The Difference Between Intoxication and Anesthesia
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The Shaykh : Intoxication is the covering of the mind in a state of pleasure and delight, not merely the covering of the mind. Therefore, anesthesia is not intoxicating, even though it covers the mind. The person under anesthesia does not know what happened to him, but with khamr (intoxicants)—may Allah protect us from it—a person finds pleasure, delight, and euphoria in the intoxication until he imagines that he is one of the kings and that he is above the Pleiades. How severe that is, as it was said in this poem: "And we drink it, and it leaves us as kings ***" And as it was said: This is a terrible statement, but he is intoxicated, and an intoxicated person is not held accountable for what he says. This was before the prohibition of khamr was revealed.
And khamr went through four stages:
The first stage was permissibility, where Allah permitted it for the servants with explicit permission, and He the Exalted said:[An-Nahl 16:67]
Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him) to his nephew, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw him intoxicated and spoke to him. Hamzah said to him while intoxicated: "Are you not but the slaves of my father?"
حمزة بن عبد المطلب رضي الله عنه لابن أخيه النبي صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم حين رآه النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم سكران فتكلم معه فقال له حمزة وهو سكران هل أنتم إلا عبيد أبيAnd khamr went through four stages:
The first stage was permissibility, where Allah permitted it for the servants with explicit permission, and He the Exalted said: