A final question states that in one of the previous episodes of your program, he heard a response from one of the Shaykhs regarding a question about the impurity of cologne and scents to which alcohols have been added.
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The questioner : A final question states that, in one of the previous episodes of your program, he heard a response from one of the Shaykhs regarding a question about the impurity of cologne and scents to which alcohols have been added. It was mentioned in the response of the honorable Shaykh that this depends on the amount of alcohol added to the cologne, meaning that if an amount of alcohol is added such that if a person drank a very large quantity of it and did not become intoxicated, it is not forbidden, in accordance with the legal maxim: "What is intoxicating in large quantity, its small quantity is forbidden". And I ask: Is not the small amount of alcohol added to anything, let it be a medicine for example, is not this small amount from a large amount, which is alcohol, that is intoxicating? Likewise, what is added to the cologne, is it not originally a small amount from a large intoxicating amount, which is alcohol? So, is the analogy based primarily on the alcohol as a small amount from a large amount, or on the cologne or the medicine as a small amount from a large amount, to which a small amount from a large intoxicating amount, which is alcohol, has been added? I ask you to kindly clarify this issue and detail the ruling in it so that we may be clear about the matter. May Allah reward you with good?
The Shaykh : I think that what the brother questioner mentioned came from me in some of the previous episodes.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And I mentioned that if an intoxicant is mixed with something and its effect does not appear, then it is not considered, because if it is mixed with this thing and its effect does not appear, it has disappeared in it, diminished, and gone. The ruling revolves with its cause, in existence and absence. So, as long as this has been eliminated, it has no effect. I think I illustrated this or looked at it by way of an example: if impurity falls into water and its effect does not appear in it, neither in taste, nor in color, nor in smell, then the water remains pure. So, this drink or medicine in which a small amount of alcohol has been mixed, but it does not affect it, is considered pure and permissible, because the ruling revolves with its cause, as I said. As for the large and the small, its meaning is that if this drink, if you increased it, would intoxicate you, and if you drank a little, would not intoxicate you, then the small amount of it, even if it does not intoxicate, is forbidden. And that is because it is a means to the large amount, for the soul hopes for this and increases from it until it reaches the limit of intoxication. For this reason, the Lawgiver has forbidden the means and paths to the forbidden things. This is the meaning of the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him):Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1865Hasan (Darussalam). And the meaning of the hadith is not that what has a small amount of intoxicant in it, which is large, is forbidden, but rather what has a small amount of intoxicant in it, which has disappeared in it and its effect does not appear, is not considered, because no effect remains for it. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The questioner : This female student, Boubaker Fatima al-Zahra, from Algeria, sent a message in which she says.
The Shaykh : I think that what the brother questioner mentioned came from me in some of the previous episodes.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And I mentioned that if an intoxicant is mixed with something and its effect does not appear, then it is not considered, because if it is mixed with this thing and its effect does not appear, it has disappeared in it, diminished, and gone. The ruling revolves with its cause, in existence and absence. So, as long as this has been eliminated, it has no effect. I think I illustrated this or looked at it by way of an example: if impurity falls into water and its effect does not appear in it, neither in taste, nor in color, nor in smell, then the water remains pure. So, this drink or medicine in which a small amount of alcohol has been mixed, but it does not affect it, is considered pure and permissible, because the ruling revolves with its cause, as I said. As for the large and the small, its meaning is that if this drink, if you increased it, would intoxicate you, and if you drank a little, would not intoxicate you, then the small amount of it, even if it does not intoxicate, is forbidden. And that is because it is a means to the large amount, for the soul hopes for this and increases from it until it reaches the limit of intoxication. For this reason, the Lawgiver has forbidden the means and paths to the forbidden things. This is the meaning of the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him):
Whatever a lot of it intoxicates, a little of it is unlawful.
ما أسكر كثيره فقليله حرامThe questioner : May Allah bless you.
The questioner : This female student, Boubaker Fatima al-Zahra, from Algeria, sent a message in which she says.