Wine has a few healthy anti-oxidants and I just like the taste of beer. If we can distill all the alcohol out, is it still haram? If not haram, would it be makruh?
asked May 4, 2017 at 1:19
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Just so you know, a majority of beer drinkers (from which I am) consider that regular beer and non-alcoholic beer do not taste the same. You can find a many french recipes which includes stuff cooked with some wine, from which no alcohol remains. I do not suggest drinking distilled wine, though.– user5751924May 4, 2017 at 13:59
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1 Answer
If we can distill all the alcohol out, is it still haram?
First, this is not permissible, as per the hadith (as cited in an Islam Q&A fatwa):
Abu Talhah asked the prophet (ﷺ) about the orphans who had inherited wine. He replied: Pour it out. He asked: May I not make vinegar of it? He replied : No. -- Sunan Abi Dawud 3675 [grade: sahih] (sunnah.com)
(The rest of this answer is derived from my answer here for Coke.)
Alcohol occurs naturally in the food we eat and the drinks we drink under natural conditions (example ref.); it's detectable is beverages is e.g. Turkish markets [Gunduz et al., Halal Food and Metrology, J. Chem. Metrol, 2013 (pdf)]; and is even produced by our own bodies (e.g., Alcohol and Islam). Thus, it's not realistic to totally eliminate alcohol.
Generally, if a substance is incapable of intoxicating even in large quantities, then it is not haram (insofar as to being an intoxicant). There appears to be extra caution around alcohol derived from dates and grapes.
It's based around ahadith such as:
...I forbid you to drink intoxicants whether in small amounts or large. -- Sunan an-Nasa'i 5581 [grade: sahih] (sunnah.com)
An IslamToday.net fatwa, in the context of non-alcoholic beers, gives this way of understanding its ruling:
Sheikh Salman al-Oadah astutely observed: "The percentage of alcohol mentioned has no effect on the ruling. The ruling applies to the drink itself taken as a whole and not to its composition."
There are fatawa declaring both ways (One that declares it haram is: "all beverages that contain ethanol based alcohols are unlawful to consume" -- Islam.ru), but there's some that say these things are halal.
Beer
Specific fatawa saying non-alcoholic beer is halal:
... if something is mixed with alcohol but the alcohol is a small amount and does not have any effect, then it is halaal and does not come under the ruling of this hadeeth. -- Islam Q&A, 33763
...non-alcoholic beer... though there is a trace amount of alcohol in certain brands... this minute amount does not in any way warrant classifying the drink as an intoxicating beverage. It would be extremely difficult for a person to drink enough of the beer for the alcohol within it to have any affect. -- IslamToday.net
Wine
If it is clear that this drink is free of alcohol, there is nothing wrong with drinking it. Similarly, if treatment of khamr to remove alcohol from it was done by people who believe it is permissible to do that, then it is permissible to drink it. However we should point out that this treatment is something that is haraam for the Muslim to do according to the most correct opinion. -- Islam Q&A
answered May 4, 2017 at 8:56
