What is the ruling on using perfumes mixed with alcohol?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you. A questioner asks: What is the ruling on using perfumes mixed with alcohol?
The Shaykh : If the mixture is slight and does not affect them, there is nothing wrong with it. If the mixture is significant and affects them, it is better to avoid them and not to perfume oneself with them. However, there is nothing wrong with using them out of necessity, such as if one needs to disinfect a wound or something similar. Even so, they are not ritually impure if they touch clothes or the body, for it is not obligatory to wash them because they are not ritually impure. There is no evidence for the ritual impurity of khamr (intoxicants); rather, the evidence indicates the physical purity of khamr. This means physical purity, because if you consider the verse:[Al-Ma'idah 5:90], it becomes clear that the intended meaning of "foulness" here is practical foulness, due to His saying: . Also, Allah mentioned alongside it—meaning alongside khamr—gambling, sacrificial stones, and arrow-lots, and these are not physically impure by consensus.
This is also indicated by the fact that when the prohibition of khamr was revealed, the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) poured it out in the markets and streets. If it had been ritually impure, it would not have been permissible to pour it out in the markets, for it is not permissible to defile the markets of Muslims with impurities. Furthermore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order them to wash it, as he ordered them to wash the vessels when donkey meat was prohibited on the day of Khaybar.
Then there is a very clear evidence, which is: Do you know what a "rawiyyah" is? It is a large water skin. Is it not permissible for a person to accept a forbidden gift? A man whispered to the owner of the rawiyyah, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He did not say to him: "Wash the rawiyyah." If khamr had been ritually impure, he would have said to him: "Wash it."
So we now have two pieces of evidence: The first piece of evidence is the absence of evidence. The first piece of evidence means regarding the physical purity of khamr, the absence of evidence. How is the evidence the absence of evidence? Is this contradictory speech? Please, stand up?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : So the evidence for its purity is the absence of evidence for its impurity, right? Okay, rest. The original state of things is purity.
The second piece of evidence: These are the evidences I have presented to you. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. A questioner says.
The Shaykh : Are you the observer or not? Some of you are deceptive. This is the last question.
The questioner : Your Eminence, the Shaykh, may Allah preserve you. First, I love you for the sake of Allah, and many of the questions, oh Shaykh, begin...
The Shaykh : In any case, we love those who love us for the sake of Allah, and we ask Allah the Exalted to love them as we love them in Him.
The Shaykh : If the mixture is slight and does not affect them, there is nothing wrong with it. If the mixture is significant and affects them, it is better to avoid them and not to perfume oneself with them. However, there is nothing wrong with using them out of necessity, such as if one needs to disinfect a wound or something similar. Even so, they are not ritually impure if they touch clothes or the body, for it is not obligatory to wash them because they are not ritually impure. There is no evidence for the ritual impurity of khamr (intoxicants); rather, the evidence indicates the physical purity of khamr. This means physical purity, because if you consider the verse:
indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan
إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنْصَابُ وَالْأَزْلامُ رِجْسٌ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِa foulness from the work
رجس من عملThis is also indicated by the fact that when the prohibition of khamr was revealed, the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) poured it out in the markets and streets. If it had been ritually impure, it would not have been permissible to pour it out in the markets, for it is not permissible to defile the markets of Muslims with impurities. Furthermore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order them to wash it, as he ordered them to wash the vessels when donkey meat was prohibited on the day of Khaybar.
Then there is a very clear evidence, which is:
that a man came to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with a rawiyyah of khamr
أن رجلا أتى إلى الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام ومعه راوية خمرa large rawiyyah, so he gifted it to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) after khamr was prohibited. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It is prohibited
راوية كبيرة فأهداها إلى الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام بعد أن حرمت الخمر فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم : إنها حرمتWhat did you whisper? He said: I said, sell it. He said: No, for when Allah prohibits something, He prohibits its price. So the man opened the mouth of the rawiyyah and poured out the khamr in the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
بما سررته ؟ قال : قلت بعها قال : لا إن الله إذا حرم شيئا حرم ثمنه ففتح الرجل فم الراوية وأراق الخمر في حضرة النبي عليه الصلاة والسلامSo we now have two pieces of evidence: The first piece of evidence is the absence of evidence. The first piece of evidence means regarding the physical purity of khamr, the absence of evidence. How is the evidence the absence of evidence? Is this contradictory speech? Please, stand up?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : So the evidence for its purity is the absence of evidence for its impurity, right? Okay, rest. The original state of things is purity.
The second piece of evidence: These are the evidences I have presented to you. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. A questioner says.
The Shaykh : Are you the observer or not? Some of you are deceptive. This is the last question.
The questioner : Your Eminence, the Shaykh, may Allah preserve you. First, I love you for the sake of Allah, and many of the questions, oh Shaykh, begin...
The Shaykh : In any case, we love those who love us for the sake of Allah, and we ask Allah the Exalted to love them as we love them in Him.