First of all, let me clarify something. There is no non-muslim – even the ones that drink and gamble - that believes that gambling or drinking are good things to do.
This matter needs to be clarified, because everytime there is an effort to ban or limit the sales of alcohol and gambling, it is non-muslims like Former Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker, who is currently speaking out against the Ipoh City Council’s (MBI) plans to expand its ban on alcohol sale, might give the impression that non-muslims view gambling and drinking positively.
This is not at all the case.
If you ask a non-muslim, even one who drinks and gambles, whether it is better for a person to not drink and not gamble, or drink and gamble, the universal consensus is that it is far superior for a person to not drink and not gamble.
The difference in opinion that muslims and non-muslims have in regards to gambling and drinking, lies not in whether we believe that drinking and gambling is good or bad, but in how we should deal with the issue of addiction and stress.
Non-muslims tend to view addictive activities like gambling and drinking as how you would view using a crutch when your leg is weak or injured. We are aware that an excessive reliance on a crutch will cause our limbs to wither, but we are also aware that when your leg is weak or injured, you might need a crutch to get by until your leg heals.
In the same way, although we are aware that addictive activities like gambling and drinking have a chance of causing our stress to increase the more that we rely on it, we are also aware that sometimes, when you are stressed, you might need to drink or gamble to deal with your stress.
While of course it will be ideal if every time you face stress in your life, you can just deal with it by gaining knowledge, developing yourself spirituality and serving the world selflessly, it might not be practical for everyone.
In the non-muslim way of doing things, we tend to apply both the right and the left method in dealing with stress.
In regards to the right method – which is dealing with stress by enlarging our heart and mind by gaining knowledge, developing ourselves spiritually and engaging ourselves in selfless service - we are in agreement with the Muslims.
In the left method however – which is dealing with stress by allowing ourselves to indulge in addictive activities like drinking and gambling to a certain extent – we are in disagreement with the Muslims, because Muslims not only do not recognise the function of addictive activities even in moderation, they probably see it as an anathema to the right method, in that even if you engage in addictive practises in moderation, it is likely to sweep you away from the right method of dealing with your stress.
Non-muslims, of course, acknowledge that such activities like drinking and gambling has the potential of sweeping you away into a state of depravity, where you will find yourself permanently wallowing in stress and misery, but we also take the position that activities like gaining knowledge or developing your spirituality, takes time before it can be used to address ones stress.
When your cat is sick and the vet tells you that it will take half your month’s salary to treat it, for example, you might need a beer, because just reading the Bhagavad Gita is not going to be enough to deal with your stress.
Whenever you look at your future, and all that you see is endless toil and permanent servitude, buying a lottery ticket might help you imagine a better future.
Also, non-muslim tend to believe that a complete shutdown of access to activities like drinking of gambling, rather than persuade a person to deal with their stress through such activities like selfless service or gaining knowledge, will just cause them to suppress their stress, which in turn has a potential of creating a whole sets of problem, which are much bigger than the problems that addictive activities like gambling and drinking has the potential of causing.
For all its downside, at least when you drink and gamble, at the back of your mind, you are aware that what you are doing is just a temporary control measure to handle your stress, and that at some point, you will have to stop these activities, less they cause you an even greater stress than the one that you are dealing with.
If instead of dealing with your stress with such activities as gambling or drinking at a moderate level, you suppress it totally, your stress will not just go away – instead, you will just be pushing it down to a subconscious level, where you have no idea what havoc they will be playing to your psyche.
In a more ideal world inhabited by a more refined and perfected people, there will be so little stress in the world, that people might not need to resort to such activities like drinking or gambling to deal with their stress.
In the less than ideal world that we live in however, we might have to come up with a more robust arrangement, where people with weaknesses, flaws and shortcomings, who are regularly dealing with more stress than they can cope with in their daily lives, will have a means to reduce their stress while working at perfecting, strengthening and refining themselves.
If we do not come up with such robust arrangements, because we assume that both the world and the people that live in it are more perfect than they actually are, the people who we assume are perfect will only become more and more flawed, as the stress they suppress into their subconscious to maintain the impression that they are more perfect than they are, will plays havoc with their psyche, which in turn will cause them to wreak havoc in the world they live it.
As a wise man said once” it is better to be a rising ape than a falling angel.”
Sure, drinking and gambling might temporariy make us apes, but at least it allows us to cope with our stress as we work towards being a better human being.
When we completely ban such activities as drinking or gambling however, it might lead us to enjoy the illusion that we are perfect angels, but that kind of angels are given to fall.
You know what they call a falling angel in the Semitic tradition - the devil .
The road to perdition is paved with good intentions.
Just intending to make the world a better place doesn’t mean you will actually build a better place. You also have to understand your limitations and options, and chart your path according to your limitations and options.
If you think you are better than you actually are – you will be like the Titanic – coursing full speed in iceberg infested water, because you think you are so mighty that nothing can stop you reaching your destination in triumph.
The Titanic, as we all know, ended up at the bottom of the sea for entertaining assumption.
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