Anything that intoxicates and clouds the intellect is forbidden
The word أشربة is the plural of sharab (drink). It refers to any drinkable thing. The verb forms شَرِبَ يَشْرَبُ (sami’a, to drink), أَشْرَبَ يُشْرِبُ (af’ala, to make drink) and شَارَبَ يُشَارِبُ (mufa’ala, to drink together) are used with these meanings.
[Al-Munjid: p. 422, Lisan al-Arab: 64/7]
With regard to foods and drinks, the original ruling is permissibility. Only those things whose consumption has been prohibited are forbidden. Allah the Exalted says:
هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُم مَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا [al-Baqarah: 29]
“It is He (Allah) who created for you everything on the earth.”
➊ Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
كل مسكر خمر و كل خمر حرام
“Every intoxicant is khamr, and every khamr is forbidden.”
[Muslim: 2003, Kitab al-Ashribah: Bab Bayan an kull maskir khamr wa an kull khamr haram; Abu Dawud: 3679; Tirmidhi: 1861; Nasa’i: 5582]
➋ Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, said that three verses concerning khamr were revealed:
① يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ [al-Baqarah: 219]
When this verse was revealed, it was said that wine had been forbidden. Hearing this, people said (how can it be forbidden?) that we benefit from it, as Allah has said that there is benefit in it, so then this verse was revealed.
② يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَنتُمْ سُكَارَىٰ [al-Nisa: 43]
“O you who believe! Do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated.”
Upon hearing this verse, people said: we do not drink at the time of prayer. After that, this verse was revealed.
③ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنصَابُ وَالْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ مِّنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ [al-Ma’idah: 90]
“O you who believe! Indeed, intoxicants, gambling, idolatrous altars, and divining arrows are all filthy works of Satan. So avoid them completely that you may be successful.”
When this verse was revealed, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
حُرّمت الخمر
“Wine has been forbidden.”
[Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi: 1715]
➌ Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
من شرب الخمر فى الدنيا ثم لم يتب منها حرمها فى الآخرة
“Whoever dies in this world having drunk wine without repenting will be deprived of it in the Hereafter.”
[Bukhari: 5575, Kitab al-Ashribah: Bab Qawl Allah innama al-khamr wa al-maysir; Muslim: 2003; Ahmad: 19/2; Abu Dawud: 3679; Ibn Majah: 3373]
➍ Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
كل شراب أسكر فهو حرام
“Every intoxicating drink is forbidden.”
[Bukhari: 242, Kitab al-Wudu: Bab La yajuz al-wudu bil-nabidh wa la al-muskir; Muslim: 2001]
➎ When wine was forbidden, the Companions poured it out on the roads of Madinah.
[Muslim: 1587, Kitab al-Musaqat: Bab Tahrim bay al-khamr]
➏ Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
مدمن الخمر كعا بد وثن
“The one who constantly drinks wine is like a worshipper of an idol.”
[Sahih: Sahih Ibn Majah: 2720, Kitab al-Ashribah: Bab Mudmin al-khamr; Ibn Majah: 3375]
(Hanafis) Only grape and date wine is forbidden.
(Jumhur) Every intoxicant is forbidden, whether it is wine from grapes or dates or from anything else.
[Nayl al-Awtar: 256/5, al-Rawdah al-Nadiyah: 438/2, Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi: 612/5, Sharh Sahih Muslim by al-Nawawi: 256/7, Badai al-Sanai: 117/5, Bidayat al-Mujtahid: 457/1, al-Mughni: 304/8, al-Muhadhdhab: 286/2, Fath al-Bari: 157/11]
Imam al-Shafi’i, Imam Muhammad, Imam al-Nawawi, Imam al-Shawkani and Hafiz Ibn Hajar also hold this position.
[Ibid.]
(Qurtubi) Authentic hadiths refute the position of the people of Kufa.
[As in Nayl al-Awtar: 259/5]
(Rajih) The position of the Jumhur is preferred on account of the following evidences:
➊ Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said on the pulpit of the Messenger of Allah during a sermon: O people! The prohibition of wine is from five things:
Grapes, dates, honey, wheat, barley.
والخمر ما خامر العقل
“And khamr is that which covers the intellect.”
[Bukhari: 5581, 5588, Kitab al-Ashribah: Bab al-Khamr min al-inab wa ghayrih; Muslim: 3032; Abu Dawud: 3669; Nasa’i: 295/8]
➋ A marfu’ hadith with the same meaning is also narrated from Nu’man ibn Bashir, may Allah be pleased with him.
[Sahih: Sahih Abu Dawud: 3123, Kitab al-Ashribah: Bab al-Khamr mimma hiya; Abu Dawud: 3676; Ahmad: 227/4; Tirmidhi: 1872; Nasa’i fi al-Kubra: 181/4; Ibn Majah: 3379]
➌ The hadith which states that “wine is only from these two trees:
النخلة والعنبة
“Date palm and grape.”
[Muslim: 1985, Kitab al-Ashribah: Bab Bayan an jami’ ma yunbadh mimma yuttakhadh min al-nahl wal-inab; Ahmad: 279/2; Nasa’i: 294/8; Ibn Majah: 3378; Tirmidhi: 1875]
These two were singled out because the finest and most refined wines were made from them, as it is said:
المال الابل
“Wealth is only camels,”
meaning they are the most beneficial, and
الحج عرفات
“Hajj is only standing at Arafat,”
although many other acts are also part of Hajj besides Arafah, etc.
Similarly, the hadiths that mention five things also carry this same meaning: that at that time wine was generally made from these things. This does not mean that wine made from other things is permissible; rather, a general rule has been stated: “Every intoxicant is khamr, and every khamr is forbidden.”
[Nayl al-Awtar: 256/5]
And whatever in large quantity intoxicates, its small quantity is also forbidden.
➊ Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, and Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
ما أسكر كثيره فقليله حرام
“Whatever in large quantity intoxicates, its small quantity is also forbidden.”
[Sahih: Sahih Ibn Majah: 2736, Kitab al-Ashribah: Bab Ma askara kathiruhu fa qaliluhu haram; Irwa al-Ghalil: 2373; Ibn Majah: 3392, 3393; Daraqutni: 262/4; Ahmad: 91/2; Abu Dawud: 3681; Tirmidhi: 1865; Nasa’i: 300/8]
➋ Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
وما أسـكـر الـفـرق منه فملء الكف منه حرام
“Whatever intoxicates in the quantity of a farq (16 ratl by weight), even a handful of it is forbidden.”
[Sahih: Sahih Abu Dawud: 3134, Kitab al-Ashribah: Bab Ma ja’a fi al-sukr; Abu Dawud: 3687; Tirmidhi: 1866; Daraqutni: 250/4; Mawarid al-Zaman: 1388; Tabarani al-Awsat: 376/2; Sharh Ma’ani al-Athar: 216/4; Bayhaqi: 296/8; Ibn al-Jarud: 861]
(Hanafis) Only the cup of wine by which intoxication occurs is forbidden; the cups before it (however many cups are drunk, all of them) are permissible.
[al-Hidayah: 496/4, Nayl al-Awtar: 260/5, Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi: 617/5]
The response to the Hanafi position has been given in two ways:
① Khamr is a generic noun, which requires the prohibition of the whole category (i.e., from the first cup up to the cup that intoxicates).
② It is absolutely not correct to consider only the last cup as intoxicating, because if all the other cups did not exist, a single cup alone could not intoxicate; since all the cups have a share in it, all of them are intoxicating.
[Nayl al-Awtar: 260/5, Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi: 617/5]
(Rajih) The earlier authentic hadiths prove that whatever in large quantity intoxicates, its small quantity is also forbidden; therefore not only the last cup but also the first cup is forbidden.
