Intoxicants are poisonous, not medicine
📖Sahih Muslim 1851
Wa’il al-Hadrami reported: Tariq ibn Suwayd asked the Prophet ﷺ about wine, and the Prophet prohibited him from preparing it. Tariq said, “I only prepare it as medicine.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “Verily, it is not a cure, but rather it is a sickness.”
Description:
In this hadith, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ clearly forbids the preparation and use of wine, even if it is intended as medicine. He explains that wine is not a remedy or cure but actually a source of harm and illness. This teaching emphasizes the spiritual and physical dangers of alcohol, rejecting the misconception that it might have healing properties. The hadith urges believers to avoid wine entirely, highlighting its destructive effects rather than any benefit.
Medical Evidence:
Modern medical research confirms that alcohol consumption can lead to a wide range of health problems, making it a “sickness” rather than a cure. Alcohol affects nearly every organ in the body:
- It damages the liver, leading to conditions such as fatty liver, hepatitis, and cirrhosis.
- It impairs brain function, causing memory loss, poor decision-making, and long-term neurological damage.
- It weakens the immune system, making the body more vulnerable to infections.
- Chronic alcohol use is linked to heart disease, cancers (especially of the liver, mouth, throat), and digestive problems.
- Alcohol dependency is recognized as a serious medical disorder affecting mental and physical health.
Far from healing, alcohol consumption causes significant physical and psychological illness, validating the Prophet’s ﷺ description of it as a sickness.
Quranic Context:
📖Quran 5:90-91
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?
Regarding unintentional consumption:
If someone – whether a non-Muslim unaware of these rulings or a Muslim who unknowingly consumes alcohol – becomes affected by it, the obligation is to stop its use immediately upon realizing its harm and prohibition. Islam teaches accountability begins with knowledge and intention. Those who unknowingly consume something prohibited are not sinful but must repent and avoid it once informed. The emphasis is always on turning back to Allah, seeking forgiveness, and adopting a healthy, pure lifestyle.