Debate On Alcohol Fatwa

April 14, 2008 — Shahrzad

Nowadays there is a big debate among scholars in the matter of the new fatwa on Alcohol drinking in Islam. Sheikh Qaradawi, who is said to be “creator” of this new fatwa, is a well-known TV figure, views himself as a moderate voice of Islam:

Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s fatwa says a level of 0.5% is allowed, whereas most Muslims would say alcohol of any quantity is banned. He issued his fatwa in response to a question about high energy drinks.
Sheikh Qaradawi is talking about tiny quantities of alcohol – equivalent to about one-eighth of a unit of alcohol:”The presence of alcohol in a proportion of five in a thousand (0.5 percent) is not banned because it is a minimal quantity, especially when it is produced by natural fermentation. Hence there’s nothing wrong in consuming such a drink.” Source

He ruled there was no religious ban on consuming drinks with a minute amount of alcohol in them if it was formed naturally through the process of fermentation.

He quoted the rule derived from the sayings of the Prophet that if drinking a lot of alcohol makes you intoxicated then drinking a little is also forbidden.

Sheikh Qaradawi argued that any person who consumed a large amount of high energy drink would not become intoxicated, therefore they were permissible, even though they contained tiny amounts of alcohol.Source

“For this reason, I do not think there is any forbiddance in having such drinks,” he said, pointing out that if same portion was deliberately added to a drink then it is prohibited. In the last case, “the doer commits a sin”, he explained.

This proportion (0.05 per cent) of alcohol is allowed to be added only when there is a medical treatment case, he said. Source

On the other hand, some scholars have made a big fuss and confusion for some. But this logic has not gone down well:

“The latest fatwa caused confusion among people… We could have done without it!” the editor of the Qatari daily Ash-Sharq, Abdullatif al-Mahmud, wrote on Thursday.

He thinks the fatwa from a cleric of the status of Sheikh Qaradawi would inevitably be misunderstood and distorted to suggest he was giving permission to Muslims to drink alcohol.Source

I heard that some people even dont buy perfumes for they think there is maybe alittle alcohol in it. The same i heard about some that they dont drink non-alcoholic beer for the same reason.

The Scientists have found very small doses of alcohol in fruits, perhaps one-tenth or one-hundredth. (Source)

They say they are now working to determine just how much ethanol is in the fruits that wild primates eat. And this movie on Youtube shows some animals eat overripe fruit and wobble around drunk!!

There is alcohol in nature. I think any fuss around this fatwa, just make misunderstanding and distortion more. Shaikh Qaradawi didnt say anything new and he just wanted to open some doors for “medical” usage of alcohol.

Of course If the Alcohol is intoxicating (Musker) and fluid in its original form, it is banned. But when it’s not intoxicating, it can not be considered as “Alcohol”,like in non alcoholic beers. Also its usage in medicine in some cases has no problem. Actually, doesn’t the Quran put saving a human life before anything?