have “mandatory” days without meat, eggs, milk, this Shows for me how much a Tradition carries on for cultural reasons regardless of theological importance (or how many People believe in it). In the Middle Ages, some 150-200 days of a year were abstinence or fast days, because the Church could then sell exemptions to People with Money. (A similar reason led to Proliferation of who was considered related, including spiritual relationship like Godparents, and any relationship forbade marriage, unless you got an exemption). When the selling of exemptions dwindled off, so did the many many days, and the Vaticanum II also lifted and eased many restrictions. I don’t know if Catholic children Born after Vaticanum II are still required to abstain from red meat every friday. But in Bavaria, as Major Catholic Country, it’s still Tradition for employees Casino and Restaurants to offer fish and sweet dish on friday, but no meat. Not because the Population is still majorly Catholic (it isn’t, and German Catholics are generally lax about the rules), but it’s Tradition. I don’t know how many People would even know the reason for it if you asked them. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/23 "2017-03-22T14:00:55Z")
Bavaria was promoted to a country? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/24 "2017-03-24T05:35:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Bavaria was promoted to a country? 😉 It’s the Texas of Germany. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/25 "2017-03-24T06:42:45Z")
I know many Muslims (my high school was about 50% Muslim) but I only know 1 who drinks (well, 2, but that second one is apostate, so not really). He certainly doesn’t do it anywhere other Muslims he knows would see him. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/26 "2017-03-24T16:49:09Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It’s the Texas of Germany. Often literally, considering that Texas is historically oompah music central in the US. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/27 "2017-03-24T17:11:19Z")
The [Alevi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alevism) are a Turkish mystic sect (Sufi-like, but Shiite) of about 15m people in Anatolia. Among their beliefs is that red wine is a sacrament, and when I say sacrament, I don’t mean “sipping”, I mean several glasses over the course of an evening along with dancing, sacred storytelling, and liberally supplemented with [raki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rak%C4%B1). Despite this, they are genuine ceremonies and not an excuse for drunkenness (I have been to a few) - although plenty of other excuses come along for that. When Omary Khayyam (in the same religious lineage) wrote “a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou” he was speaking symbolically of the intoxication that is part of religious ecstasy. Not everyone from that lineage takes it so purely symbolically! ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/28 "2017-03-24T21:30:33Z")
Besides the Catholics and Orthodox Christians already mentioned, some Protestants [(including Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent#Protestantism_and_Western_Orthodoxy) also observe Lent. Two of my cousins were raised Lutheran, and were expected to give something (such as candy or cookies) up for the Ash Wednesday-Good Friday period each year. ---
**Author:** ![analogqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@analogqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/analogqueen)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/29 "2017-03-26T05:16:17Z")
quotes intentional. Look at it this way- if you go to a predominantly Muslim population country, say, like Morocco, they consider themselves Muslims. But, it’s like how WE consider ourselves in the US “Christians” as in when you’re admitted to the hospital and you have to check off on one of those boxes on the written form (in case something happens to you) and it has that list of religions, well we would almost always choose Christian/Protestant/Catholic et alia. But, doesn’t mean we’re Bible-reading, Confession-giving believers. So are the so-called Muslims in those countries. Every Muslim I’ve met drank, and one heavily. It might depend on where you go: Saudi Arabia or the UAE probably won’t drink like other Islamic peoples of other nations do- but I believe it’s solely cultural, and not religious. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/30 "2017-03-26T14:55:55Z")
I lived across the hall from a Muslim who was the son of a Kuwaiti diplomat during my freshman year of college, and I can’t picture him without a drink in one hand and either a bong or a coke spoon in the other. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/31 "2017-03-26T15:09:14Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > I lived across the hall from a Muslim who was the son of a Kuwaiti diplomat during my freshman year of college, and I can’t picture him without a drink in one hand and either a bong or a coke spoon in the other. So that would be, what, like, 0%? ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/32 "2017-03-27T18:47:16Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > So that would be, what, like, 0%? Fair enough, that was just a personal anecdote that proves absolutely nothing.:smack: Sorry, newborn daughter and thus very little sleep so I wasn’t exactly at the top of my game when I posted that. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/33 "2017-03-27T19:06:07Z")
Pew study on Muslim views on morality > **[Chapter 3: Morality](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-morality/)** > > Most Muslims agree on certain moral principles. For example, in nearly all countries surveyed, a majority says it is necessary to believe in God to be a Specific to alcohol: > [@](#): > > Most Muslims surveyed say that drinking alcohol is morally wrong.21 More than half in all countries surveyed hold this view, including more than nine-in-ten in Thailand (98%), Ghana (93%), Malaysia (93%), the Palestinian territories (92%), Indonesia (91%), Niger (91%) and Pakistan (91%). > > However, in 11 of the 37 countries where this question was asked, at least one-in-ten say that drinking alcohol is morally acceptable, including in Chad (23%), Mozambique (20%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (17%) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (16%). > > In addition, in some countries sizable percentages say consuming alcohol is not a moral issue. These include Afghanistan (23%) and Chad (20%), as well as the former communist states of Albania (34%), Bosnia-Herzegovina (21%) and Azerbaijan (20%). ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/34 "2017-03-28T00:21:34Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Pew study on Muslim views on morality > > [Muslim Views on Morality | Pew Research Center](http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-morality/) > > Specific to alcohol: > > > [@](#): > > > > Most Muslims surveyed say that drinking alcohol is morally wrong… You have to bear in mind reality though. The GQ was “approximately what percentage of Muslims abstain from alcohol.” This is a very different thing to what percentage abstain. Imagine the number of things you could ask people from Christian regions where you would get a similar response, despite reality. Birth control, sex before marriage, even alcohol (in some places); many people would answer a survey question about whether these were moral in the negative, even while participating. Heck, never mind Christianity. Ask a bunch of atheists if (for example) they think speeding or other petty illegality is wrong and they’d probably say yes, but of course we all speed. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/35 "2017-03-28T01:21:34Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > You have to bear in mind reality though. The GQ was “approximately what percentage of Muslims abstain from alcohol.” This is a very different thing to what percentage abstain. > > Imagine the number of things you could ask people from Christian regions where you would get a similar response, despite reality. Birth control, sex before marriage, even alcohol (in some places); many people would answer a survey question about whether these were moral in the negative, even while participating. > > Heck, never mind Christianity. Ask a bunch of atheists if (for example) they think speeding or other petty illegality is wrong and they’d probably say yes, but of course we all speed. For example, [42% of Americans say sex before marriage is wrong](http://www.gallup.com/poll/8704/current-views-premarital-extramarital-sex.aspx). [Less than 5%](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-12-19-premarital-sex_x.htm) _actually_ wait for marriage themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/36 "2017-03-28T15:20:10Z")
A personal anecdote: During my time working in various capacities in Las Vegas casinos I was occasionally tasked with meeting and greeting at the airport some very wealthy, very high ranking sheik types from countries where alcohol was banned . They typically got off the plane drunk, the men smoking Cuban cigars and the women smoking either Marlboros or Dunhills. They were provided with a private room in the casino for their gambling and carrying-on. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550/37 "2017-03-28T18:16:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Bavaria was promoted to a country? 😉 It used to be a kingdom, even! 🙂 (through Napoleon…) Country in the cultural, not political meaning. Though, during the election campaigns, when the small one-topic parties come up that fail to clear the 5% barrier, there’s one Party that regularly has Posters of “Bavaria out of the EU” and sometimes even “Bavaria out of Germany”. Before the Brexit and Le Pen, though, maybe they won’t bring it up this time? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-what-percentage-of-muslims-abstain-from-alcohol/782550.md?page=1)