Is it permissible to use perfumes that contain alcohol?

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.

The questioner : What is the ruling on using spirit and alcohol in perfumes?

The Shaykh: What is it that...?

The questioner : Using impure alcohol.

The Shaykh : Using alcohol is not permissible in any way, because that requires, first, extracting this alcohol from certain substances or fruits or the like. That also requires obtaining the intoxicating substance, or rather the original of the intoxicating substance, because the intoxicating wines, as you all know, contain alcohol as one of their parts. The intoxicating substances are not alcohol itself; rather, alcohol is a part of them. And if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: then, without a doubt, he curses, a fortiori, the one who presses the alcohol that is the mother of wines. If this is clear in the minds, if Allah wills, then it is not permissible to sell alcohol, because it is not permissible to press it, and consequently, to sell it, buy it, or use it. This is a matter that all Muslims must observe, because we often hear, in questions like this, that doctors and physicians, for example, use alcohol or spirit not for intoxication, but either to clean their hands when examining patients who they suspect may have a contagious disease, or to disinfect certain wounds, and the like. So the claim is that they do not use this alcohol for drinking, but for other reasons. We say: The reasons are many, but the death is one. The death is one, and it is the violation of the Shari'ah. The Shari'ah prohibited ten things regarding wine for one reason; it prohibited the nine for one reason, which is drinking. So it does not concern us that a person or many people use spirit or alcohol for something other than what it was prohibited for, which is drinking. Therefore, we say: Please.