Are Muslims allowed to drink alcohol, gamble or take drugs?

    The answer to all of these issues is no.  Allah has said in the Qur'an, "Through intoxicants and games of chance, Shaytan seeks only to cause enmity and hatred among you, and to turn you away from the remembrance of Allah and from Salah."  (5:91)  

    In the ayah immediately prior to that Allah states that "Intoxicants, gambling, stone (alters for idolatrous practices) and (lottery) arrows are an evil of Shaytan.  Stay away from them so you can prosper."  (5:90)

    The term used for intoxicant in the Qur'an, Khamr, is often translated as "wine" but the root meaning of Khamr is to alter the mind or make drunk. 

    The blessed Prophet once said, "Every intoxicant is Khamr and every khamr is forbidden."  (Muslim)  So every intoxicant such as wine, beer, drugs, whiskey, narcotic leaves, etc... is forbidden.

    A famous Sahaba named Jabir reported that a person came from Jaishan, a town in Yemen, and he asked Allah's Messenger about the alcohol that was drunk in his country and which was prepared from millet and was called Mizr.  The Prophet asked him if it was intoxicating and the man replied that it was.  The Prophet announced, "Every intoxicant is forbidden.  Indeed, Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, has made a covenant with those who drink intoxicants that He will make them drink Tinat al Khabal."

    Some people asked what that was and the Prophet answered, "It is the sweat of the inmates of Hell or the bodily discharges of those people."  (Muslim)