Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (15/197)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

We say: The meaning of the hadith is that if there is a beverage such that, when you drink a small amount of it, you do not become intoxicated, but when you drink a large amount, you do become intoxicated, then both a small and a large amount of it are prohibited for you. Even the small amount that does not intoxicate you is prohibited, because drinking this non-intoxicating small amount may lead a person gradually to drink a large amount and thus become intoxicated. The hadith does not mean that anything into which a small amount of an intoxicant has been mixed is prohibited; indeed, the hadith cannot be understood in this way. Rather, its meaning is that if this beverage intoxicates you when you consume a large quantity of it, then a small quantity of it is prohibited. If you become intoxicated by drinking a small quantity, then this is even more clearly so.

It may be said: The beer available on the market contains alcohol mixed into it. We apply the same principle to this issue: if the amount mixed in is slight, such that it is absorbed into the barley contained in it, then it has no effect. But if it is substantial, then both a small and a large amount of it are prohibited—even if someone were to say that, were a person to drink five bottles of it, his nerves would become relaxed.

We say: This is not evidence that it intoxicates, for if a person drinks a great deal—even of water—his nerves will become relaxed. In any case, the criterion in this matter is that when one thing is mixed with another and is absorbed into it, leaving no discernible trace, its presence is as though it were nonexistent.

His statement: “Such as one who swears not to eat clarified butter, then eats khabīs containing clarified butter whose taste is not perceptible.” Khabīs means something that has been mixed together; it is a dish prepared from crushed bread or something similar, into which clarified butter is added, though no trace of the clarified butter is perceptible in it. Thus, if he says, “By Allah, I will not eat clarified butter,” then eats khabīs containing clarified butter whose taste is not perceptible, he has not broken his oath.

نقول: معنى الحديث: أنه لو كان هناك شراب، إن شربت قليلاً منه لم تَسكر، وإن شربت كثيراً سكرت، فإنه يحرم عليك القليل والكثير، حتى القليل الذي لا يسكرك يحرم عليك؛ لأن شرب هذا القليل الذي لا يسكر يتدرج به الإنسان إلى أن يشرب كثيراً فيسكر، وليس معنى الحديث ما اختلط فيه قليل من مسكر فإنه يحرم، ولا يمكن أن يفهم الحديث على هذا الوجه، بل معنى الحديث أن هذا الشراب إن كنت إذا أكثرت منه سكرت فقليله حرام، فإن كان إذا شربت منه القليل سكرت فمن باب أولى. يقال: إن البيرة الموجودة بالسوق فيها خلط من الكحول، فنبنيها على هذه المسألة، إن كان الخلط يسيراً بحيث يستهلك في الشعير الذي فيها فإنه لا يؤثر، وإن كان كثيراً فإنه يحرم قليلها وكثيرها، ولو قال قائل: إن الإنسان لو شرب منها خمسة قوارير تسترخي أعصابه. نقول: هذا ليس دليلاً على أنه يسكر؛ لأن الإنسان إذا شرب كثيراً حتى من الماء تسترخي أعصابه، وعلى كل حال الميزان لهذه المسألة هو أنه إذا اختلط شيء بآخر واستهلك فيه، ولم يظهر له أثر فوجوده كعدمه. قوله: «كمن حلف لا يأكل سمناً فأكل خبيصاً فيه سمن لا يظهر فيه طعمه» خبيص بمعنى مخبوص، وهو شيء يخبص من القرصان أو شبهه يجعل فيه السمن، لكن لا يظهر فيه أثر السمن، فإن قال: والله لا آكل سمناً، فأكل خبيصاً فيه سمن لا يظهر فيه طعمه، لم يحنث.