5:90 O you who have faith! Wine, arrow-shuffling, idols, and divining arrows are filth and of the deeds of Satan.
The Prophet said, “Wine is the gatherer of sin and the mother of loathsome things”: Wine is the root of loathsome things and the key to great sins, the basis of misdeeds, the seed of misguided acts, and the source of discord. It dries up the springhead of obedience, holds back the water of remembrance, and opens the door to heedlessness. The soul becomes drunk from wine and is held back from the prayer. The heart becomes drunk from heedlessness and is held back from secret whispering.
To these heedless people in the tongue of admonition: “O drunkards full of appetite! O sleepers in heedlessness! Have shame before that Lord who knows the treachery of the eyes and sees the inside of the hearts! He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts conceal [40:19]. Oh, where is a whip-like that of ʿUmar or a sword like that of ʿAlī to give these discourteous drunkards the Shari’ite punishment in the world of justice and to get these sleeping, heedless people to move! Does the poor wretch who drinks wine not know that when he puts the cup in his hand, the Throne and the Footstool tremble? From the Exalted Presence comes the call, ‘By My exaltation and majesty, I will give them to taste boiling water and Zaqqūm!’”
Arrow-shuffling is gambling. When someone plays everything and loses all in a gambling house, he is considered great and recognized as a preceder. This is an allusion to the path of the chevaliers: They throw themselves down on the highway of predetermination so as to become abased before every piece of straw and to come out from the bonds of every color, counting themselves as nothing.
