Alcohol in food – halal or haram?
Muslims are not allowed to drink alcohol and this is an indisputable fact. But the presence of alcohol in chocolate or cake makes you think about its permissibility from the point of view of Sharia. On the one hand, you won’t get drunk from a chocolate bar with alcohol, but on the other hand, it’s still alcohol (!), albeit in small doses.
What type of alcohol is there?
Let’s start with what status alcohol has in terms of ritual purity. In Islamic teachings, alcohols are divided into 2 categories:
- Alcohol based on grapes or dates;
- Alcohols based on other sugar- and starch-containing bases (fruits, berries, grains, etc.).
The Almighty has imposed a strict ban on the first category in Qur’an:
“O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than All?h], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid1 it that you may be successful” (Al-Ma’idah, 90).
The translation of ayat uses the word “wine”, in the original Arabic it is “?????”, which sounds like “al hamr”.
Prophet Muhammad ? interpreted the word “Khamr” as follows:
“Khamr is something that is obtained from two plants: the date palm and the vine” (Sahih Muslim, No. 1985).
Based on the above, we conclude that alcohol from grapes or dates is haram and najas (unclean).
Alcohols of the second category are not najasa (impurity). This opinion was shared by the great Hanafi imams: Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad (r.a.).
However, this does not mean that you can drink alcoholic beverages based on these alcohols:
“Khamr is forbidden in itself, and other (alcoholic) drinks are forbidden due to intoxication” [Baihaqs “Sunan al-kubra”, 8/516 – 518; “Sharh ma’ani al-asar” at-Tahawi, 6/365].
Sayings with a similar meaning are transmitted from the Companions.
When is alcohol haram and when not?
Even a drop of khamra (alcohol made from grapes or dates) will be prohibited, but the consumption of other alcoholic beverages becomes prohibited only when it leads to intoxication.
It would seem that in contrast to this conclusion there is a hadith:
“What intoxicates in large quantities is forbidden in small quantities” [Hadith from Jabir and Ibn ‘Amr; St. X. Ahmad, Abu Dawood, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasai, etc.].
However, Hanafi scholars believe that this refers to drinking drinks specifically for the purpose of getting drunk. That is, if a person, with the intention of achieving alcoholic intoxication, takes a sip of alcohol, this will already be considered haram, because any alcoholic drink consumed with the explicit purpose of intoxication is haram in both large and small quantities (as transmitted from Imam Abu Yusuf in his explanation of this hadith).
Alcohol that is not produced from grapes or dates is pure from a ritual point of view and is allowed for consumption if two conditions are met:
- Alcohol is not used for the purpose of intoxication or in an amount incapable of intoxication;
- The method of drinking alcohol is not associated with obvious sinners (fussak).
What conclusion follows from this?
Subject to the above conditions, food products containing alcohol not from grapes or dates are allowed for consumption.
This means that food or medicine containing alcohol is permitted as long as it does not cause intoxication.
Press service of the Halal Standard Committee
Photo: posamogonu.ru
konturalco.ru
freepik.com