Definition: Al-Sanʿani in Subul al-Salam said: "The word khamr is used literally for frothy, fermented grape juice by consensus.... and metaphorically for any liquid intoxicant."

Hukm: (1) There is consensus on the unlawfulness of khamr and its narrations are mutawatir. Al-Marghinani in al-Hidaya and Ibn Hajar in al-Diraya (its Takhrij). (2) There is consensus on the unlawfulness of even one drop of the fermented grape juice that causes intoxication. Ibn Hazm, Maratib al-Ijmaʿ p. 158.

5:90 and (taken together) 7:33/2:219 as per Abu Bakr al-Razi in Ahkam al-Qur'an, Murtada al-Zabidi in al-Bahr al-Zakhkhar al-Jamiʿ li ʿUlama' al-Amsar, Ibn Hazm and others:

{O ye who believe! Strong drink and games of chance and idols and divining arrows are only *an infamy of Satan's handiwork. Leave it aside* in order that ye may succeed} (5:90) {Say: My Lord *forbiddeth* only indecencies, such of them as are apparent and such as are within, *and sin* and wrongful oppression, and that ye associate with Allah that for which no warrant hath been revealed, and that ye tell concerning Allah that which ye know not} (7:33) {They question thee about strong drink and games of chance. Say: In both is *great sin*, and (some) utility for men; but the sin of them is greater than their usefulness} (2:219).

SAʿD ibn Abi Waqqas from the Prophet ﷺ in al-Nasa'i and Ibn Hibban 12:192 #5370, hasan according to Sh. Shuʿayb al-Arna'ut who said it is also related thus by Ibn Abi Shayba, Ibn al-Jarud, al-Tahawi, al-Daraqutni, al-Bayhaqi and, from JABIR and ʿA'ISHA with sahih chains, by Ibn Hibban #5382-5383, Ahmad, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi (hasan), Ibn Majah, and all of the above five compilations.

Also - from the Prophet ﷺ - ʿAMR IBN AL-ʿAS in ʿAbd al-Razzaq, al-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah; IBN ʿUMAR in al-Tabarani's al-Kabir and al-Awsat and Ibn Rahuyah's Musnad; KHAWWAT IBN JUBAYR al-Ansari in al-Kabir and al-Awsat, al-Tabarani, and al-Hakim; ZAYD IBN THABIT in al-Kabir and al-Awsat; ANAS in Ahmad's Munad with a sound chain according to al-Ghumari and Hamza al-Zayn. Also narrated from ʿALI and ʿABD ALLAH IBN ʿAMR IBN AL-ʿAS as mentioned by al-Kattani, which brings its Companion-narrators to ten, thus the latter included it among the mutawatir reports in his Nazm al-Mutanathir. See also Nasb al-Raya, 8th hadith of the book of beverages, where al-Zaylaʿi adds the Companion ʿAMR IBN SHUʿAYB to the list but weakens some of the above chains.

Some versions add: "and every khamr is haram." Abu Musa al-Ashʿari and ʿA'isha from the Prophet ﷺ in Bukhari and Muslim and others; Jabir and Ibn ʿUmar from the Prophet ﷺ in Muslim and others; Abu Hurayra, Ibn ʿAbbas, and Ibn Masʿud from the Prophet ﷺ with sahih chains* in the Sunan; Muʿawiya from the Prophet ﷺ with a fair chain* in Ibn Majah; ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAs from the Prophet ﷺ in Abu Dawud and Ahmad; also from over nine other Companions all from the Prophet ﷺ. Mutawatir from over 30 Sahaba [not only 20 as claimed in Iʿla' al-Sunan 18:31] as per Ibn Hajar, al-Zurqani, al-Suyuti, al-Shawkani, and al-Kattani.

*as per Sh. ʿAbd Allah al-Ghumari in Wadih al-Burhan ʿala Tahrim al-Khamri wal-Hashishi fil-Qur'an.

Al-Shawkani in Nayl al-Awtar (9:63) stated that al-Hasan al-Basri also defined khamr as any intoxicant regardless of its ingredients and this is ʿUmar's position also as cited below.

What was the opinion of Imam Ahmed and his madhab ?

The definition of khamr in the madhhab of Imam Ahmad: it is (1) "every intoxicant" as per the mutawatir narration cited above (2) "whether made of grape, date (tamr), barley, or honey, as khamr is all that mixes up (khaamara) the brain" - ʿUmar on the pulpit in Bukhari and Muslim. Other narrations from him mention wheat. Also "unripe dates" (busr) as per Anas in Bukhari and Muslim.

If we keep before us the two mutawatir directives that "khamr is all things that intoxicate and all khamr is haram" and "if a large amount intoxicates then a small amount is prohibited" as well as the Prophetic answer concerning beer and honeywine that "every intoxicant is haram" (Bukhari and Muslim), we may find that it is moot whether we name it nabidh [as Christian Arabs name their alcoholic grape wine today], or whatever fruit or vegetable it is made of. Secondly, a sahih ahad hadith of prohibition is still obligatory (fard) to put into practice, the difference being that disbelieving in it does not incur takfir, only fisq. All the more so when such a hadith is in both of the two Sahihs, which denotes the highest degree of authenticity for a sahih hadith. Similarly, according to Abu Hanifa, the penalty (hadd) is applied against one who drinks even one drop of the "literal khamr," while it is not applied to one who drinks a below-intoxication-level amount of other alcoholic beverages that are not properly or literally called khamr, nor is the one who declares them permissible to drink called a kafir, and even if they are haram to drink in small* or great amounts, sell, buy, etc. Cf. Iʿla' al-Sunan (18:22-23).

*But see below, Muhammad's report of Abu Hanifa's position in the Iʿla'.

2) There is evidence from ahadith that the prohibition of other khamr - i.e non-grape and date wine - has been aborogated by statements such as the below to render a position of consumption is simply permissable to an extent below intoxication found in Al-Bidayat al mujtahid by the Maliki faqih Ibn Rushd:

1. Abu Musa when govenor sent to Yemen asked prophet about alcohol from honey and barley - was not prohibited ( this is opposite however to the narration of Abu Musa being prohibited by the Nabi SAW in Sunan Abu Dawood )

Indeed, the strongest version of this report from Abu Musa is: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent me and Muʿadh to Yemen so we said: 'O Messenger of Allah, over there are two beverages they make, one from honey (ʿasal) [in Bidayat al-Mujtahid: wheat (burr)] which they call honey-wine (bitaʿ or bitʿ), the other from barley (shaʿir) which they call beer (mizr).' The Prophet ﷺ replied: 'Every intoxicant is haram.'" Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim as well as Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, Ahmad and others including al-Tahawi in Sharh Mushkil al-Athar (12:497 #4972 al-Arna'ut: isnaduhu sahih). Some narrations show that the Prophet ﷺ first enquired about those drinks then cut short the argument with the answer he gave.

Ibn Rushd has instead: "'What should we drink?' He ﷺ replied: 'Drink [from both] but do not get drunk.'" He continues: "Al-Tahawi narrated it with other reports they [Hanafis] mentioned in the same chapter." This is correctly reported as found in al-Tahawi's Sharh Maʿani al-Athar (4:220) and Sharh Mushkil al-Athar (12:498-499 #4973) as well as Ibn Abi Shayba, al-Nasa'i, and Ibn Hibban; Sh. Shuʿayb al-Arna'ut said its chain is sahih.

But (1) This does not compare in strength to the prohibiting version of the two Sahihs; (2) al-Tahawi himself narrates the latter as cited above and he also narrates from ʿA'isha (12:495-496 #4969-4970): "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked about honey-wine and he replied "Every beverage that causes intoxication (muskir) is categorically haram" [al-Arna'ut: sahih as per the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim, who also narrate it]; and (3) al-Tahawi concludes the narration of these reports by saying (12:504): "These reports [on the whole] contain a permission to drink whatever does not cause intoxication among those beverages, and a prohibition from drinking whatever causes intoxication."

Since al-Tahawi's conclusion applies to each and every alcoholic beverage whatever it is made of, it becomes clear that Abu Musa's report on honey and barley drinks does not constitute abrogation of any kind nor permits such a thing as below-intoxication-level consumption in his view, otherwise the same could be claimed of khamr also - short of literalism that makes the ruling of prohibition hinge merely on names.

However, in Sharh Maʿani al-Athar (4:220) he does indicate that the way to reconcile all the reports is to say that the prohibition applies only at the level that causes inebriety. This is the position forwarded in Iʿla' al-Sunan (18:29-30) on the strength of the saying of Ibn ʿAbbas: "Khamr was prohibited specifically, and the intoxicant (al-sakar) in all other beverages." But Allah knows best the grading of this report and whether Ibn ʿAbbas meant "al-sakar" to mean only "the amount that intoxicates and not that which falls short of it." The same is narrated from Abu Saʿid, also mawquf, but with a chain that lacks linkage to Abu Saʿid according to Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Tahqiq fi Ahadith al-Khilaf (2:375-376).

The same is also narrated from Ibn Masʿud who is reported as saying: "'Every intoxicant is haram' means the very sip that makes you drunk", except that when this report was mentioned to Ibn al-Mubarak he rejected it and said: "Hadith Batil" as stated by al-Zaylaʿi in Nasb al-Raya. And this invalidation seems accurate in view of the following:

(1) Al-Bayhaqi narrates the report of Ibn Masʿud in al-Sunan al-Kubra (8:298) and Maʿrifat al-Sunan wa al-Athar then declares it very weak, as does al-Daraqutni in his Sunan (4:250-251 #23-26) where he attributes it to Ibrahim al-Nakhaʿi, all of which as stated in Nasb al-Raya; (2) The report is weakened by al-Murghinani in al-Hidaya as confirmed by al-Zaylaʿi as well in Nasb al-Raya and the latter's commentator, al-Almaʿi, in his Hashiya; (3) It is contradicted by another narration from Ibn Masʿud, declared sound by Ibn Hazm in al-Muhalla (7:489 cf. Ibn Qudama, al-Mughni 8:305, and al-Qalʿaji in Mawsuʿat Fiqh ʿAbd Allah Ibn Masʿud p. 92), in which he states: "Whether a little or much, any amount of what causes intoxication in a large amount is prohibited"; (4) The "guilty" sip cannot intoxicate except with the "complicity" or precedence of all those before it, including the very first.

Thus Ibn Hazm concluded in al-Muhalla (7:491, 505): "It is authentically reported from al-Nakhaʿi that he prohibited inebriety-level drinking (al-sakar) as haram [as did Ibn Masʿud even for medication with the reply: 'Truly Allah did not place your cure in what he made forbidden to you,' narrated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra (10:5)] as well as grape juice if it induces intoxication, while he permitted all other intoxicating wines (anbidha)... Ibn Shubruma would say: 'Allah have mercy on Ibrahim! The people [the Ulema] stood strictly against wine [nabidh], while he permitted it!" Furthermore Abu Yusuf in his Athar (p. 223-227, 235) and Muhammad in his (p. 142) narrate that al-Nakhaʿi drank certain types of alcoholic wines and that he narrated the same from Ibn Masʿud and ʿAlqama, on the below-intoxication-level principle. Cf. Qalʿaji, Mawsuʿat Fiqh Ibrahim al-Nakhaʿi (p. 285-286). In Iʿla' al-Sunan (18:34): "Ibrahim [al-Nakhaʿi] said: 'The saying that whatever intoxicates in large quantity then even its small quantity is haram is a mistake of the scholars, it only means that the intoxicating level of any beverage is haram' and Muhammad said: 'This is the position of Abu Hanifa.'" But this seems to contradict what the Iʿla' earlier stated as the position of the Imam (18:22-23).

Al-Nakhaʿi also narrated mursal from ʿUmar that the latter during his caliphate supposedly drank alcoholic wine (nabidh) which he diluted with water, saying: "Do this if/lest its shaytan overcome you." Cf. Muhammad, al-Athar (p. 119); al-Sarakhsi's al-Mabsut, book of beverages, chapter on Muzaraʿat al-Harbi; and Iʿla' al-Sunan (18:34). However, there is doubt over the meaning and content of the above report, as other sources state that the mixture in question was not alcoholic wine but a vinegar-like substance which people in certain areas drank to help them digest camel meat and for other uses as explicitly mentioned in most of its versions. Cf. Musannaf ʿAbd al-Razzaq (9:206, 9:225); Abu Yusuf, al-Athar (#993); al-Bayhaqi, al-Sunan al-Kubra (8:299); Ibn Hazm, al-Muhalla (7:486-487). The latter comments: "Something approaching vinegar is far from alcoholic."

It is established that ʿUmar steered clear of anything remotely resembling alcoholic wine, as shown by his castigation of jar-wine (nabidh al-jarr) which tends to ferment quickly: From ʿIkrima: ʿUmar said: "I would prefer to drink a bottle (qumqum) of boiling water, burn and ravage what it may, rather than jar-wine." ʿAbd al-Razzaq (9:205), al-Muhalla (7:497).

Abu Nuʿaym in the Hilya (1985 ed. 6:147-148) narrates and authenticates with several chains through al-Awzaʿi from Abu Musa al-Ashʿari that the Prophet ﷺ was brought nabidh in a jar which had a fizz or a hissing sound (lahu nasheesh) whereupon he said: "Throw this over the wall for this is the drink of those who disbelieve in Allah and the last day."

Furthermore, the correct version of the "Do this if/lest its shaytan overcome you" report pertains not to nabidh but to cooked grape-juice concentrate (al-tila') of which two thirds have evaporated and which is not alcoholic as in Malik's Muwatta': Book 42, Number 42.5.14: Yahya related to me from Malik from Da'ud ibn al-Husayn that Waqid ibn Amr ibn Sad ibn Muazh informed him from Mahmud ibn Labid al-Ansari that when Umar ibn al-Khattab went to ash-Sham, the people of ash-Sham complained to him about the bad air of their land and its heaviness. They said, "Only this drink helps." Umar said, "Drink this honey preparation." They said, "Honey does not help us." A man from the people of that land said, "Can we give you something of this drink which does not intoxicate?" He said, "Yes." They cooked it until two-thirds of it evaporated and one-third of it remained. Then they brought it to Umar. Umar put his finger in it then lifted it and the mixture stuck to it and stretched. [original Tarjumana and Johnson translation has: 'and then lifted his head and extended it'!]]. He said, "This is fruit juice concentrated by boiling. This is like camel-ointment [orig. 'the distillation with which you smear the camel's scabs']." Umar ordered them to drink it. Ubada ibn as-Samit said to him, "You have made it halal, by Allah!" Umar said, "No, by Allah! O Allah! I will not make anything halal for them which You have made haram for them! I will not make anything haram for them which You have made halal for them."

After this, ʿUmar wrote to ʿAmmar ibn Yasir to permit this mixture, defining it as "beverages resembling camel-ointment which have been cooked until two thirds evaporated, namely the two thirds that contain the foulness of Shaytan and the wind of his madness, and one third of which remains." Cf. ʿAbd al-Razzaq (9:255), al-Muhalla (7:498), Athar Abu Yusuf (#1004), and Qalʿaji, Mawsuʿat Fiqh ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab (p. 115). He wrote likewise to Abu Musa al-Ashʿari as in al-Nasa'is Sunan, book of beverages, chapter on permitted and non-permitted tala'. And he said also: "Cook your beverage until the share of Shaytan goes away [through evaporation], for Shaytan has two thirds of it and you have one third." Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan al-Kubra (8:301). And Allah knows best.

Following is a previous post on the permissibility of medication with a haram beverage in certain cases:

-- beginning --

Imam al-Nawawi said in Sharh Sahih Muslim, ed. Khalil al-Mays, Beirut, Dar al-Qalam, vol. 13/14 p. 163:

"The correct view according to our school is that it is forbidden to use wine as medication, and similarly it is forbidden to drink it because of thirst. However, if one chokes with one's food and he does not find, to wash it down, other than wine, then he is obligated to wash it down with it, because the obtainment of remedy through wine in this case is decisive, unlike when it is used as medication. And Allah knows best."

The Maliki faqih Abu Bakr ibn al-ʿArabi said in Tuhfat al-ahwadhi bi sharh Sahih al-Tirmidhi (Beirut ed. Dar al-kutub al-ʿilmiyya vol. 8 p. 200:

"The legal rulings (regarding medication with wine) on various questions.

1. If one is forced to drink it because of thirst, our scholars (Malikis) have two views. Ibn al-Qasim said he must not drink it because it will not help except make him thirstier. Al-Abhari said: He can drink it. That is: it does quench his thirst, which is a matter decided by custom.

2. If he chokes on a mouthful of food and does not find other than wine he can wash it down with it according to Ibn Habib and Abu al-Faraj. Ibn al-Qasim said: The one who is forced may drink blood, but not wine. The basis of the first view [permission] is that al-darura tubih al-mahzhur -- necessity makes the prohibition permissible -- such as eating carrion meat (i.e. in case of famine); while the basis of the second view is that Allah has forbidden wine in absolute terms, while He forbade carrion and blood in terms subject to necessity. The more correct view is the first (i.e. the correct ruling is: wine is permitted to avoid choking).

3. If one is forced to drink wine does the punishment for drinking wine apply to him? There are two views based on what our scholars have said regarding to the one who is forced to commit fornication (e.g. in rape), and the correct view is that there is no punishment."

-- end --

2. Ibn Masud narrates the abrogation of prohibition and states that others may have forgotten.

The text of this report in Bidayat al-Mujtahid (1:346) is: "I witnessed the prohibition of nabidh as you all did, then I witnessed its permission: I remembered [the latter] while you all forgot it."

Al-Sarakhsi in al-Mabsut, book of beverages, chapter on Muzaraʿat al-Harbi and al-Almaʿi in his notes on Nasb al-Raya mention this report both without chain during their presentation of the Hanafi argument for abrogation among other marfuʿ and mawquf reports, all of them weak or very weak according to Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Tahqiq (2:375-376).

This report seems close to non-existent in the hadith compilations. Kanz al-ʿUmmal (#13838) references it to "al-Tabari: From Juwaybir ibn Saʿid al-Azdi, from al-Dahhak, from Ibn Masʿud." This chain is extremely feeble as Juwaybir is discarded (matruk) and al-Dahhak is not on record as narrating anything from Ibn ʿMasʿud but - among the Companions - only from Ibn ʿUmar, Abu Hurayra, and Ibn ʿAbbas, although it is established he did not narrate from Ibn ʿAbbas either, and it is questionable whether he actually narrated from any Companion directly. Cf. al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal (13:91) and its Khulasa by al-Khazraji; Ibn ʿAdi, al-Kamil (4:95-96); and al-Dhahabi, al-Mughni and al-Mizan.

Furthermore, the report is not mentioned in Mawsuʿat Fiqh ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud nor in al-Hazimi's al-Iʿtibar, which is the most thorough documentation work on abrogating and abrogated hadiths, while Sh. ʿAbd al-ʿAziz al-Ghumari said in his booklet on the imamate of women that truly abrogated issues in legal rulings (al-ahkam) can be counted on the fingers of the hand. Nor does Ibn al-Jawzi even cite it in al-Tahqiq although he tries to bring up all the reports adduced by the Hanafis in the chapter. And Allah knows best.

In the case of Abu Musa's narration the stronger version states prohibition, while the report of Ibn Masʿud is gharib jiddan and mursal to say the least.

A nice conclusion to the material adduced above is Yahya ibn Maʿin's comment - note that he was Hanafi, and the Shaykh of Bukhari and Muslim -: "The prohibition of wine is true (tahrim al-nabidh sahih), but I stop short of declaring it haram: saintly and righteous people drank it on the basis of sound hadiths [but see al-Dhahabi's disclaimer below] while other saintly and righteous people declared it haram on the basis of sound hadiths." Cited by al-Dhahabi in Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala' (al-Arna'ut ed. 11:88). Al-Dhahabi also cited (12:494) the story of the qadi Bakkar ibn Qutayba when he took up judgeship in Egypt - he was Hanafi - and met al-Muzani, one of the foremost companions of al-Shafiʿi. One of Ibn Qutayba's companions asked him: "The hadiths have mentioned both the prohibition of wine (tahrim al-nabidh) and its permissibility (tahlilih), so why did you (Shafiʿis) give precedence to its prohibition?" Al-Muzani replied: "No-one ever declared it prohibited in Jahiliyya; then it was declared halal for us, and agreement formed over its permissibility; then it was declared haram. This, therefore, gives pre-eminence to the narrations of tahrim." Bakkar approved this reply. Al-Dhahabi adds: "Furthermore, the hadiths of tahrim are many and sound, which is not the case with the hadiths of ibaha."

Al-Muzani's comment shows that if there was indeed abrogation of the hukm of nabidh itself, it was from permissibility to prohibition, not vice-versa.

The most authentic narration pertaining to abrogation in the chapter of beverages is the hadith of Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Salat: Book 4, Number 2131, as well as the 4 Sunan and Ahmad in the Musnad: Ibn Buraida reported on the authority of his father that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: I forbade you to visit graves, but you may now visit them; I forbade you to eat the flesh of sacrificial animals after three days, but you may now keep it as along as you feel inclined; and I forbade you nabidh except in a water-skin, you may drink it from all kinds of water-skins, but you must not drink anything intoxicating. This and other reports similar in meaning and content but of lesser strength, are cited by al-Hazimi in al-Iʿtibar (p. 518-521), Book of beverages.

Some years ago I had posted the hadith below in support of the following comment on Kareem Abdul Jabbar's publicity spots for beer:

Ibn ʿAbbas said: I heard the Prophet say: "Jibril came to me and said: O Muhammad, Allah Almighty has cursed wine, and the one who presses it, and the one who has it pressed, and the one who drinks it, and the one who carries it, and the one to whom it is carried, and the one who sells it, and the one who buys it, and the one who serves it, and the one to whom it is served."

Imam Ahmad narrates it in his Musnad with a sound chain according to al-Ghumari and Shakir. It is narrated also from Anas and Abu Hurayra by al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, Ahmad, and al-Hakim. Al-Tirmidhi said: Something similar is narrated from the Prophet by Ibn ʿAbbas, Ibn Masʿud, and Ibn ʿUmar.

Another hadith in Ahmad concerning the Jews states that the Prophet repeated three times:

inna al-khamra haram wa thamanaha haram

inna al-khamra haram wa thamanaha haram

inna al-khamra haram wa thamanaha haram

which means

wine is forbidden and its income is forbidden

wine is forbidden and its income is forbidden

wine is forbidden and its income is forbidden

An example of this unlawful income is, for example, to own part of a 7-11 store (in the U.S.) or simply work there.

It is related in the sound and established narrations of the account of the Prophet's ascension to the heaven on the Night of Isra' that he saw the hellfire and he saw a tablespread on which there were pieces of good meat which no one approached, and another tablespread on which were pieces of rotten meat which stank, surrounded by people who were eating it. The Prophet asked: "O Jibril, who are these?" He replied: "These are those of your Community who abandon what is lawful and go to what is unlawful."

To complete the topic here is one more authentic relevant narrations:

The Prophet ﷺ said: "There shall certainly be people in my Community who shall drink alcoholic beverages (khamr) and name them with a different name." Narrated from Aby Malik al-Ashʿari, ʿUbada ibn al-Samit, ʿA'isha, and an unnamed Companion by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, al-Nasa'i, al-Darimi, Ibn Hibban, Ibn Abi Shayba, Ibn Abi ʿAsim, and others. Shykh ʿAbd Allah al-Ghumari said in Wadih al-Burhan (p. 56): "The sin of those deceivers is greater than that of those who drink khamr in full knowledge of its unlawfulness."

He ﷺ also said: "The beginning of your Religion is Prophethood and mercy; then monarchy and mercy (mulkun wa rahma); then dust-like monarchy (mulkun aʿfar); then monarchy and tyranny (mulkun wa jabarut) in which alcohol (khamr) and silk shall be deemed permitted." Al-Darimi narrated it from Abu ʿUbayda.

Blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions.

Hajj Gibril ©