Alcohol

[kılıç_mehmet]

Yes, one can drink and still be moslem.
However, by doing so, you're sinning, and must make a tövbe, renounce your prior sins and ask for forgiveness, and stop doing it. Then you are absolved of all prior sins.

There are no verses in the Qur'an that strictly prohibit drinking. However, the sunnah and hadith can be explained in the form that drinking alcohol is haram.

I am a heavy drinker, and was so ever since, just as my ancestors were heavy drinkers of kumyz made of mare's milk.
However, I must say that our non-moslem ancestors have also shunned drunkards and excessive drinking. I follow their example in not becoming drunk and shaming myself in that process, for I see people that act in ways that are shameful for a person to act in a drunken haze.

In my view, also in the views of Chingiss Khan, a man who drinks not, is a man of clear mind. But with peer pressure I feel compelled to having a few glasses of beer, or going further, bottles of wine and raki, and often take part in competitions between friends.
Why it has been made haram, we can not know for sure.
But we can all agree that drinking in itself is not the best act to be encouraged.

Thanks for the input. I usually can go months without alcohol and usually that is only a beer or two, but even then, I would not feel the need to be repent so it would be extremely hypocritical for me to do so given my full intention to drink again at some later date.

I do want to try kumis one day.

Is the consumption of alcohol a big issue in Turkey?

Well, the consumption of alcohol is a social issue in Turkey, first and foremost of all. Alcohol is sold in most shops, and there are bars and discos in every city. It's as much as a big issue in Turkey as it's in the US.
It's even less of an issue: We do not have to wait until we're 21.
I for example, had my first beer at the age of eleven, although we drank it together with friends. No one really asks you how old you are or for an ID.
However, it is somewhat expensive, and generally left for special occasions, unless you want to drink the really cheap stuff, for the sake of becoming drunk. And then people ask you if you have a problem. You have to do a lot of explaining for that one.
But on social occasions, those who drink, drink. Our drinking tables are generally the talk of everyone. Especially if you sit at my table, for I only drink with refined and renown guests.