The Ruling on a Woman’s Marriage to a Man Who Drinks Intoxicants

Question:
A letter was sent by one of the sisters from the Eastern Region, Al-Khobar, stating: (S. M. N). Our sister concluded her letter by saying: I hope that His Eminence Shaykh Abdul Aziz ibn Baz will graciously answer these questions. Then she began her letter by saying: Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings. I greet you for all that you are doing in this program, for it has great benefit and much good.
And I ask Allah to grant you success, and to grant success to all who contributed to preparing this program. As for what follows: I have a set of questions, and I hope you will graciously answer them:
The first question: What is the ruling on a girl marrying a man who drinks intoxicants, knowing that he only drinks when he suffers from depression and sadness? This person wants someone to save him from this evil, and he hopes that his partner will be the one to help him with that. What is your Eminence’s opinion on this matter?

Answer:
First: May Allah reward you for your supplication with good, and may He accept from us, from you, and from all other Muslims our righteous deeds and words.
As for this one who drinks intoxicants, there is no doubt that it is a defect and a shortcoming. We ask Allah to grant him repentance and guidance. However, it does not prevent him from marrying a Muslim woman; there is no harm in his marrying a Muslim woman, because drinking intoxicants does not take him out of the circle of Islam. Rather, it is a major sin, and it takes him out of the circle of righteousness into the circle of open sinfulness. It obligates upon him the fixed punishment if it is established against him by confession or by valid legal evidence. However, according to the people of the Sunnah and the community, he does not become a disbeliever. It is established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that “he cursed the intoxicant, its drinker, its server, its presser, its one who presses it, its carrier, the one to whom it is carried, its seller, its buyer, and the one who eats its price.”
Intoxicants are a great evil, their harm is great, and their consequences are severe. However, its owner does not become a disbeliever if he does not consider it permissible. If he does it while knowing that it is a sin, and he believes that it is a sin, but he is lax in that for many reasons, including what you mentioned of his drinking during depression and fatigue, and including other reasons.
In any case, this reason and others like it do not justify drinking intoxicants for him; rather, it is obligatory for him to guard against drinking intoxicants and to engage in permissible things other than that, for in what Allah has made lawful there is sufficiency for what He has forbidden . However, this does not prevent him from marrying a Muslim woman, and she may accept him, for perhaps Allah will guide him through her means. There is nothing wrong with that, and perhaps Allah will make therein much good and a great benefit for this poor man.
The point is: that a sin does not prevent marriage to a Muslim woman, just as it does not prevent a Muslim man from marrying a Muslim woman in whom there is a sin, such as drinking intoxicants, or other sins that do not take their doer out of Islam. And Allah is the One to be asked for help. Yes.

The presenter: Allah is the Helper.