The Purity of Alcohol and Intoxicants
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Your Eminence, may Allah forgive you, regarding perfumes containing alcohol: if that is the case, does he put them on his clothes and go out to pray?
Know that pure intoxicants are not ritually impure, and it is not obligatory to wash clothes or bodies from them. If you understand that, you will know that perfumes containing alcohol, even if the proportion is large, are not ritually impure.
Tell me: What is the evidence that they are not ritually impure? Because what is famous among people now is that intoxicants are ritually impure in their essence, like urine and feces.
First: I tell you: the evidence is the absence of evidence; there is no evidence for the ritual impurity of intoxicants, and the original state is purity. It does not follow that what is forbidden must be ritually impure. This poison is forbidden but not ritually impure. This smoke that many people smoke is forbidden but not ritually impure. So it does not follow from prohibition that something is ritually impure, but it does follow from ritual impurity that it is forbidden.
So we say: The evidence is that there is no evidence for the ritual impurity of intoxicants.
Second: There is evidence for the purity of intoxicants other than the original state, which is that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), when intoxicants were forbidden, poured them out in the markets. If they had been ritually impure, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have left them to do so; because it is not permissible to defile the markets of Muslims with ritual impurity.
Third: When they were forbidden and they poured them out, they did not wash their vessels from them. And when donkeys were forbidden in Khaybar, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the vessels to be washed.
Fourth: A man gifted the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) a large wineskin of intoxicants—Meaning: a large wineskin filled with intoxicants—he gifted it to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) as an honor to him, and he did not know that it had been forbidden.So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: (It had been forbidden, so a man whispered to him—A man spoke to the owner of the wineskin and said to him: sell it—So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: what did you whisper to him?He said: I said: sell it.He said: If Allah forbids something, He forbids its price. So the man opened the mouth of the wineskin and poured out the intoxicants in the presence of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and he did not stop him from doing so, nor did he order him to wash the wineskin. This is clear evidence, and there is no consensus on the ritual impurity of intoxicants in this matter; rather, there is disagreement, even among the Tabi'un.
Know that pure intoxicants are not ritually impure, and it is not obligatory to wash clothes or bodies from them. If you understand that, you will know that perfumes containing alcohol, even if the proportion is large, are not ritually impure.
Tell me: What is the evidence that they are not ritually impure? Because what is famous among people now is that intoxicants are ritually impure in their essence, like urine and feces.
First: I tell you: the evidence is the absence of evidence; there is no evidence for the ritual impurity of intoxicants, and the original state is purity. It does not follow that what is forbidden must be ritually impure. This poison is forbidden but not ritually impure. This smoke that many people smoke is forbidden but not ritually impure. So it does not follow from prohibition that something is ritually impure, but it does follow from ritual impurity that it is forbidden.
So we say: The evidence is that there is no evidence for the ritual impurity of intoxicants.
Second: There is evidence for the purity of intoxicants other than the original state, which is that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), when intoxicants were forbidden, poured them out in the markets. If they had been ritually impure, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have left them to do so; because it is not permissible to defile the markets of Muslims with ritual impurity.
Third: When they were forbidden and they poured them out, they did not wash their vessels from them. And when donkeys were forbidden in Khaybar, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the vessels to be washed.
Fourth: A man gifted the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) a large wineskin of intoxicants—Meaning: a large wineskin filled with intoxicants—he gifted it to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) as an honor to him, and he did not know that it had been forbidden.So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: (It had been forbidden, so a man whispered to him—A man spoke to the owner of the wineskin and said to him: sell it—So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: what did you whisper to him?He said: I said: sell it.He said: If Allah forbids something, He forbids its price. So the man opened the mouth of the wineskin and poured out the intoxicants in the presence of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and he did not stop him from doing so, nor did he order him to wash the wineskin. This is clear evidence, and there is no consensus on the ritual impurity of intoxicants in this matter; rather, there is disagreement, even among the Tabi'un.