Abd bin Hamid, Abu Yaala,1 Ibne Mundhir, Abu Shaykh and Ibne Marduya have narrated this tradition from Anas. And Ahmad in Musnad,2
Tabari in his Tafseer,3 Baihaqi in his Sunanul Kubra,4 Ibne Kathir in his Tafseer5 have narrated it.
And the number of persons present in that gathering as Muammar and
Qatada had mentioned, were eleven, from which in Fathul Bari,6 Ibne Hajar has
mentioned the names of ten persons, saying: We managed to get the names of
following ten persons:
- Abu Bakr bin Qahafa; he was aged 58 years at that time.
- Umar bin Khattab; he was aged 45 years at that time.
- Abu Ubaidah Jarrah, he was aged 48 years at that time.
- Abu Talha Zaid bin Sahl; he was the host of that party and he was aged 44 years.
- Sahl bin Baidha; he died after this incident and he was much aged.
- Ubayy bin Kaab.
- Abu Dujjana Samak bin Kharsha.
- Abu Ayyub Ansari.
- Abu Bakr bin Shughub.7
- Anas bin Malik, who was their bartender and on the basis of most authentic view, was aged 18 years at that time
In Sahih Muslim, in the section on drinks, in the chapter of prohibition of
liquor and in Sunan Baihaqi,8 it is narrated from Anas: “I served liquor to them
and I was the youngest of them.”
The name of the eleventh person remained concealed from Ibne Hajar and
he – as is mentioned in the tradition of Qatada from Anas – was Maaz bin Jabal.
This tradition in quoted by Ibne Jarir in his Tafseer, Haithami in Majmauz
Zawaid, Aini in Umdatul Qari and Suyuti in Durre Manthur.9
Maaz was aged 23 years at that time, because as Ibne Jauzi has mentioned in
Sifatus Safwa, he died in the year 18 A.H. at the age of 33 years.10
These were persons, who, after revelation of two verses prohibiting liquor by justification of those two verses – as was mentioned before – drank wine till
the verse of Surah Maidah was revealed during the year of the conquest of
Mecca:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْخَمْرُ وَٱلْمَيْسِرُ وَٱلْأَنصَابُ وَٱلْأَزْلَـٰمُ رِجْسٌۭ مِّنْ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ
“O you who believe! intoxicants and games of chance and
(sacrificing to) stones set up and (dividing by) arrows are only
an uncleanness, the Shaitan’s work.”11
فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُنْتَهُونَ
“Will you then desist?”12
And when they saw the fury of the of Allah (s.a.w.a.), and were threatened
by the three verses and understood the warning, they desisted from it and Umar
said: I give it up! I give it up!
Alusi has written in his Tafseer:13
“Senior companions drank wine after revelation of the verse of wine in
Surah Baqarah and remarked: We drink something which has benefit for us, and
we did not refrain from liquor till the verse of Surah Maidah was revealed.”