The Use of Alcohol as Medicine: A Shar‘i and Medical Perspective Source:
This article is derived from the book 500 Questions & Answers for Women, a compilation of Fatawa by the Scholars of the Haramain. The translation was rendered by Hafiz Abdullah Saleem.
❖ Question:
Undoubtedly, a person became ill and went to the hospital for treatment. There, someone told him:
“Drink alcohol; it will cure your illness.”
The question is: Is it permissible to use alcohol as medicine?
Please benefit us with your knowledge. May Allah reward you with goodness.
❖ Answer:
This is false. Alcohol can never be considered a form of medicine, because a Hadith clearly addresses this matter.
Narration:
Ṭāriq ibn Suwayd رضي الله عنه asked the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم about alcohol. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم forbade its use or expressed dislike for its manufacture. Ṭāriq said:
“I only make it for medicinal purposes.”
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم responded:
"إنہ لیس بدواء ولکنہ داء"
[Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Ḥadīth No. 1984]
“Indeed, it is not a cure; rather, it is a disease.”
➤ Thus, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم informed us that alcohol is not a remedy for any illness.
➤ This reality has also been affirmed by Western and other medical professionals.
❖ Medical Findings:
Various expert doctors have clarified through their research that:
① Alcohol is not medicine nor a valid form of treatment.
② According to German doctors, those who habitually consume alcohol suffer from mental weakness. Moreover, the disorders caused by alcohol can be genetically passed on to offspring.
③ French doctors state that regular alcohol consumers undergo such severe physical changes that at the age of forty, they appear as if they are sixty.
④ Alcohol weakens the nervous system, impairs thought processes, and has a damaging impact on the body.
For this reason, habitual drinkers rarely live beyond the age of sixty.So with all these harms, how can alcohol be deemed medicinal?
❖ Ruling from Islamic Scholars:
The scholars have unanimously ruled that it is never permissible to consume alcohol as medicine.
✔ Only one exceptional case is mentioned:
If a piece of food is stuck in a person’s throat and their life is at risk, and nothing but alcohol is available to help swallow it, then only a single sip may be taken to dislodge it.
This is a case of extreme necessity.
❖ Command of Allah ﷻ:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنصَابُ وَالْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ مِّنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ● إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَن يُوقِعَ بَيْنَكُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ فِي الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ وَيَصُدَّكُمْ عَن ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَعَنِ الصَّلَاةِ ۖ فَهَلْ أَنتُم مُّنتَهُونَ
[Al-Mā’idah: 90–91]
✦ In this verse, Allah commands the believers to completely avoid alcohol, gambling, and all forms of idol-related rituals, declaring them as impure and satanic practices.
❖ Summary:
➤ Alcohol is not a cure, but a disease in and of itself.
➤ The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم explicitly negated its use as medicine.
➤ Modern medical research confirms its harmful effects on both the body and mind.
➤ No valid excuse exists for using alcohol in treatment except in life-threatening emergencies.
Therefore, for the patient in question, using alcohol as medicine is not permissible under Islamic law.
(Fatwa by: Shaykh ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥumayd رحمه الله)