What is the ruling on one who drinks alcohol? And is his prayer not accepted for forty days? And what should he do to atone for his sin?

Drinking alcohol is a major sin and must be avoided, as Allah Almighty says: (O you who have believed, indeed intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone altars [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful). Many hadiths have also condemned the alcoholic and threatened him with punishment, among them that Allah has promised whoever drinks intoxicants that He will give him to drink from the mire of Khabaal, which is the pus and fluid of the people of Hellfire. And whoever drinks alcohol, his prayer will not be accepted for forty mornings. It is obligatory for anyone afflicted with drinking alcohol to repent to Allah by abstaining, regretting, and resolving not to return to it.