# What counts as khamr, and is a drink with a little alcohol haram?

*What counts as khamr? Abu Hanifa's ruling and why scholars grew embarrassed*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/4/
- Date: 2021-02-09 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #201| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (23:50–29:59)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4n4wD2jjps&t=1430s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/

**Topics:** Intoxicants and substances; The Hanafi school and Imam Abu Hanifa; Legal theory and method

**Question as asked:** What is an intoxicant, and how much does it have to cover the intellect to be khamr?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says khamr in the Quran meant wine; other drinks were haram only when they intoxicated like it, which was Abu Hanifa's position.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that in Quranic terminology khamr was just wine.

**Evidence, his words at 25:05:** “in the quranic terminology hammer was just wine other drinks that came about are the kind of beers that were around” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4n4wD2jjps&t=1505s)

## Longer summary

After the poem a chat question asks what an intoxicant is and how far it must cover the intellect to be khamr. Mufti Abu Layth says that in Quranic terminology khamr was just wine; other drinks of the time, made from honey or fruit, were haram if clearly of a similar intoxicating nature, but weak drinks of one or two percent that would not intoxicate with average consumption were not. Mufti says this is the position Abu Hanifa stood up for, and that scholars attacked the Hanafi school over it for two or three centuries until the Hanafis became embarrassed of it. He compares this with later Malikis becoming embarrassed of Imam Malik's view that nothing sexual between a couple is haram, and says both imams were defending the principle that no one may declare haram what God has not declared haram.

## Sources and names cited

- alcohol (khamr)
- Abu Hanifa
- Imam Malik
- Maliki school

## Transcript (machine tier, 23:50–29:59)

[23:10] [Music] that is so so majestic

[23:49] wow i have to say amazing um but yeah i i i thought look let's share that i'll share some you know time to time i'll share some classic anda lucy kind of um i do listen to them sometimes arabic poems um that are kind of that are songs on uh youtube but cool people let's move on what are somebody says jerry idris uh shukran for your snapchat you're doing it man you're doing it much love you said what is an intoxicant and how much does it have to

[24:28] cover the intellect to be hammer well you see in the quran hammer is wine now the question is is other than wine also hammer now um so what i would say is if you're metaphorically speaking then fine but in essence hammer was just wine a lot the way you have the name wine and you'll have other things whether they'll be scotches or you know whiskeys or beers and things like that now you will

[25:05] they have their own names now in in the quranic terminology hammer was just wine other drinks that came about are the kind of beers that were around so they were being made out of honey being made out of fruits being made out of things like this they would also be haram if they were clearly of a similar nature in intoxication if they were certainly had some forms of the chemical alcohol in there that were very weak that an average consumption

[25:44] of that drink would not intoxicate you um then in that case they were not haram so if it was a small percentage um you know one two percent these kind of things they wouldn't actually be intoxicating with an average consumption so that's the um that's the kind of uh ruling behind it and that's what the hanafi madhhab imam abu hanifah he stuck up for initially and then his mother after him was crucified [Laughter] for defending so they were heavily

[26:23] heavily the scholars for perhaps two or three centuries after him just slated and rinsed and attacked the hanufi madhhab on this topic and it went to the extent that the hanafia eventually became so embarrassed of this ruling that they distanced themselves from me so they kind of started to

[26:51] pretend that it's not really what they stick by or or they start to discuss it less so and and you and they become embarrassed and this happens in in on many occasions in fit you'll find scholars will get embarrassed of certain rulings that the imams may have stood up for and it doesn't mean you see you have to understand something here when these imams stood up for these rulings it's not that they were standing up for alcohol or deviant practices they were standing

[27:27] up for the principle of truth even if it was embittering and that was their point that was imam abu hanifa's point that i absolutely understand this is going to upset you i absolutely get the fact that this is going to destroy the borders and margins between black and white but such is the truth he felt so he stood for it and you know he put his neck out on the line defending that principle so it's not about don't think oh why do these imams you know

[28:07] oh were they into this themselves it doesn't mean that sometimes you stand up for something out of principle that look it's not as easy to declare this haram okay it's like when imam malik spoke out about uh you know his fatwa on sexual matters that nothing sexual is haram obviously between a couple uh so and with the issue of uh anal sex at hand so later malikia became embarrassed

[28:41] it's like right so the they were too embarrassed so you know some of them started to turn away from it some of them started to pretend oh it wasn't there or discuss it less and the same kind of thing really but it's not you see what imam malik was doing was he was defending the principle it's not about whether people do these things or not but it's about you can't you know that do not uh that do not declare something

[29:19] that allah has not declared haram as haram you know do not just you utter things stop don't for a moment think you are god you're not god you see so you don't you just think you have the right to declare it haram just because you find it uh disgusting or sick or a deviant practice or you find this a problem in society and it may be these things to several people but still you're not god and that's the

[29:58] principle that these imams kind of stood by and hence when imam malik stood by the ruling that uh all that really when it comes to food not very few things are actually haram just pig is the only haram creature because it was mentioned in the quran nothing else was haram according to malik so yes i don't mean if they've been offered to other gods and things like that then they are haram or if they'd already been killed and you found them dead because then this was more

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment l4n4wD2jjps/s/4. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/4/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.