Every intoxicant is unlawful, and the explanation of tila and khalit

Sayyiduna Sufyan bin Wahb al-Khawlani (may Allah be pleased with him) states: I was with the Commander of the Believers, Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), in Syria, when the non-Muslim subjects there (the dhimmis) said: The duty you have placed on us of providing honey for the Muslims is something we cannot obtain. At this Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When the Muslims enter a new land and have not yet settled there permanently, drinking plain water is hard on them, so they must have something that can keep their health and diet in good order.
Then the dhimmis said: We have a drink prepared from grapes that resembles honey. He said: "Bring it." When it was brought, he (may Allah be pleased with him) lifted it with his finger to look at it, and it was drawing out in threads like honey. Seeing this he said: This is as thick as the paste smeared on the bodies of camels. Then he called for water, mixed it in, thinned it, and drank of it himself, and his companions drank too. Then he said: "How excellent this is! Provide the Muslims with this."
So that drink began to be provided, and the situation remained so for some time. Then a man became intoxicated from it, so the Muslims rose and beat him with their sandals, saying: He is drunk. The man cried out: Do not beat me! By Allah, I only drank what Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) provided for us. When this matter came to light, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up among the people to address them and said: "O people! I am merely a human being; I can neither make anything lawful unlawful nor anything unlawful lawful. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has indeed passed away, and the chain of revelation has been cut off." Then he took hold of the edge of his garment and said: "I declare before Allah Almighty my innocence" of making anything unlawful lawful for you. So leave this drink, for I fear that people will become habituated to it. And I myself heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "Every intoxicant is unlawful." So give it up. After this, Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) used to have it prepared (with special care), and Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) used to drink only the sweet drink.

Amir bin Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas narrates from his father (Sayyiduna Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him)) that he said: "I forbid you from even a small amount of anything of which a large amount intoxicates."
I (Ibn Hajar) say: Sa'id bin Abi Maryam narrated it from Muhammad bin Ja'far, attributing it (marfu') to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and likewise al-Walid bin Kathir also narrated it from al-Dahhak; and its chain is sahih (authentic).

Safwan bin Muhriz states that Sayyiduna Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him), addressing us from the pulpit of Basrah, said: "Take heed! Indeed, the wine that was made unlawful in Madinah (by the command of Allah) is the mixture of unripe and dried dates."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Wa'il bin Hujr (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "In Islam there is no room for jalab (having animals driven from afar to collect zakah from them), janab (hiding livestock far away to avoid paying zakah), wirat (deception and mutual collusion in financial dealings), or shighar (stipulating a marriage in exchange for a marriage without a dowry). And every intoxicant is unlawful."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Usayd al-Sa'idi (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade combining fresh dates and raisins together (to make nabidh).

It is narrated from Sayyidah Umm al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said: I used to cook grape syrup (tila') on the fire for Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) until two thirds of it had gone and only one third remained.
According to the hadith scholars, 'tila'' is grape juice that is cooked on the fire until its intoxicating quality is gone and it becomes thick and lawful, and this practice of Sayyidah Umm al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with her) shows exactly this juristic permissibility: that drinking such a syrup is allowed.

It is narrated from Suwayd bin Ghafalah that Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) used to drink thick cooked grape syrup (tila') from a jar coated with a layer of pitch (tar).
Tila' is grape syrup that is cooked on the fire so much that two thirds of it dries away and it becomes thick and non-intoxicating, while muqayyar means a vessel whose inner surface has been coated with lac or tar.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: Becoming intoxicated, or bringing on a state of stupor, is among the major sins.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever drinks an intoxicating drink until his mind is gone has dared to come to one (great) door of the doors of the major sins (that is, he has committed a grave major sin)."
I (Ibn Hajar) say: With this same chain, Imam al-Tirmidhi recorded the hadith that mentions the prohibition of combining two prayers together without any valid excuse.

Sufyan bin Wahb al-Khawlani states: I heard Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) saying: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "Every intoxicant is unlawful."

Imam Ahmad bin Mani' (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated with his chain from Abdullah bin Abi al-Hudhayl that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to swear: "Indeed, the thing which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade when the prohibition of wine was revealed, and ordered that its jars be broken and their contents poured out, was (the intoxicating drink prepared from) dates and raisins."

It is narrated from the Mother of the Believers, Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The first way in which Islam will be overturned, just as a vessel is overturned, will concern a drink called 'al-Tila''."
Imam Abu Ya'la (may Allah have mercy on him) also narrated this hadith through another chain, in which Furat bin Sulayman reported it via al-Qasim bin Muhammad from Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) with the same wording.

Imam Musaddad (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that Maryam bint Tariq (may Allah have mercy on her) said: I went in with some women of the Ansar to the Mother of the Believers, Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), in her blessed apartment, and those women began asking her about drinking vessels. At this Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: O believing women! You are asking me about vessels most of which did not even exist in the blessed time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So whatever drink intoxicates you, avoid it completely; even if someone begins to be intoxicated by the water of her own jar, let her give that up too, for every intoxicant is unlawful.

It is narrated from Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her); the narrator states: I heard her saying: "I do not declare lawful anything that causes intoxication, even if it is in the form of bread or of water."

It is narrated from al-Qasim and Salim (may Allah have mercy on them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Every intoxicant is unlawful."