Nabīdh (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

: ) is a traditional

fermented drink This is a list of fermented foods, which are foods produced or preserved by the action of microorganisms. In this context, fermentation typically refers to the fermentation of sugar to alcohol using yeast, but other fermentation processes involv ...

from the Arabian Peninsula typically made from

date Date or dates may refer to: *Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner ** Group dating *Play date, a ...

s steeped in water, although it can also be made with dried grapes (raisins). Nabidh is non-intoxicating, but if left for a certain period of time, it can turn mildly intoxicating, or heavily intoxicating depending on the level of fermentation. Nabidh is known to increase

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

content to intoxication levels, depending on the surrounding conditions. Nabidh is only fermented for a certain amount of time before it becomes alcohol. According to the hadith collection by Imam Malik Ibn Anas, it is forbidden to "prepare nabidh in a gourd or in a jug smeared with pitch."

History

Rufus of Ephesus Rufus of Ephesus ( el, Ῥοῦφος ὁ Ἐφέσιος, fl. late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD) was a Greek physician and author who wrote treatises on dietetics, pathology, anatomy, gynaecology, and patient care. He was an admirer of Hip ...

( fl. 100 AD) wrote a tract on the beverage nabīdh, which

Qusta ibn Luqa Qusta ibn Luqa (820–912) (Costa ben Luca, Constabulus) was a Syrian Melkite Christian physician, philosopher, astronomer, mathematician and translator. He was born in Baalbek. Travelling to parts of the Byzantine Empire, he brought back Greek te ...

in his times translated into

by the name ''Risālah fī al-Nabīdh''. In 2007, after collecting and collating copies of this manuscript from different libraries around the world, Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman again reintroduced and published this rare work in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

writer

Ibn Fadlan Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād, ( ar, أحمد بن فضلان بن العباس بن راشد بن حماد; ) commonly known as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, was a 10th-century Muslim traveler, famous for his account of hi ...

describes an encounter on the Volga with a people he calls "Rūsiyyah," who may have been either

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

. He relates how the Rusiyyah would drink an alcoholic drink he refers to by the name "nabidh". It is not clear what drink it actually was, but from context it is clear that it was intoxicating. In

Modern Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; occasionally, it also ref ...

the meaning of nabidh has shifted to mean

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

in general, replacing the Classical Arabic word for wine, ''

khamr Khamr ( ar, خمر) is an Arabic word for wine; intoxication; the plural form, Khumūr ( ar, خمور), is defined as alcoholic beverages, wine; liquor. In fiqh, it refers to certain forbidden substances, and its technical definition depends on ...

''.

References

Arabic words and phrases Date dishes Drinks Fruit wines Religion and alcohol {{Islam-stub

History

See also

References