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Ruling on medicines that are mixed with alcohol
Question:
What is the ruling on medicines that contain a percentage of alcohol?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
It is not permissible to mix medicines with alcohol, because alcohol must be thrown away. It was narrated that Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri said: We had some wine belonging to an orphan, and when al-Maa’idah was revealed (i.e., the prohibition of khamr or alcohol), I asked the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about it and I said, “It belongs to the orphan.” He said: “Pour it away.”
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 1263; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.
Secondly:
If the medicine is mixed with alcohol, and the percentage of alcohol is so great that this medicine is intoxicating, then it is khamr and it is haraam to take it.
If the percentage of alcohol is very low and it does not intoxicate, then it is permissible to take it.
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (22/110):
It is not permissible to mix medicines with intoxicants, but if it is mixed with alcohol, if drinking a lot of it will cause intoxication, it is haraam to handle it and drink it, whether a small amount or a large amount. If drinking a lot of it will not cause intoxication, then it is permissible to handle it and drink it. End quote.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said:
With regard to some medicines that contain alcohol, if the effect of the alcohol in the medicine can be seen in the form of intoxication, then it is haraam, but if no effect is seen, and the alcohol is only added to it as a preservative, then there is nothing wrong with it, because the alcoholic content does not have any effect. End quote.
Liqaa’aat il-Baab il-Maftoohah, 3/231.
Islam Q&A
It is not permissible to drink alcohol for medicinal purposes
Question:
Some doctors advise their patients to drink wine and say that it is a kind of medicine. What is the ruling on drinking wine for that purpose?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Medical treatment is something that is prescribed in sharee’ah, but it must be by using things that have been prescribed by Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, and by His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), because this is what may contain the cure. As for that which Allaah has forbidden, there is no healing in it. One of the things which indicate that it is forbidden to treat disease with haraam things in general and with alcohol in particular, is the mu’allaq report narrated by al-Bukhaari in his Saheeh from Ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him), which says,
“Allaah did not put your healing in that which He has forbidden to you.”
Al-Tabaraani said that it was mawsool and gave an isnaad the men of which are the men of al-saheeh. It was also narrated by Ahmad and by Ibn Hibbaan in his Saheeh, and by al-Bazaar, Abu Ya’la and al-Tabaraani; the men of Abu Ya’laa are thiqaat. It was narrated from Umm Salamah (may Allaah be pleased with her).
Abu Dawood narrated in his Sunan that Abu’l-Darda’ (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Allaah has sent down the disease and the cure, and He has made for every disease a cure. So treat sickness, but do not treat it with anything haraam.”
In Saheeh Muslim it is narrated from Taariq ibn Suwayd al-Ju’fi that he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about alcohol and he forbade him or told him not to make it. He said: “But I make it as a remedy.” He said: “It is not a remedy, it is a disease.”
It is worth pointing out that when Allaah enjoins something, it is either because it is purely good or its goodness outweighs its evil. And when He forbids something it is either because it is purely bad or because its evil outweighs its goodness. Allaah is All Wise and All Knowing. If the sick person imagines that his sickness can only be cured by drinking alcohol, this is an illusion. There are many kinds of medicine and remedies, both spiritual and natural. Moreover the medicine does not heal the disease, rather healing comes from Allaah when the medicine is used. So use of the means prescribed in sharee’ah may be accompanied by total reliance upon them or it may be accompanied by regarding them as no more than a means, whilst relying upon Allaah and believing that they may or may not be of benefit. If they prove to be of benefit, this is what was wanted, but relying on them completely is shirk. End quote.
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 22/87.
:salam2: