The Ruling on Perfumes Containing Alcohol

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. It is well known to many that perfumes contain alcohol, but the percentage of this alcohol is unknown. What is the ruling on buying and selling such perfumes? If they contain alcohol, are they considered ritually impure? And if the percentage is small, what is the ruling on the prayer of one who prayed in a garment that had been touched by some of this fragrance?

Answer:
There has been much discussion about these perfumes. However, if these perfumes intoxicate the one who consumes them due to the alcohol in them, they are ritually impure, and it is not permissible to buy or use them, because they are intoxicants, and intoxicants must be destroyed. As for if they do not intoxicate the one who consumes them, then this alcohol has no ruling because it has no effect; it is consumed and lost among the other ingredients, so it has no impact. The criterion is whether it intoxicates or not. If these perfumes are used to intoxicate and they do intoxicate, they are ritually impure. If these perfumes do not intoxicate, and one drinks something of them, the default is purity, even if there is a small amount of alcohol in them, because a small amount has no ruling in the presence of a large amount that predominates over it.