the ruling is contingent upon intoxication; and since there is no intoxication here, there is no prohibition.
Question: What is the ruling on hashish?
Answer: Shaykh al-Islam—may Allah have mercy on him—regarded hashish as more vile than wine, and it is indeed so. Hashish intoxicates, and it is worse than wine because it affects the brain more severely than wine does. The same appears to apply to narcotic pills as well, for their harm is immense and greater than that of wine. In some non-Muslim countries, those who traffic them are sentenced to death. Yet they are not termed wine; rather, their punishment is subject to discretionary punishment, left to the ruler’s judgement.
“If a Muslim drinks it willingly, knowing that a large amount of it intoxicates, then he is subject to the prescribed punishment: eighty lashes if free, and forty if enslaved.”
His statement, “If a Muslim drinks it”: this is the first condition, excluding one who is not Muslim. Even if he is a protected non-Muslim resident, he is not subject to the prescribed punishment, because it is the Muslim who believes it to be prohibited. As for non-Muslims, they do not believe it to be prohibited. Therefore, the prescribed punishment is not carried out on them if they drink wine, though they are prevented from openly displaying it in Muslim lands.
His statement, “willingly”: this is the second condition. If he is compelled, then there is no prescribed punishment upon him, due to Allah’s saying concerning disbelief—which is the gravest of sins:
“Whoever disbelieves in Allah after having believed—except one who is compelled while his heart remains secure in faith—but whoever opens his breast to disbelief: upon them is wrath from Allah, and for them is a tremendous punishment.” [al-Nahl 16:106]
However, a person compelled to commit a sin may sometimes commit it in order to avert the compulsion, and at other times commit it for its own sake. Is the verse general in application, as are the rulings in general? Or is it specific to one who commits the act in order to avert the compulsion?
Answer: The scholars differed regarding this. Some of them said that