Why this chapter matters

Allah made almost everything we drink halal (allowed): water, milk, juice, tea, coffee, soft drinks. The list of haram drinks is very short. This chapter is about that short list, and about things that work the same way: drugs, and the question of smoking.

The core is clear, and all Muslims agree on it:

• Alcohol is haram (forbidden), in any amount.
• Anything that intoxicates (makes you drunk or high) is haram, whatever its name.
• Making, selling and serving it is haram too.

Around that core are modern questions where good scholars differ, like vanilla extract, perfume and smoking. We give each serious view fairly. And if you are struggling with a habit, please read to the end. It is full of hope.

How Allah forbade alcohol, step by step

Wine was everywhere in Arabia. Allah did not forbid it in one day, but step by step.

• Step 1, more harm than good: they ask you about wine and gambling. Say: in them is great sin, and some benefit for people, but their sin is greater than their benefit¹. This made people think.
• Step 2, not near the prayer: O you who believe, do not come near the prayer while you are drunk, until you know what you are saying². Ali said some Companions drank at a meal, then one of them led the prayer and mixed up the words of a surah, so this ayah came down³.
• Step 3, avoid it completely: wine, gambling, idols and arrows for telling the future are filth, from the work of shaytan. So avoid them, so that you may succeed⁴.

The next ayah says why: shaytan only wants to put hatred between you through wine and gambling, and to stop you from remembering Allah and from the prayer. So will you not stop?⁵ Umar had been asking: O Allah, give us a clear answer about wine. When this ayah was read to him, he said: we have stopped⁶.

Every intoxicant is khamr

Khamr is the word in the Quran. It is often translated as wine, but it means more. Umar said on the minbar: wine was made from grapes, dates, honey, wheat and barley, and khamr is whatever covers the mind¹².

• Nabi ﷺ said: every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is haram¹³.
• He was asked about drinks made in Yemen from honey and from barley. He said: every intoxicant is haram¹⁴.
• So the name does not matter. Wine, beer, spirits, homemade brew: if it intoxicates, it is khamr.

A little of it is haram too

Nabi ﷺ said: whatever intoxicates in a large amount, a small amount of it is haram¹⁵¹⁶.

• So one glass or one sip is still haram, even if it would never make you drunk.
• The question is not "will this make me drunk?" It is "is this a drink that makes people drunk?"
• Hanafi note: some early Hanafis allowed a little of drinks not made from grapes or dates. The Hanafi fatwa later followed Imam Muhammad, the same as the other schools: every intoxicant is haram, a little or a lot.

Why it is so serious

• Nabi ﷺ said: do not drink wine, for it is the key to every evil¹⁷.
• He said a person is not a believer at the moment he is drinking it, just as with stealing and zina¹⁸. Scholars explain: his iman is weak and absent in that moment. He is still a Muslim.
• Whoever drinks wine in this world and does not repent will be kept from the drink of Jannah¹⁹. Notice the words: the door of repentance stays open.

Making, selling and serving it

The sin is not only in drinking. Nabi ﷺ said: Allah has cursed wine, the one who drinks it, the one who serves it, the one who sells it, the one who buys it, the one who presses it, the one it is pressed for, the one who carries it, and the one it is carried to²⁰. Anas reported that he cursed ten people in connection with wine, including the one who lives on its price²¹. Al-Albani graded both sahih.

• A man brought Nabi ﷺ a skin of wine as a gift, not knowing it was now forbidden. Someone whispered to him: sell it. Nabi ﷺ said: the One who forbade drinking it forbade selling it. So the man poured it out²².
• Allah says: help one another in goodness and taqwa, and do not help one another in sin²³.

Work: clear cases and hard ones

• Clear: owning a bar or liquor store, brewing, bartending, and serving alcohol as a waiter are named in the hadith. These are haram.
• Harder: a supermarket cashier who sometimes scans a bottle, a driver who delivers sealed grocery bags, a hotel job where alcohol is a small part. Some scholars allow this kind of work, especially out of need, while you look for something cleaner. Others say avoid it, because you still touch the sale. Both views are held by real scholars. Follow one you trust.
• Shares and investing are covered in the Islamic finance course. Other work questions: Honest dealing, gambling and work.

Sitting where alcohol is drunk

Nabi ﷺ said: whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him not sit at a table where wine is passed around²⁴. Al-Albani graded it hasan. Scholars have two views:

• Stricter: do not sit at a table where alcohol is being drunk, even if you only drink water. Leave politely, or sit at another table.
• Wider: the hadith is about your own table. Eating in a restaurant where other tables are served alcohol is fine. And where you truly cannot avoid an event, like a work dinner or a non-Muslim parent's meal, some allow you to attend, not drink, dislike it in your heart, and leave when you can.

Both views are held by real scholars. Either way, a calm "no thank you, I don't drink" is enough.

Drinks that are fine

Halal is the default. Allah says: do not make haram the good things Allah has made halal for you²⁵.

• Coffee and tea are halal. They wake you up, but they do not cover the mind. When coffee was new, some argued about it, but scholars settled it long ago: it is allowed.
• Nabidh (dates or raisins soaked in water) was a drink of Nabi ﷺ. He drank it for up to three days. After that, when it might start to ferment, he gave it away or had it poured out²⁶.
• Vinegar is halal. Nabi ﷺ said: what a good food vinegar is²⁷. Apple, malt, rice and date vinegar are fine. Turning wine into vinegar on purpose is not allowed²⁸. About shop-bought wine vinegar: Hanafis and Malikis say it is now vinegar, so it is halal. Shafi'is and Hanbalis are stricter about wine that people turned into vinegar.
• Tiny natural traces: bread, ripe fruit, fresh juice and yogurt drinks can hold a tiny amount of alcohol that forms by itself. It can never make anyone drunk, and scholars do not count it.

Alcohol in food

Dishes cooked with wine, beer or spirits

Wine sauce, beer batter, rum cake: here khamr is added on purpose. Most scholars say do not eat it, even if it was cooked a long time. Cooking does not always remove all the alcohol. Many restaurants will leave it out if you ask.

Vanilla extract and flavorings

Vanilla extract is vanilla soaked in alcohol. A few drops go into a whole cake, and most of it cooks away. Scholars differ:

• Many scholars and fiqh councils today allow it. The alcohol only carries the flavor. It is tiny and lost in the food, and the food can never make anyone drunk.
• Others say avoid it, because you still add alcohol to food on purpose. They suggest alcohol-free vanilla, vanilla powder or a vanilla bean.

Both views are held by real scholars. And you do not need to question every packet that says "natural flavors". Food is halal by default unless you know it has something haram in it. See Doubtful things, need and mistakes.

"Alcohol-free" beer and wine

Some scholars allow a drink that truly has 0.0% alcohol, because it cannot intoxicate. Others say avoid it: many such drinks still have up to 0.5%, they look and taste like the real thing, and they can lead a person back to it. If in doubt, leaving it is the safer path.

Ate it by mistake?

No sin on you. Allah taught us to pray: our Lord, do not blame us if we forget or make a mistake²⁹. Stop when you find out, and move on.

Perfume, hand gel and medicine

Many perfumes, hand gels and mouthwashes contain alcohol. Nobody drinks them, so the question is whether the alcohol is najis (impure, like urine).

• The four schools say wine itself is najis. Some other scholars say it is haram to drink but not physically najis, like a poison. See Najasa: what is impure.
• Many scholars today allow perfume, hand gel and mouthwash with alcohol. It is not made as a drink, and it dries away in seconds. Many Hanafi scholars today add that alcohol made from things other than grapes and dates, like most factory alcohol, is not najis.
• Others are more careful, and prefer alcohol-free perfume, especially on clothes you pray in.

Both views are held by real scholars.

Medicine

• Drinking wine as a cure is not allowed. A man told Nabi ﷺ he made wine as medicine. He said: it is not a medicine. It is a disease³⁰.
• Medicine with a little alcohol inside, like some cough syrups: many scholars allow it, especially when there is no good alternative. Others say ask for an alcohol-free version when one exists.
• Full details are in Medicine and the body. For your health itself, ask your doctor.

Drugs and cannabis

Drugs that make people high cover the mind just like alcohol, so every intoxicant is haram includes them³¹. Scholars agree that taking these to get high is haram:

• Cannabis (weed, hashish, edibles), even where the law allows it.
• Cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, meth, and similar drugs.
• Prescription pills misused to get high.

They also bring great harm. Nabi ﷺ said: no harm, and no returning harm³². Allah says: do not throw yourselves into ruin with your own hands³³.

What is fine

• Medicine your doctor gives you, including strong painkillers and anesthesia, is treatment, not getting high.
• CBD and medical cannabis raise their own questions. CBD without THC does not make you high, and many scholars allow it. Medical cannabis is debated. See Medicine and the body.

Smoking, shisha and vaping

Tobacco reached the Muslim world long after Nabi ﷺ, so no ayah or hadith names it. Scholars judge it by the general rules, and they hold two views:

Both views are held by real scholars. But both sides agree on this:

• It is not good. No scholar praises it. Do not start, and never give it to children.
• If you smoke, try to quit. It is a good deed, for your body and your family.
• Do not harm others with your smoke, especially children.
• Clean your mouth before the masjid. Nabi ﷺ said the angels are bothered by the same bad smells as people³⁹.
• Smoking and vaping break the fast (see What breaks the fast). They do not break wudu.

Shisha and vaping

• Shisha (hookah) is smoking too, so the same two views apply.
• Vaping is newer. Scholars who speak about it use the same reasons: nicotine addiction, harm and money. Some say it is lighter than cigarettes, but none recommend it. A vape with cannabis (THC) in it is a drug, and haram.
• Nicotine patches or gum used to help you quit are treatment. Use them with your doctor's advice.

How to quit, with hope

If you drink, use drugs or smoke, and you want to stop, know this first: Allah wants you back. Nabi ﷺ said: Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than a man who finds his lost camel in the desert⁴⁰.

• Allah says: do not lose hope in Allah's mercy. Allah forgives all sins⁴¹. For those who repent, He changes their bad deeds into good deeds⁴².
• Slipped again? Repent again. Nabi ﷺ told of a servant who sinned and asked forgiveness, again and again. Each time, Allah forgave him⁴³.
• New to Islam with an old habit? Islam wipes out what came before it⁴⁴. Start from today.

Practical steps

• Decide, and ask Allah for help. Nabi ﷺ said: seek help from Allah, and do not give up⁴⁷. Make dua in sujud (prostration).
• Change your company. A good friend is like a perfume seller, and a bad friend is like a blacksmith's fire: you either smell nice or get burned⁴⁸.
• Clear it out, like the Companions who poured the wine away.
• Know your triggers, and plan what you will do instead: a walk, a call, wudu and two rakat.
• Get real help. A doctor, a counselor or a support group is part of trusting Allah. With heavy drinking or some drugs, stopping suddenly can be dangerous, so ask your doctor how to stop safely.

If you feel too far gone, read is it too late to come back? It is not.

Common questions

My boss invited the team to a dinner with drinks. Can I go?

Scholars differ. Some say do not sit at a table where alcohol is passed around⁴⁹. Others allow you to go when you truly need to, order a soft drink, and leave early. Either way, do not drink.

I work at a supermarket and sometimes scan alcohol. Is my salary haram?

Scholars differ on jobs where alcohol is a small part. Some allow it out of need while you look for something better. Others say avoid it. Ask to be moved to other tasks if you can, and follow a scholar you trust.

Can I eat a cake made with vanilla extract?

Many scholars today allow it, because the alcohol is tiny and cannot make anyone drunk. Others prefer alcohol-free vanilla. Both views are held by real scholars.

My father smokes. Should I tell him it is haram?

Scholars differ on whether it is haram or disliked, so be gentle. Talk to him with love about his health, and how much you want him with you for many years. Make dua for him. Never shame him.

I keep falling back into my habit. Is there any point?

Yes. Every time you turn back, Allah forgives⁵⁰. The man who kept being brought in for drinking still loved Allah and His Messenger⁵¹. Keep trying, and get help.