Islam is the only major world religion that resists the juggernaut of alcohol consumption. Yet, Muslims throughout history did drink, often to excess, the professor is quick to note. 

Matthee has presented his work at the University of Pennsylvania, the State University of Michigan, the University of Toronto, and in the form of various podcasts. In January, he addressed the British Iran Society, speaking at the Army and Navy Club in London, on the topic of “Alcohol in the Islamic Middle East.” Later this year, he is scheduled to speak on the topic at Harvard and at the University of Stanford. 

“Elites have always been seen as above the law, as they tend to be in any society,” he said. “And commoners — ‘riff raff’ — are rarely regarded. As long as the social order is not disturbed; so long as drinking doesn’t spill out into the open, there’s a level of tolerance.” 

Matthee’s evocative book delves into drinking’s many historic, literary and social manifestations, presenting Islam not as an austere, uncompromising edict, but as a set of beliefs and practices that embrace ambivalence and even contradiction.

Exploring the long history of this faith ― from the eighth-century Umayyad dynasty to Erdoğan’s Turkey, from Islamic Spain to modern-day Pakistan ― Matthee unearths a tradition of diversity and multiplicity in which Muslims drank, and found myriad excuses to do so. They celebrated wine and used it as a poetic metaphor, viewing alcohol as a gift from God, the key to unlocking eternal truth.

“Islam conceals a past which is rich in drinking,” Matthee said. “Its history is filled with paradoxes.”  

The Holland-born professor, whose last name is pronounced mah-tay, has long studied the impact of drugs in history. 

“Being Dutch makes me sort of an expert on the subject,” he joked, though Matthee’s real foray into the topic developed as a UCLA graduate student in 1985, when a professor invited him to a conference about the spread of drugs around the globe. 

“It’s inherently fascinating,” said Matthee, John and Dorothy Munroe Distinguished Professor of History at UD. “It’s something the whole world deals with.”

Indeed, Matthee had come to this realization almost a decade prior, when he spent a year in Iran as part of a Dutch exchange program. Upon his first days there, he quickly learned: “What tea is to Britain, opium is to Iran. It’s what gets you through the day.”

Matthee’s 2005 book, The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian history (1500-1900), explored the social history of the substance, as well as its connection to coffee in Yemen, tea in China and tobacco in the New World. It also dealt with alcohol and its widespread use in Iran. The study won the prestigious Albert Hourani Award for best book in Middle East Studies. 

Matthee’s new book expands the theme of alcohol and its use to the entire Muslim world, with similar findings: Despite the religious ban, many Muslims drink.

“Muslims are human beings,” he said. “And humans have always looked for ways to alter their existence. Islam is no exception.”