The Purification Act : Alcohol
as lectured by Syeikh Abdulbary Yahya

Assalamualaykum wht,

Allah says: "O ye who believe! Intoxicants, gambling, idols, and divination by arrows are but filth of Satan's handiwork. Keep away from it in order that you may succeed. [Surah al-Maidah: 90]

Scholars agree that this verse prohibiting intoxicants is among the last verses of the Qur'an to be revealed. There is no possibility that this verse has been abrogated. Its ruling, therefore, is in force until the Day of the Judgement.

However, does the fact that the wine is unlawful (haram) also mean that it is impure (najis)?

The scholars are divided into two opinions concerning the purity of Alcohol:

2) NOT Najis
Rabi'ah ar-Rai'(Imam Malik's teacher), Daud az-Zahiry, Laith Ibn Sa'ad, Syaukani

Reason A:

A man gave Rasulullah saw a waterskin of wine as a gift. Allah's Messenger saw said, "Do you know Allah has prohibited this?"

He said, "No, I did not." Then he whispered an instruction to someone.

Rasulullah saw asked, "What did you whisper to him?"
He answered, "I told him to go and sell it."

The prophet said, "Whatever is forbidden to drink is likewise forbidden to sell."

So the man opened the waterskin and poured out its contents.

[Sahih Muslim(3/1206), Sunan al-Bayhaqi(6/12), Musnad Ahmad(1/230,244,323, and 358),Sunan al-Darami(2/171), and Musnad Abu Ya'la(2468)]

*The point is, if the wine is impure, Rasulullah would ask the man to wash the container after he poured out the wine..but Rasulullah saw didn't ask him to do so...Therefore, the wine is NOT NAJIS

Reason B:

Anas relates the following,

I was serving drinks to people in the home of Abu Talhah on the day the wine was prohibited, and they were drink drinking nothing but date wine.
Suddenly, someone called out, "Come out and see!"

So we did so and someone called out, "Verily, wine has been prohibited!"

It was flowing through the streets of Madinah. Abu Talhah said to me, "Take it outside and pour it out". So I did so.

[Sahih Bukhari(3/102), and Sahih Muslim(3/1568-1572)]

*The point is, if the wine is najis...those people won't membanjirkan the wine di tengah2 jalan utama dioarang..memandangkan the street is where most of the people will be..dengan rumahnya kanan kiri, and the act would menajiskan kaki dan baju diorang. Based on this situation, it's implied that the wine is NOT NAJIS


2) Najis
Imam Hanifah, Malik, Syafi'e, Ahmad

Rebutal against Reason A:

It's a common sense that the guy will wash the container, so Rasulullah didn't tell him to do the obvious. For example, kalau a container tu kita dah letak air sirap. Bile habis air sirap, kita nak isi air tebu pulak. It's a common sense yang kita akan basuh the container supaya rasa dia tak bercampur.

Rebutal against Reason B:

The flowing wine was not really flowing on the street, it was just a figure of speech.

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The stronger opinion is:

The wine IS NAJIS, physically and spiritually.

--> Alcohol that will make you die if you consume it, is not really alcohol, so it's not najis. For example, alcohol in perfumes.

--> However, alcohol in mouthwash like Listerine, ect is considered an alcohol..since you won't die if you swallow it. Therefore, belilah mouthwash yang tade alcohol.

Wallahu'alam.

posted by Hana' at 5/17/2006 01:52:00 AM |